The paralytic at the pool of Bethzatha
1 ① After this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool (called Bethzatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. 3In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people – blind, lame and paralyzed.
4(All were waiting for the water to move, for at times an angel of the Lord would descend into the pool and stir up the water; and the first person to enter after this movement of the water would be healed of whatever disease that person had.)
5There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6Jesus saw him, and since he knew how long this man had been lying there, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7And the sick man answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; so while I am still on my way, another steps down before me.”
8Jesus then said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” 9And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. 10So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, “It is the Sabbath and the Law doesn’t allow you to carry your mat.” 11He answered them, “The one who healed me said to me: Take up your mat and walk.” 12They asked him, “Who is the one who said to you: Take up your mat and walk?” 13But the sick man had no idea who it was who had cured him, for Jesus had slipped away among the crowd that filled the place.
14Afterwards Jesus met him in the Temple court and told him, ”Now you are well; don’t sin again, lest something worse happen to you.” 15And the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16So the Jews persecuted Jesus because he performed healings like that on the Sabbath.
17Jesus replied, “My Father goes on working and so do I.” 18And the Jews tried all the harder to kill him, for Jesus not only broke the Sabbath observance, but also made himself equal with God, calling him his own Father.
The work of the Son is to give life
19 ② Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by himself, but only what he sees the Father do. And whatever he does, the Son also does. 20The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does; and he will show him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed.
21As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom he wills. 22In the same way the Father judges no one, for he has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23and he wants all to honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever ignores the Son, ignores as well the Father who sent him.
24Truly, I say to you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; and there is no judgment for him because he has passed from death to life.
25Truly, the hour is coming and has indeed come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and, on hearing it, will live. 26For the Father has life in himself and he has given to the Son also to have life in himself. 27And he has empowered him as well to carry out Judgment, for he is a son of man.
28Do not be surprised at this: the hour is coming when all those lying in tombs will hear my voice 29and come out; those who have done good shall rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30 ③ I can do nothing of myself, and I need to hear Another One to judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
31If I bore witness to myself, my testimony would be worthless. 32But Another One is bearing witness to me and I know that his testimony is true when he bears witness to me. 33John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, 34but I do not seek such human testimony; I recall this for you, so that you may be saved.
35John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were willing to enjoy his light. 36But I have greater evidence than that of John – the works which the Father entrusted to me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness: the Father has sent me. 37Thus he who bears witness to me is the Father who sent me. You have never heard his voice and have never seen his likeness; 38then, as long as you do not believe his messenger, his word is not in you.
39You search in the Scriptures thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to me. 40But you refuse to come to me, that you may live. 41I am not seeking human praise; 42but I have known that love of God is not within you, 43for I have come in my Father’s name and you do not accept me. If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44As long as you seek praise from one another in stead of seeking the glory coming from the only God, how can you believe?
45Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. Moses himself in whom you placed your hope, accuses you. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. 47But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?
