PICK UP YOUR MAT – Jesus is Lord over all creation and values all people.

JOHN 5:5-16

MEMORY VERSE: JOHN 5: 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

Pity usually involves our response to a situation. We define a person by what he or she is experiencing. Compassion usually involves our response to a person. We define the experience by how the person is impacted. Compassion tends to move us toward acting because our focus is on the person and not the situation. We see Jesus showing both pity and compassion as he interacted with an unnamed lame man.

THE CONTEXT (JOHN 5:1-47)

Why does God choose to heal some people and not others? Only in His divine providence can we rest in the knowledge that His love for everyone does not eliminate anyone from His care. In John 5, the apostle highlighted Christ’s compassion and His unconditional love.

On His way into Jerusalem for an unspecified festival, Jesus found a large number of people gathered as usual around the Pool of Bethesda. Located just inside the northeastern wall of the city, the pool offered refreshment for Jesus and other travelers coming through the Sheep Gate. Possibly the gate’s name came from its being the place where sheep were brought for sacrifice or for the marketplace. Bethesda was one of several large water reservoirs for Jerusalem. The pool rested on two levels with porches, or colonnades, surrounding the four sides. Another wall divided the upper and lower levels.

In addition to pilgrims who stopped to wash and rest, many sick and injured people gathered on the porches. They believed that an angel occasionally stirred the water and the first persons into the pool would be healed. Among those needing help, Jesus focused on one lame man. After healing the man, Jesus told him to take his mat and go home. When inquiring Jews – religious leaders – began to question him about Sabbath violations, the man pointed them toward Jesus, though he didn’t know His identity at first. This set up the first of many confrontations between Jesus and the religious leaders recorded in John’s Gospel.

Jesus used the conflict as an opportunity to declare Himself to be the Messiah, God’s Son. In an extended discourse, Jesus described His relationship with the Father. The Jewish leaders denounced His “work” on the Sabbath, but Jesus worked just as the Father worked. He was intimately aware of the Father’s desires and did only what He saw the Father doing. As the Father had power to bestow life, the Son offered eternal life to all who believed in Him. Jesus prophesied of the coming day when people would hear and respond to the Son’s voice and live.

As Jesus continued to demonstrate His divine nature and power, He declared ways the Father had validated the Son. Evidence of His authority came from the Father. His works (such as healing), His judgment, and His power derived not from human sources but from His deity.

COMPASSION EXPRESSED (JOHN 5:5-9a)

5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

If someone with a short-term illness finds healing, the recovery could be attributed to natural processes or medical treatment. When Jesus healed people with long-term problems, though, He never hesitated to identify the Source. In Scripture, He healed a man who was blind since birth (John 9:1-34) and a woman who suffered a blood disease for twelve years. He also healed the man in this story, who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. Perhaps Jesus chose him because he had been lame for so long. Since doctors could obviously do nothing for him, God the Son chose to intervene.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

This pool was the destination for many sick people who came in desperation - the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. They believed that the first persons in the pool after the water was stirred by angels would be healed. Solely based on Jesus’ purpose and compassion, Jesus approached the man. Jesus understood the condition of his body and his heart. Jesus’ words addressed both.

Jesus asked the question: “Do you want to get well?” Would he be willing to act on faith to receive healing? Unfortunately, many people fail to seek God’s help with their problems. Because of their unbelief and inaction, they miss opportunities to experience the Lord’s mercy.

Faith is an important act of responding to our Creator God. God takes stock of people who believe and obey. Jesus put this person in a situation with his confrontation to stir up his mind and make the person think.

Hebrews 11: 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

What would the man do? Would he have the faith to simply take action and try to get up, or just make no effort at all because he did not believe enough to try? The man had no idea who Jesus was.

8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

9a At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Jesus commanded the man: “Get up!” Jesus often demanded personal action as evidence of belief. He rarely healed anyone without requiring some step of faith. The man had to act solely on Christ’s word.

In the same sentence, Jesus added to the instructions. Having risen, the man was to “pick up your mat and walk”. