The Lord of the Puddles Text: John 5:1-17
Introduction: Religion of the Stairmaster
We live in an age that is simultaneously obsessed with wellness and allergic to true health. Our culture is filled with therapeutic remedies, self-help gurus, and spiritualities that function like a cosmic Stairmaster. The basic premise is that if you just try hard enough, if you find the right technique, if you get to the front of the line, you can fix yourself. This is the religion of human effort, a works-righteousness that wears a lab coat or a yoga mat instead of a phylactery. It is the old lie of the Pharisees, just dressed in Lululemon.
The scene at the pool of Bethesda is a perfect picture of this kind of religion. It is a place of desperate, competitive works. It is a microcosm of the world's approach to salvation. You have a multitude of broken people, all gathered around a supposed source of healing, but the system is based on superstition, timing, and being faster than the next guy. It is a theology of "first come, first served." It is a picture of utter hopelessness masquerading as a religious hot spot. And it is into this pathetic and striving scene that the Lord of the Sabbath, the true source of all healing, walks. He does not come to endorse the system, or to give the man a better strategy for getting into the water first. He comes to blow the whole system up with a word of effortless, sovereign power.
This story is a direct confrontation between two religions. The first is the religion of human striving, represented by the pathetic scene at the pool and the brittle legalism of the Pharisees. The second is the religion of divine grace, represented by the Lord Jesus Christ. One is about what man does. The other is about what God has done. And as we will see, when grace shows up, the religion of works is always, and without fail, offended.
The Text
After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered... And a man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sick a long time, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?" 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." Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your mat and walk." And immediately the man became well, and picked up his mat and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your mat and walk'?" 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. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." The man went away, and disclosed to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. And for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."
(John 5:1-17 LSB, selected)
A World of Competitive Misery (v. 1-5)
We begin with the setting, a place called Bethesda, which means "house of mercy."
"Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered..." (John 5:2-3)
This "house of mercy" is anything but. It is a warehouse of human suffering. The text notes that some manuscripts include a bit about an angel stirring the waters, and the first one in getting healed. Whether that bit is original or a later explanatory note, it accurately describes the belief system at work. This was a place governed by a folk superstition. It was a lottery. The mercy here was not free; it was a prize to be won by the quickest, or perhaps the one with the most helpful friends. It was a system that pitted the sick against the sick. It was Darwinian healing. The lame were in a footrace with the blind. What a picture of the world's religions. They offer a distant, capricious hope that can only be seized by the elite, the strong, and the quick.
And in this crowd of anonymous sufferers, John focuses our attention on one man. He has been sick for thirty-eight years. This is not a recent affliction. This is a long, slow, grinding misery. Thirty-eight years is a significant number. It is the length of time Israel wandered in the wilderness as a result of their unbelief (Deut. 2:14). This man is a living symbol of Israel's long years of spiritual paralysis and judgment. He is stuck, helpless, and his entire life has been defined by his inability.
The Offensive Question (v. 6-7)
Jesus singles this man out. And notice, Jesus already knew his situation. The omniscience of Christ is on full display. He doesn't need a medical chart. He then asks what seems to be a ridiculous question.
"When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sick a long time, He said to him, 'Do you wish to get well?'" (John 5:6 LSB)
Why would He ask this? Is it not obvious? But the question is profoundly insightful. After thirty-eight years, a man's identity can become completely fused with his affliction. His paralysis is not just what he has; it is who he is. Getting well would mean a radical upheaval of his entire existence. He would have to work, to take up responsibilities, to leave the only life he has ever known. Many people are comfortable in their misery because it is familiar. They prefer the victimhood they know to the responsibility they don't. Jesus is cutting to the heart. Does he truly desire restoration, or just a better shot at the magical puddle?
The man's answer is telling. He doesn't say yes. He gives an excuse. "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool..." He is still thinking within the framework of the world's system. His problem, as he sees it, is logistical. He needs a better strategy, more help, a leg up on the competition. He is blind to the fact that the Creator of the universe, the very source of all healing, is standing right in front of him. He is complaining about his lack of resources to the one who spoke the cosmos into existence.
Sovereign Grace and a Rolled-Up Bed (v. 8-9)
Jesus ignores the man's excuse and the entire superstitious system. He doesn't offer to help him into the pool. He speaks a word of sovereign power that bypasses the whole pathetic arrangement.
