This third sign in John's Gospel signaled Jesus' identity and created controversy that followed. Particularly it testified to Jesus' authority over time.209
5:1 Some time later Jesus returned to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the Jewish feasts and to use that occasion to minister. John did not specify which feast it was. Elsewhere in his Gospel when John identified the feast in view he did so because the events and teaching that followed had relevance to that particular feast (cf. 2:13; 6:4; 7:2; 10:22; 11:55). Here they did not. Consequently the identity of the feast is unimportant for the interpretation of the text.210John probably just mentioned it to explain Jesus' return to and presence in Jerusalem.
5:2 John frequently used the "historic (dramatic) present"tense to describe past events. Therefore this verse does not prove that he wrote his Gospel before the fall of Jerusalem.211
The Sheep Gate was evidently a gate in the north part of Jerusalem's wall just west of its northeast corner (cf. Neh. 3:1, 32; 12:39). Various Greek manuscripts refer to this pool as Bethesda, Bethsaida, Bethzatha, and Belzetha, but the first name is probably the correct one. It means "house of outpouring"or perhaps "house of mercy."212Evidently there were two pools with a covered colonnade or portico on all four sides of the complex and a fifth colonnade that separated the two pools.213
5:3a Many disabled people used to lie in these porticoes because of the healing properties in the water.
5:3b-4 This section of the text has doubtful authenticity. No Greek manuscript before 400 A.D. contains these words.214Evidently scribes added these statements later to explain the troubling of the waters that occurred periodically (v. 7).215However their explanations seem superstitious. These explanations appear to have been common in Jesus' day. A more probable explanation for the troubling of the water is the presence of springs that occasionally gushed water into the pools below the surface of the water.216Probably the (warm?) water had a high mineral content that had medicinal benefits for people suffering from muscle and joint problems.
5:5 This man's sickness appears to have been paralysis resulting in inability to walk at least (v. 7) that seems to have been a result of sin (v. 14). Perhaps a severe arthritic condition complicated his ailment. John's reference to the length of his illness seems to be just to document its seriousness and the man's hopeless condition. Some commentators tried to find symbolic significance in the 38 years, but that seems unwarranted to me.217
5:6 Jesus could have learned about the man's condition from others, or John may have written what he did to impress his readers with Jesus' supernatural knowledge. In Capernaum Jesus healed another paralytic lowered through the roof in front of him (Mark 2:1-12), but in this case He reached out to the man as one among many invalids. Jesus' question may have probed the man to discover if he had a desire for healing. Some people are perfectly content to remain in their miserable condition (cf. 3:19-20). Jesus only delivered people who wanted His help. Evidently this is the only person He healed this day even though there were many more whom He could have healed (v. 3; cf. Acts 3:2). He only saves people who want salvation and whom He sovereignly chooses to save (cf. 6:37).
5:7 Obviously the paralytic believed that only the first person to enter the water after its stirring would experience healing. This was probably the popular idea that arose from superstition. The man's statement that he had no one to help him appears to have been a veiled request that Jesus would volunteer to be that helper. The invalid had the desire for healing but not the means to obtain it.
"We must feel that, while faith was commonly the prerequisite of healing, it was not absolutely necessary. Jesus is not limited by human frailty as he works the works of God."218
5:8 Jesus' words healed the man (cf. vv. 25, 28-29; 11:43). They also instructed him (cf. Mark 2:11). Obviously Jesus had given him enough strength, as well as health, to carry his light mat.
5:9 The invalid experienced healing immediately. Jesus did instantly what God normally does slowly. When the man walked away carrying his mat, he testified to his healing. Normally we cannot immediately use muscles that we have not used for a long time because they atrophy, but this man had the full use of his muscles instantaneously. The prophets had predicted that when Messiah came He would heal the lame (Isa. 35:1-7). Here was proof for all Jerusalem to see that Messiah had appeared. He had healed a man whom sickness had bound for 38 years.
By carrying his pallet on the Sabbath the man triggered a controversy. By commanding him to do so Jesus was responsible for the situation that followed. Indeed He deliberately created it.