- Jn 5,1 Why did Jesus go to the Pool of Bethzatha? It is known that the said pool was a pagan place dedicated to Aesculapius, the God of health. Rumors abounded that, from time to time, the sick were healed there. The pious Jews, scandalized that healings should occur in a pagan place, maintained that people were healed not by Aesculapius but by an angel of the Lord. Unscrupulous Jews went there to seek a cure even from pagan idols. Jesus, too, went there, but in search of the sinner he wished to save. Note the sick man's first response. In this miraculus place many hoped for a cure but few were healed. By ourselves alone- I have no one - we cannot be saved. We need a Savior. Jesus disappears after the miracle. Some, people might have said that he was at ease in a pagan temple, or think he healed the sick in the name of their gods. Jesus will make himself known in the Temple of the true God, his Father. The Jews attacked Jesus because he worked on the sabbath day. Let us examine Jesus' reply more closely: My Father goes on working. It is well that people observe a day of rest to pay homage to God; yet God himself does not rest, nor is he absent from the world: he gives life to people. Being God-the-son, Jesus should imitate to God the Father instead of resting like people do. His enemies, on hearing him, were not mistaken about his claims: they wanted to kill him because he made himself equal with God (v. 18). Don't sin again... (v. 14). Jesus remingd the sick man of his lack of faith that led him to the pagan sanctuary where he waited in vain for 38 years, just as in former times the Israelites remained secluded 38 years in the oasis of Kadesh in the desert, without being able to enter the Promised Land. John noted this coincidence. He also understood that the cure in the pool represented baptism. Jesus' remark to the healed person is addressed to those who have been converted and baptized: Do not sin again. After this account the Christian faith is presented again. See commentary on John 3:11. It should be mentioned that in these discourses John the Evangelist is fond of repeating key words of the discourses seven times. Here, for example, we find the words sabbath, Jesus, and Moses seven times each; and the Father 14 times. John intends to contrast the Jewish religion instituted by Moses, whose major precept was the Sabbath rest, with that of the new times which Jesus came to inaugurate, wherein he enables us to know the Father. Jn 5,19 THE SON AND THE FATHER, THE RESURRECTION Jesus' opponents were surprised to see how he violated the law of the sacred rest; this, however, was only the first intervetion of Jesus (7:21). Jesus intends to do much more than just reform religion: he has come to renew the whole of creation. The books of the Old Testament spoke of God as only one. Now jesus shows us a new face of God: he is Father and has sent his son to complete his work. In all that he does, God endeavors to give us life, and the greatest of his works is the Resurrection. This rising from the dead does not mean to return to life but to begin a new and transformed life. The dead will rise again, of course (v. 28), but we can also speak of the resurrection in the lives of those who become believers. A word of Jesus accepted in faith gives us life and later takes root in us and transforms us. Together, the Father and the son raise us to new life. God's love, which engenders life, reaches us through the voice of Christ (v.25). Compare v. 25 and v.28. Jesus then is not only human like us. Though human, he is also divine and reveals to us another face of God. Jesus wants to replace in our minds any image of God as a jealous or paternalistic God. The gospel shows the Father giving all his authority to a human to Christ. This resonates with moderm psychology which teaches that a person in not fully adult until he liberates himself from parental authority. Our contemporary world rightly rejects a paternalistic God. On numerous occasions, Jesus called himself the son of Man (See explanation in Mark 8:27). Here John says a son of man (v. 27); that is, a Jewish idiom which means a human being. By being human, Jesus saves humanity from within. When Jesus claims to be the son, he repeats these two affirmations in various ways: - Everything that my Father does, I do; all that the Father has, I have. - and: I cannot do anything by myself. In this way, Jesus is a model for the sons and daughters of God. We also should commune with the Father, so that he may teach us his works: there is no Cristian life without prayer, that is, without a personal relationship with God. Jn 5,30 THE TESTIMONY To gain a direction in life, we need recongnize the messengers of God, we must be the people who do not look for praise from one another, and thus are not enslaved by false values. Whoever seeks the truth and mercy will recognize a communication of the Glory of God in the words and actions of God's more humble sevants. It pleases God when we recognize his witnesses. He desires everyone to honor the son just as his Father does. By believing in his son, we show ourselves worthy of his trust and thus become God's children, open to his life.
