After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep [Gate] a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. 3 In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. [4] 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” 9 Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 11 He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” 13 The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there. 14 After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. 16 Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.'
In John 5:1–18, Jesus heals a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years near the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. This act takes place on a Sabbath, triggering opposition from religious leaders who accuse Jesus of violating the law and claiming equality with God (v.18). The man, unable to enter the pool on his own, represents human helplessness in the face of suffering and sin. Jesus, by his word alone, heals him, commanding, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk” (v.8). Later, Jesus warns him, “Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you” (v.14), linking spiritual health with moral responsibility.
In Jesus’ reference to the man being ill for thirty-eight years, scholars see a parallel to Deuteronomy 2:14, which refers to the Israelites' wandering in the desert waiting for the first generation to die off before Israel could enter the Promised Land. In this context, the number thirty-eight signifies a generation under divine judgment and waiting for redemption. The infirm man at Bethesda mirrors the condition of Israel in the wilderness: spiritually paralyzed, incapable of entering rest or fullness of life, until God intervenes. Jesus, by healing the man and commanding him to “Rise, take up your mat, and walk” (John 5:8), signifies the end of exile, the lifting of judgment, and the invitation to new life.
This passage reveals Christ’s identity as the Son of God, coequal with the Father, and the one through whom divine healing flows (John 5:17–18). His miraculous act is not merely a display of compassion, but a sign pointing to the deeper truth of the Incarnation—God actively restoring creation through His Word (cf. Col. 1:15–20; Heb. 1:1–3). Jesus not only heals physical infirmity but calls the man to conversion, a recurring theme in salvation history.
This healing anticipates the new life offered through baptism and the spiritual resurrection that believers undergo in Christ (cf. Rom. 6:4; 2 Cor. 5:17). Just as the man in the Gospel narrative could not save himself, so too humanity cannot be healed without grace (cf. Eph 2:8–9). That Jesus performs this act on the Sabbath is not incidental; it evokes the original rest of God at creation (Gen. 2:2–3) and the promise of eternal rest for the faithful (Heb. 4:9). By healing on the Sabbath, Christ reveals Himself as the one who fulfills the Sabbath by restoring what sin has broken. In Him, judgment is not the final word—mercy and renewal are. This moment of healing thus becomes a sign of the new creation inaugurated through the Incarnation, where divine rest and restoration are now found in communion with Christ.
During Lent, the Church invites believers to recognize their spiritual paralysis and turn to Christ for healing. The man’s long-suffering, Jesus’ command to sin no more, and the theme of restoration through the encounter with Christ resonate with the Lenten call to repentance, renewal, and preparation for Easter.
Lord Jesus, as You called the man at Bethesda to rise, so too call us out of our long wandering. Free us from the paralysis of sin, and guide us to walk in the grace of Your mercy. Amen!
Sources
- McSorley, Joseph. An Outline History of the Church by Centuries (From St. Peter to Pius XII). 2nd ed., B. Herder Book Co., 1944.
- Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
- Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
- Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
- Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: The Pentateuch. Four Courts Press, 2017
- Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Prentice Hall, 1990.
- Charpentier, Etienne. How to Read the Old Testament. Translated by John Bowden, 1981.
- Komonchak, Joseph, et al., editors. The New Dictionary of Theology.
Comments