John 5:1-18

The Central Idea of the Text is that Jesus performs His third sign by healing an invalid at the pool of Bethesda, which sparks a Sabbath controversy. Jesus came to Jerusalem for a feast and came to a pool called Bethesda where there were many disabled persons (John 5:1-4).  Jesus encountered a man who had been disabled for thirty eight years and asked him if he wished to get well (John 5:5-6).  The disabled man wanted to be made well, but he was helpless to change his condition and was not able to enter the pool he thought would heal him (John 5:7).  Jesus commanded the man to get up, take up his bed and walk, and the man was immediately healed (John 5:8-9a).  The healing took place on the Sabbath (John 5:9b), and the Jewish leadership was greatly troubled when they saw the man carrying his pallet and told him he was in violation of the Sabbath (John 5:10).  The man shifted blame to Jesus, saying, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’” (John 5:11).  When the Jewish leadership asked who told him to do this thing (John 5:12), the man did not know, for Jesus had slipped away through the crowd (John 5:13).  Afterward, Jesus found the man in the temple and told him, “do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you” (John 5:14).  And rather than thank Jesus, or follow His command to obey, the man runs away and tells the Jewish leadership (John 5:15).  The Jewish leadership began to persecute Jesus because He healed a man on the Sabbath (John 5:16).  Jesus defends Himself against their false charge of breaking the Sabbath by pointing out that His Father—God—works on the Sabbath, and being equal to His Father, He is working too (John 5:17-18).