- Jn 5,1 Why did Jesus go to the Pool of Bethzatha? It is known that the said pool was a pagan place dedicated to Aesculapius, the God of health. Rumors abounded that, from time to time, the sick were healed there. The pious Jews, scandalized that healings should occur in a pagan place, maintained that people were healed not by Aesculapius but by an angel of the Lord. Unscrupulous Jews went there to seek a cure even from pagan idols. Jesus, too, went there, but in search of the sinner he wished to save. Note the sick man's first response. In this miraculus place many hoped for a cure but few were healed. By ourselves alone- I have no one - we cannot be saved. We need a Savior. Jesus disappears after the miracle. Some, people might have said that he was at ease in a pagan temple, or think he healed the sick in the name of their gods. Jesus will make himself known in the Temple of the true God, his Father. The Jews attacked Jesus because he worked on the sabbath day. Let us examine Jesus' reply more closely: My Father goes on working. It is well that people observe a day of rest to pay homage to God; yet God himself does not rest, nor is he absent from the world: he gives life to people. Being God-the-son, Jesus should imitate to God the Father instead of resting like people do. His enemies, on hearing him, were not mistaken about his claims: they wanted to kill him because he made himself equal with God (v. 18). Don't sin again... (v. 14). Jesus remingd the sick man of his lack of faith that led him to the pagan sanctuary where he waited in vain for 38 years, just as in former times the Israelites remained secluded 38 years in the oasis of Kadesh in the desert, without being able to enter the Promised Land. John noted this coincidence. He also understood that the cure in the pool represented baptism. Jesus' remark to the healed person is addressed to those who have been converted and baptized: Do not sin again. After this account the Christian faith is presented again. See commentary on John 3:11. It should be mentioned that in these discourses John the Evangelist is fond of repeating key words of the discourses seven times. Here, for example, we find the words sabbath, Jesus, and Moses seven times each; and the Father 14 times. John intends to contrast the Jewish religion instituted by Moses, whose major precept was the Sabbath rest, with that of the new times which Jesus came to inaugurate, wherein he enables us to know the Father. Jn 5,19 THE SON AND THE FATHER, THE RESURRECTION Jesus' opponents were surprised to see how he violated the law of the sacred rest; this, however, was only the first intervetion of Jesus (7:21). Jesus intends to do much more than just reform religion: he has come to renew the whole of creation. The books of the Old Testament spoke of God as only one. Now jesus shows us a new face of God: he is Father and has sent his son to complete his work. In all that he does, God endeavors to give us life, and the greatest of his works is the Resurrection. This rising from the dead does not mean to return to life but to begin a new and transformed life. The dead will rise again, of course (v. 28), but we can also speak of the resurrection in the lives of those who become believers. A word of Jesus accepted in faith gives us life and later takes root in us and transforms us. Together, the Father and the son raise us to new life. God's love, which engenders life, reaches us through the voice of Christ (v.25). Compare v. 25 and v.28. Jesus then is not only human like us. Though human, he is also divine and reveals to us another face of God. Jesus wants to replace in our minds any image of God as a jealous or paternalistic God. The gospel shows the Father giving all his authority to a human to Christ. This resonates with moderm psychology which teaches that a person in not fully adult until he liberates himself from parental authority. Our contemporary world rightly rejects a paternalistic God. On numerous occasions, Jesus called himself the son of Man (See explanation in Mark 8:27). Here John says a son of man (v. 27); that is, a Jewish idiom which means a human being. By being human, Jesus saves humanity from within. When Jesus claims to be the son, he repeats these two affirmations in various ways: - Everything that my Father does, I do; all that the Father has, I have. - and: I cannot do anything by myself. In this way, Jesus is a model for the sons and daughters of God. We also should commune with the Father, so that he may teach us his works: there is no Cristian life without prayer, that is, without a personal relationship with God. Jn 5,30 THE TESTIMONY To gain a direction in life, we need recongnize the messengers of God, we must be the people who do not look for praise from one another, and thus are not enslaved by false values. Whoever seeks the truth and mercy will recognize a communication of the Glory of God in the words and actions of God's more humble sevants. It pleases God when we recognize his witnesses. He desires everyone to honor the son just as his Father does. By believing in his son, we show ourselves worthy of his trust and thus become God's children, open to his life.