"Jesus said to him, 'Get up, pick up your mat and walk.' And immediately the man became well, and picked up his mat and began to walk." (John 5:8-9 LSB)
This is a divine command. It is not a suggestion. Jesus commands the man to do the very thing he is incapable of doing. And with the command comes the power to obey. This is how salvation works. God commands us, who are dead in our trespasses and sins, to repent and believe. We cannot do this on our own. But the command itself is the vehicle of divine, regenerative power. When God speaks, reality reconfigures itself to obey.
The healing is immediate and complete. There is no physical therapy, no slow recovery. Thirty-eight years of atrophy are reversed in an instant. And the proof of the healing is the command to carry the mat. This is not just about tidying up. The mat was the symbol of his old identity. It was his bed, his prison, his world. By carrying it, he is bearing witness to his own deliverance. He is carrying the trophy of his former life, now conquered by Christ.
The Real Sickness: Sabbath-Guards (v. 9-13)
But this act of glorious, life-giving mercy immediately runs afoul of the religious establishment. John dryly notes, "Now it was the Sabbath on that day."
"So the Jews were saying to the man who had been healed, 'It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.'" (John 5:10 LSB)
Here we see the deadness of legalism. A man who has been paralyzed for nearly four decades is now walking, and all they can see is a breach of their petty regulations. Their man-made traditions, their "oral law," had turned the Sabbath from a gift of rest and delight into a straightjacket of oppressive rules. They were more concerned with a rolled-up bed than with a restored human being. This is what happens when you worship the rules instead of the Rule-Giver. You become blind to glory and mercy. You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.
The healed man's defense is simple and profound: "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" His logic is impeccable. The authority to heal is a greater authority than the authority to interpret Sabbath regulations. If someone has the power to reverse 38 years of paralysis with a word, you should probably listen to what else he has to say. But the Pharisees are not interested in the healer. They only want to know the identity of the rule-breaker. They are spiritual detectives, looking for a crime, not spiritual worshipers, beholding a miracle.
A Worse Thing (v. 14-17)
Jesus finds the man later in the temple, and His words to him are sobering.
"Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." (John 5:14 LSB)
This is a crucial verse. Jesus directly connects this man's prior suffering to sin. This does not mean that all sickness is the direct result of a specific sin (cf. John 9:3). But it does mean that all sickness and death are the result of the fall. We live in a world broken by sin, and our bodies break along with it. In this man's case, there appears to have been a more direct link. But the warning is what matters. "Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." What could be worse than 38 years of paralysis? Hell. Eternal judgment. Jesus healed this man's body as a sign, pointing to the greater need to heal his soul. Physical healing is temporary if the soul remains in rebellion. Jesus is telling him not to mistake the sign for the reality. The goal of the miracle was not just to get him on his feet, but to get him on his knees before God.
The story concludes with the central conflict. The man identifies Jesus, and the persecution begins. Jesus' defense is a staggering claim to divinity: "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working." The Pharisees understood exactly what He was saying. God's work of sustaining the universe, of giving life, does not cease on the Sabbath. By claiming the same prerogative, Jesus was making Himself equal with God. This is why they wanted to kill him. He was not just breaking their rules; He was claiming to be the one who wrote the rules. The healing was an act of creation, of restoration, and only God has the authority to do that kind of work, whenever He pleases.
Conclusion: Get Up
This account is a portrait of our own salvation. We are all that man by the pool. We are spiritually paralyzed, lying helpless in a world of broken systems and false hopes. We have been in this condition not for 38 years, but from birth. We are surrounded by the world's remedies, all of which require us to do something we are incapable of doing.
And Jesus comes to us, not asking about our strategy, but asking if we want to be made well. He doesn't offer to help us limp our way to salvation. He speaks a sovereign word: "Get up." He commands us to do what is impossible, and in that command, He gives the power to obey. He regenerates our dead hearts, and we stand up, spiritually, for the first time.
And what is the proof? We are to pick up our mat. We are to take the instruments of our old bondage and carry them as trophies of His grace. Our testimony is not that we found a way to get into the pool. Our testimony is, "The one who made me well, He is the one who told me to walk." Our salvation is not our work; it is His. And this is an offense to every legalist, to every self-help guru, to every religion of the Stairmaster. But it is life and peace to all who have heard His voice and, by His grace alone, have gotten up and walked.