The Gospel of John 5:1-47

The Healing at Bethesda

5:1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.
3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the water;
4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?"
7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me."
8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."
9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
10 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet."
11 But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'"
12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk'?"
13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple ad said to him, "Behold you have become well; do not sin anymore, so nothing worse happens to you."
15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17 But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."
18 For this reason therefore the Jews seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal to God.
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
20 "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
21 "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
22 "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgement to the Son,
23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
26 "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
28 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
30 "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
31 "If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.
32 "There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony Which He gives about Me is true.
33 "You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
34 "But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
35 "He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
36 "But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish -the very works that I do -testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
37 "And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.
38 "You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
39 "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
41 "I do not receive glory from men;
42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
43 "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
44 "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
45 "Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.
46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.
47 "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" John 5:1-47

This is an important miracle Jesus performed that will come up again later. The moving of the water: "for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted." Moving past the strange event of an angel stirring water to heal people seasonally, Jesus saw a man who had missed the opportunity to be healed and decided to heal him Himself.

This occurred during the Sabbath -A Jewish time to do No work. I think the time was intended for reflection and avoiding distraction to connect with God, but had wound up being a day for No Work first and foremost. So Jesus got in trouble. The Jews found out He had done work (healed someone) on the Sabbath - and even though it was a miracle and clearly God's work, work is work and He still got in trouble because rules are rules.

People are crazy. "How dare you heal someone on a rest day." Weird. I myself am kind of ticked off at the man who was healed though. Firstly he didn't even know it was Jesus that had healed him and Secondly when he found out, his first instinct was to run back to the Jews and inform them it was Jesus. Good looking out man...

Then the Jews started harassing Jesus for working on the Sabbath and Jesus told them, "My Father is working all the time and so shall I". Jesus had a certain period of time to grace the earth and He wanted to accomplish as much as He could int hat time as possible -hence the reason He occassionally forgot to eat.

Then the fact that He called God His "Father" made the Jews want to kill Him becaue He was putting Himself on equal par with God. Jesus just can't do anything right in the eyes of some people.

Then Jesus has to justify the reasons why He says God is His Father and He is the Son.
1. He is just doing what God has shown Him to do.
2. God gives people life and so shall Jesus.
3. God also gave Jesus authority to judge since He is unbiased.
4. Jesus was not making things up because He was performing miracles and there were others who could testify to who He was.
5. Even Moses spoke of His coming.
6. If you question and doubt Jesus and His word you question and doubt God.

Then Jesus took it a step further and said, "Who are you to be judging me?" Jesus said that these men raised up other men and received them, but when a True man of Faith appeared they did not recognize Him and turned Him away. He said they were conceited and blind.

"Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

This was a long couple sentences to digest and understand. Basically He's saying, "if you claim to follow the teachings of Moses, then you will fail in his eyes by not recognizing I am who he was talking about."

"Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." This one confused me. Is He speaking about the Final Judgment? I'll assume so.

I feel impatient with reading this because I wish I could just Matrix-download the Bible into my head and have it all in there at once. ButI look around and nobody else seems to care/be concerned with the Bible, Heaven, Hell, or the Soul in general. It's like class is over and I'm still doing extra homework because I genuinely want to understand the subject. It's weird mentioning to people that I'm reading/ learning about the Bible. I feel like they'll look at me weird and think, "Why? Did some one frce you to read it? Is it for a class?" Nobody these days seems to read the Bible of their own volition just for the sake of gaining a deeper understanding of the Divine.