- Jn 5,1 Why did Jesus go to the Pool of Bethzatha? It is known that the said pool was a pagan place dedicated to Aesculapius, the God of health. Rumors abounded that, from time to time, the sick were healed there. The pious Jews, scandalized that healings should occur in a pagan place, maintained that people were healed not by Aesculapius but by an angel of the Lord. Unscrupulous Jews went there to seek a cure even from pagan idols. Jesus, too, went there, but in search of the sinner he wished to save. Note the sick man's first response. In this miraculus place many hoped for a cure but few were healed. By ourselves alone- I have no one - we cannot be saved. We need a Savior. Jesus disappears after the miracle. Some, people might have said that he was at ease in a pagan temple, or think he healed the sick in the name of their gods. Jesus will make himself known in the Temple of the true God, his Father. The Jews attacked Jesus because he worked on the sabbath day. Let us examine Jesus' reply more closely: My Father goes on working. It is well that people observe a day of rest to pay homage to God; yet God himself does not rest, nor is he absent from the world: he gives life to people. Being God-the-son, Jesus should imitate to God the Father instead of resting like people do. His enemies, on hearing him, were not mistaken about his claims: they wanted to kill him because he made himself equal with God (v. 18). Don't sin again... (v. 14). Jesus remingd the sick man of his lack of faith that led him to the pagan sanctuary where he waited in vain for 38 years, just as in former times the Israelites remained secluded 38 years in the oasis of Kadesh in the desert, without being able to enter the Promised Land. John noted this coincidence. He also understood that the cure in the pool represented baptism. Jesus' remark to the healed person is addressed to those who have been converted and baptized: Do not sin again. After this account the Christian faith is presented again. See commentary on John 3:11. It should be mentioned that in these discourses John the Evangelist is fond of repeating key words of the discourses seven times. Here, for example, we find the words sabbath, Jesus, and Moses seven times each; and the Father 14 times. John intends to contrast the Jewish religion instituted by Moses, whose major precept was the Sabbath rest, with that of the new times which Jesus came to inaugurate, wherein he enables us to know the Father. Jn 5,19 THE SON AND THE FATHER, THE RESURRECTION Jesus' opponents were surprised to see how he violated the law of the sacred rest; this, however, was only the first intervetion of Jesus (7:21). Jesus intends to do much more than just reform religion: he has come to renew the whole of creation. The books of the Old Testament spoke of God as only one. Now jesus shows us a new face of God: he is Father and has sent his son to complete his work. In all that he does, God endeavors to give us life, and the greatest of his works is the Resurrection. This rising from the dead does not mean to return to life but to begin a new and transformed life. The dead will rise again, of course (v. 28), but we can also speak of the resurrection in the lives of those who become believers. A word of Jesus accepted in faith gives us life and later takes root in us and transforms us. Together, the Father and the son raise us to new life. God's love, which engenders life, reaches us through the voice of Christ (v.25). Compare v. 25 and v.28. Jesus then is not only human like us. Though human, he is also divine and reveals to us another face of God. Jesus wants to replace in our minds any image of God as a jealous or paternalistic God. The gospel shows the Father giving all his authority to a human to Christ. This resonates with moderm psychology which teaches that a person in not fully adult until he liberates himself from parental authority. Our contemporary world rightly rejects a paternalistic God. On numerous occasions, Jesus called himself the son of Man (See explanation in Mark 8:27). Here John says a son of man (v. 27); that is, a Jewish idiom which means a human being. By being human, Jesus saves humanity from within. When Jesus claims to be the son, he repeats these two affirmations in various ways: - Everything that my Father does, I do; all that the Father has, I have. - and: I cannot do anything by myself. In this way, Jesus is a model for the sons and daughters of God. We also should commune with the Father, so that he may teach us his works: there is no Cristian life without prayer, that is, without a personal relationship with God. Jn 5,30 THE TESTIMONY To gain a direction in life, we need recongnize the messengers of God, we must be the people who do not look for praise from one another, and thus are not enslaved by false values. Whoever seeks the truth and mercy will recognize a communication of the Glory of God in the words and actions of God's more humble sevants. It pleases God when we recognize his witnesses. He desires everyone to honor the son just as his Father does. By believing in his son, we show ourselves worthy of his trust and thus become God's children, open to his life.
