John 5

The Explanation

In Jerusalem, near the gate where the sheep were brought in, there was a pool with five porches. Under those porches lay people who could not walk. Blind people. People whose legs would not move. They lay on mats on the cold stone, waiting.

Waiting for what? For the water to move. People said that when the water stirred, the first one in would be made well. So everyone watched that water like a hawk.

One man had been sick for thirty-eight years. Think about that. Longer than your mother and father have been alive, maybe. Every time the water rippled, someone else got there first. Every single time.

Then a man stopped beside his mat. "Do you want to be made well?"

The sick man did not even look up properly. He had heard questions before. "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up," he said. "But while I'm coming, another steps down before me."

Nobody. That was his whole problem. Nobody to carry him. Nobody who cared.

Jesus did not carry him to the water. He said something better: "Arise, take up your mat, and walk."

And right then, at once, the man's legs worked. Thirty-eight years of lying down, and now he stood. He rolled up his mat, tucked it under his arm, and walked away.

But it was the Sabbath, the special rest day. Some of the leaders saw him and said, "It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat."

The man said, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'"

"Who was it?" they asked. And he did not know. Jesus had slipped away into the crowd. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said, "Behold, you are made well. Sin no more."

The leaders were angry. Very angry. Not because a man could walk again. Because Jesus had done it on the rest day. And then Jesus said something that made them even angrier: "My Father is still working, so I am working, too."

His Father. God. Jesus was saying: I am God's own Son. Whatever my Father does, I do too. He said the dead would one day hear His voice and live again. Whoever hears His word and believes has passed out of death into life.

Would you have believed Him? Some did not. Jesus told them, "You search the Scriptures… and these are they which testify about me." They read God's book every day, and missed the One the book was about, standing right in front of them.

What Does This Mean?

Jesus did not wait for a rippling pool. He did not need magic water or a head start. He only had to speak, and a man who had not walked since before Jesus was born stood up.

And notice who Jesus went to. Not the strongest one at the pool. The one who had lost every race. The one who said, "I have no one." Jesus went straight to him.

The Common Thread

All through the Bible, God's voice makes things happen. God said "Let there be light," and there was light. Now Jesus says "Arise," and a man rises. That is not a coincidence. That is the Son doing what His Father does.

And Jesus promised something bigger. One day everyone in the graves will hear that same voice and come out. The voice that lifted a man off a mat will one day lift people out of death itself. That is why Easter is not a surprise ending. It was always where this was going.

For You

Look around this week for the person nobody is helping. The kid standing alone by the fence. Your little brother who cannot reach the tap. Be the "somebody" that man never had. And when you pray tonight, say the name of one person who is sick or sad. Jesus still hears.

Talk About It

If Jesus asked you, "Do you want to be made well?", what would you want Him to fix?

Why do you think the leaders got angry instead of happy?

Praying Together

Lord Jesus, You saw the man nobody saw. Thank You that Your voice is strong enough to lift people up. Help me to notice someone who is left out this week. Amen.