Take Up Your Mat and Walk

John 5

​In the Garden of Eden, the Father “broke” His Sabbath rest to help two sinners lost in the wilderness and hiding from the truth; Jesus followed His example in John 5 by healing by the Pool of Bethesda amidst the blind, lame and paralyzed.

In the world of nature, the Father is healing bodies, multiplying food, turning water into wine, and so much more from His grace and mercy, and His presence, power, and transcendence; but He sometimes takes longer to do those things.
However, Jesus’ miracles are the Father’s works done instantly. Whether instantly or gradually, they are wonderful and powerful works of our Sovereign God.

“After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.” John 5:1–9 (ESV)

Dr. Tony Evans writes, “Jesus’s question suggests that some people have been stuck in their negative circumstances for so long that they have given up hope that things can ever change. God’s work occurs in cooperation with our will. Keep hoping... The healing was so near and yet so far away. The man’s situation was hopeless, and he had no one to offer him aid... Wherever your bed is, that’s where your home is. Thanks to Jesus, this man would no longer be sleeping in a place of despair. It was time to roll up his mat and find a new home.”

“So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” John 5:10-14 (ESV)

The Jewish religious leaders considered picking up a mat to be work and, therefore, prohibited on the Sabbath and created an opportunity for more judgement. They had taken a divine command, like the Sabbath that provided physical rest for God’s people, and erroneously turned it into a human restriction on acts of mercy and grace. John’s words indicate that the healed man preferred to listen to Jesus, who spoke with compassion, forgiveness, authority, and miraculous power, not leaders who were just practicing religion and passing judgement like dealing a deck of cards! He had lain there for thirty-eight years, and the religious leaders had never sought to aid in his healing or move him near the water.

"The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.” John 5:15–21 (ESV)

While Jesus was changing lives, the leaders were playing religion. No matter how much religious activity you are engaged in, if you’re not in the life-changing business, then you’re not in the business of Jesus. No matter which day of the week it was, God the Father was engaged in kingdom work; therefore, his Son was too. As John himself in John 1:1, has already said, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But as far as the leaders were concerned, Jesus’s claims were blasphemy. The point here is that healing this man from his spiritual and physical infirmities on the Sabbath was not blasphemy but an act of God, as He is always prepared to forgive one’s sin and restore life; save and redeem.

“For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. 30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” John 5:22–30 (ESV)

"Today, Jesus is the Savior; tomorrow, He will be the Judge. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11–15 (ESV)

Warren Wiersbe writes, “Even death cannot keep lost sinners from the judgment, for He will raise them from the dead. There is no escape, except faith in Jesus Christ”

He continues in his Word Commentary to explain the remainder of John 5 discussing the worship and worship. He writes, “If you worship God the Father, you must also worship the Son; and if you dishonor the Son, you dishonor the Father. Those who claim to worship God but ignore the Son are not even worshiping God! They are only fooling themselves.”

How can anyone deny that Jesus is the Son of God when so many witnesses affirm that He is: John the Baptist, the miracles, the Father; Mark, and the Scriptures? But when people believe on Him, they have the witness within themselves.

“If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:9–13 (ESV)

Do you know that you have eternal life in Jesus? Have you accepted Him as your personal Lord and Savior? Do you need to admit that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, repent from your sin, and receive His healing and redemption today?
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Today, know that Jesus’ miracles are the Father’s works done instantly and He awaits to heal you spiritually and make you whole.

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