After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
The ill man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.”
Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”
At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a Sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”
But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’”
They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”
Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there.
Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath.
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”
For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
- Made Jan 26, 2026
Beth-zatha means "House of Mercy." Worth noting that the place of healing is named for mercy.
Notice that most modern Bible translations jump from verse 3 to verse 5. Verse 4 is included in the KJV and its derivatives, but it's not in the earliest manuscripts. It was added later by a scribe who was explaining the healing tradition about the pool's waters being stirred.
Jesus shows himself as a master strategist here. He heals on the Sabbath not only to help someone, but also to start the dominoes falling toward his eventual arrest and crucifixion. But notice how he "disappears into the crowd" to avoid direct immediate confrontation. He's intentional about timing.
Other translations have begun to translate "the Jews" as "the Jewish leaders" or "the Judeans" to avoid the implication that all Jews are evil. The Gospel of John has been used for centuries as an anti-Semitic text, which is tragic. From John's perspective, he's likely writing to a Jewish (but non-Judean) audience. His antagonists are specifically the Jewish leaders centered around Jerusalem - not all Jewish people.
Notice that the healed man is found in the temple. His first act after years of suffering is worshiping in the place where he had been kept out of. He's been restored not just physically but socially and religiously.
"Take up your mat" uses the word egeirō - the same word used for resurrection. The man is being raised up, brought back to life.
This is the third sign in John's Gospel.
I love that Jesus asks if the man wants to be well. There's dignity in that question. It doesn't assume. It invites.
I also think it's interesting that the man's response is not a direct answer (yes or no), but rather an answer limited to the only paradigm he knows. He answers in terms of whether he has someone to carry him into the water or not. It hasn't occurred to him that there could be another way to be made well.
I see some social parallels there in terms of how we dream of fixing society, offering services to people. Are we limited by the paradigms we know? Are we only offering people access to the pool when Jesus might be offering something entirely different?
Questions for reflection:
Religious authorities persecute Jesus for bringing healing to a marginalized man. How does this still happen today?
Jesus says he only does what he sees the Father doing. When we look at the life of Jesus, this has massive implications for what God is like. We don't study God and try to fit Jesus in there somewhere. We look at Jesus and can say, "God is just like this." What are the implications of that as you think about how you perceive God?
- Made on Jan 9, 2025
- I love that Jesus asks if the man wants to be well. There's dignity in that question.
- I also think it's interesting that the man's response is not a direct answer (Yes or No), but rather an answer limited to the only paradigm that he knows. He answers the question in terms of if he has someone to carry him into the water or not. It has not occurred to him that it has occurred to Jesus that there could be another way to be made well.
- I see some social parallels there in terms of how we dream of fixing society, offering services to folks, etc.
Devotional
From 2021-1-9
- Religious authorities persecute Jesus by authoring healing to a marginalized man. How does this still happen today?
- Jesus says He only does what He sees the Father doing? When we look at the life of Jesus, this has massive implications for what God is like. We don’t study God and fit Jesus in there somewhere. We look at Jesus and can say, “God is just like this.” What are the implications for that as you think about how you perceive God?