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1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the
Jews.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in
Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered
colonnades.
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind,
the lame, the paralyzed.
4 (NIV, NLT and Revised Standard Version do not have 5:4)
5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in
this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want
to get well?"
7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help
me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to
get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The
day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It
is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, `Pick
up your mat and walk.'"
12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick
it up and walk?"
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had
slipped away into the crowd that was there.
John 5:1-13
Explanation: 5:1 Three feasts required all Jewish males to come
to Jerusalem (!) the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, (@)
the Feast of Weeks (also called Pentecost), and (3) the Feast of
Tabernacles.
5:6 After 38 years, this man's problem had become
a way of life. No one had ever helped him. He had no hope of ever
being healed and no desire to help himself. The man's situation
looked hopeless. But no matter how trapped you feel in your infirmities,
God can minister to your deepest needs. Don't let a problem or hardship
cause you to lose your hope. God may have special work for you to
do in spite of your condition, or even because of it. Many have
ministered effectively to hurting people because they have triumphed
over their own hurts.
5:10 According to the Pharisees, carrying a mat
on the Sabbath was work and was therefore unlawful. It did not break
an Old Testament law, but the Pharisees' interpretation of God's
command to remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (Exodus 20:6).
This was just one of hundreds of rules they had added to the Old
Testament law. A man who hadn't walked for 38 years had been healed,
but the Pharisees were more concerned about their petty rules than
the life and health of a human being. It is easy to get so caught
up in our man-made structures and rules that we forget the people
involved. Are your guidelines for living God-made or man-made? Are
they helping people, or have they become needless stumbling blocks?
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See,
you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to
you."
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had
made him well.
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the
Jews persecuted him.
17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to
this very day, and I, too, am working."
18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not
only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his
own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the
Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father
doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes,
to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even
so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment
to the Son,
23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He
who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes
him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has
crossed over from death to life.
John 5:14-24
Explanation: 5:14 This man had been lame, or paralyzed, and
suddenly he could walk. This was a great miracle. But he needed
an even greater miracle--to have his sins forgiven. The man was
delighted to be physically healed, but he had to turn from his sin
and seek God's forgiveness to be spiritually healed. God's forgiveness
is the greatest gift you will ever receive. Don't neglect his gracious
offer.
5:16 The Jewish leaders saw both a mighty miracle
of healing and a broken rule. They threw the miracle aside as they
focused their attention on the broken rule, because the rule was
more important to them than the miracle. God is prepared to work
in our lives, but we can shut out his miracles by limiting our views
about how he works.
5:17 If God stopped every kind of work on the Sabbath,
nature would fall into chaos, and sin would overrun the world. Genesis
2:2 says that God rested on the the seventh day, but this can't
mean that he stopped doing good.
Jesus wanted to teach that when the opportunity to
do good presents itself, it should not be ignored, even on the Sabbath.
Jesus was identifying himself with God, his Father. There could
be no doubt as to his claim to be God. Jesus does not leave us the
option to believe in God while ignoring God's Son. The Pharisees
also called God their Father, but they realized Jesus was claiming
a unique relationship with him. In response to Jesus' claim, the
Pharisees had two choices; to believe in him, or to accuse him of
blasphemy. They chose the second.
5:19-23 Because of his unity with God, Jesus lived
as God wanted him to live. Because of our identification with Jesus,
we must honor him and live as he wants us to live. The questions
what would Jesus do? and what would Jesus have me do? may help us
make the right choices.
5:24 Eternal life--living forever with God---begins
when you accept Jesus Christ as Savior. At that moment, new life
begins in you (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is a completed transaction.
You still will face physical death, but when Christ returns again,
your body will be resurrected to live forever (1 Corinthians 15).
24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes
him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has
crossed over from death to life.
25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when
the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear
will live.
26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the
Son to have life in himself.
27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son
of Man.
28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all
who are in their graves will hear his voice
29 and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and
those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment
is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
31 "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.
32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his
testimony about me is valid.
33 "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.
34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you
may be saved.
35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for
a time to enjoy his light.
John 5:25-35
Explanation: 5:25 In saying that the dead will hear his voice,
Jesus was talking about the spiritually dead who hear, understand,
and accept him. Those who accept Jesus, the Word, will have eternal
life. Jesus was also talking about the physically dead. He raised
several dead people while he was on earth, and at his second coming
all the dead in Christ will rise to meet him (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
5:26 God is the source and Creator of life, for
there is no life apart from God, here or hereafter. The life in
us is a gift from him (see Deuteronomy 30:20; Psalm 36:9). Because
Jesus is eternally existent with God, the Creator, he too is the
life through whom we may live eternally.
5:27 The Old Testament mentioned three signs of
the coming Messiah. In this chapter, John shows that Jesus has fulfilled
all three signs. All power and authority are given to him as the
Son of Man (Daniel 7:13, 14). The lame and sick are healed (Isaiah
35:6; Jeremiah 31:8, 9). The dead are raised to life (Deuteronomy
32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6; 2 Kings 5:7).
5:29 Those who have rebelled against Christ will
be resurrected too, but to hear God's judgment against them and
to be sentenced to eternity apart from him. There are those who
wish to live well on earth, ignore God, and then see death as a
final rest. Jesus does not allow unbelieving people to see death
as the end of it all. there is a judgment to face.
5:31 Jesus claimed to be equal with God (5:18),
to give eternal life (5:24), and to judge sin (5:27). These statements
make it clear that Jesus was claiming to be divine--an almost unbelievable
claim, but one that was supported by another witness, John the Baptist.
36 "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very
work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing,
testifies that the Father has sent me.
37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.
You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one
he sent.
39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by
them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify
about me,
40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 "I do not accept praise from men,
42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in
your hearts.
43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but
if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.
44 How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet
make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God
[34]?
45 "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your
accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.
46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about
me.
47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going
to believe what I say?"
John 5:36-47
Explanation: 5:39, 40 The religious leaders knew what the Bible
said but failed to apply its words to their lives. They knew the
teachings of the Scriptures but failed to see the Messiah to whom
the Scriptures pointed. They knew the rules but missed the Savior.
Entrenched in their own religious system, they refused to let the
Son of God change their lives. Don't become so involved in religion
that you miss Christ.
5:41 Whose praise do you seek? The religious leaders
enjoyed great prestige in Israel, but their stamp of approval meant
nothing to Jesus. He was concerned about God's approval. This is
a good principle for us. If even the highest officials in the world
approve of our actions and God does not, we should be concerned.
But if God approves, even though others don't, we should be content.
5:45 The Pharisees prided themselves on being the
true followers of their ancestor Moses. They were trying to follow
every one of his laws to the letter, and they even added some of
their own. Jesus' warning that Moses would accuse them stung them
to fury. Moses wrote about Jesus (Genesis 3:15; Numbers 21:9; 24:17;
Deuteronomy 18:15), yet the religious leaders refused to believe
Jesus when he came.
