John 5:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’”

NIV: But he replied, 'The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' '

NASB: But he answered them, 'He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’'

CSB: He replied, "The man who made me well told me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

NLT: But he replied, 'The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’'

KJV: He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.

NKJV: He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”

In prior verses, Jesus went to the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. This area was near the temple and would have provided ample shade. The Bible describes "a multitude" of disabled people gathered there (John 5:3). Jesus selected one man, crippled for nearly forty years, and asked the man if he wanted to be healed. Somewhat surprisingly, the man offers some form of complaint, or excuse, rather than saying, "yes" (John 5:5–7).

After Jesus heals him, the man continues this strange pattern of "passing the buck." Jesus instructed the man to pick up the bed he was laying on and to walk with it (John 5:8). According to the local religious leaders, this was a violation of the commandment not to work on the Sabbath (John 5:10). In response, the man simply points to Jesus—whose name he does not even know—and says, in essence, "but someone told me to do it!"

The local religious leaders have every right to question this man. As with their investigation of John the Baptist (John 1:19), it is part of their responsibility to safeguard the truth. However, upcoming verses will show that these men are not sincere. Their offense over Jesus breaking their Sabbath tradition will override any joy they might have had over the miracle itself. In particular, note that in the next verse (John 5:12), their response is not to ask, "who healed you," but "who told you to take up your bed and walk?" Their focus is entirely on their tradition, not the power of God!

John 5:1–15 shows Jesus healing a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. This is the third of John's seven ''signs'' of Christ. Interestingly, the crippled man expresses no prior knowledge of Jesus, nor any overwhelming desire to be healed. Jesus restores the man, then tells him to walk. For carrying his mat—working—the man is then confronted by local religious leaders, but 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—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 more or less avoiding 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 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 gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 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”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.