John 5:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk."

NIV: Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

NASB: Jesus *said to him, 'Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.'

CSB: "Get up," Jesus told him, "pick up your mat and walk."

NLT: Jesus told him, 'Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!'

KJV: Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

NKJV: Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

In the prior chapter, Jesus met a man seeking a miracle (John 4:46–54). This official wanted healing for his son and was persistent in asking Jesus for it. Jesus granted the request. But He also made the man prove his own faith by leaving without any assurance that his request had been granted. Here, the man by the pool has made no requests of Jesus whatsoever. Even when Jesus asked (John 5:6), the invalid man does not say, "yes." Instead, he complains about having no one to help him.

This makes Jesus' action more curious. This is the third "sign" recorded in this gospel by John, of only seven total. And yet, it's performed on a man who not only didn't ask for it, but he might not have even wanted it! This healing is a display of Jesus' divine power. It's a story-picture of our relationship to Him. Even when we don't seek Him, or seek what's best for us, God can reach down and act, even if we didn't really want Him to in the first place.

Jesus' command to "get up and walk" presents some cultural problems. This would have shown that the man was completely and fully healed. However, this encounter takes place on the Sabbath (John 5:9). According to the traditions of the Pharisees, carrying virtually anything, including mats, cots, and pallets was "work," and all "work" was strictly forbidden on the Sabbath day (Leviticus 23:3).

The request is no accident on Jesus' part. This is the phase of His ministry where He begins to deliberately provoke the hard hearts of the people. Several of Jesus' healings will take place on the Sabbath, seemingly to needle the cold-blooded religious leaders (Luke 4:31–37; 14:1–6; Matthew 12:9–14).

John 5:1–15 contains the third of John's seven ''signs'' of Christ. A man crippled for decades expresses no prior knowledge of Jesus, nor an immediate desire to be healed. Jesus heals the man and tells him to walk. For carrying his mat—working—local religious leaders then confront the man. Yet he still doesn't know who Jesus is. Jesus meets the man in the temple and warns him about the dangers of sin. Once the city's leaders find out that Jesus was responsible for the healing, they will confront Him for violating the Sabbath, and for claiming to be equal with God.

Jesus again returns to Jerusalem, as required for the various feast days. While there, He heals a man who had been crippled for nearly forty years. Since this occurred on the Sabbath, local religious leaders are angry. In fact, they are more upset with Jesus for working on the Sabbath than amazed at His miracle. In response, Jesus offers an important perspective on evidence. Jesus refers to human testimony, scriptural testimony, and miracles as reasons to believe His declarations. Christ also lays claim to many of the attributes of God, making a clear claim to divinity.

Chapters 1 through 4 showed Jesus avoiding major publicity. Here, in chapter 5, He will begin to openly challenge the local religious leaders. This chapter is Jesus' first major answer to His critics in this gospel. The fact that Jesus is willing to heal on the Sabbath sets up a theme of His upcoming disagreements with the Pharisees. Jesus also provides an important perspective on the relationship between evidence and faith, which He will expand on in later chapters. This chapter also establishes a key point made by Jesus' critics: His claims to be God.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.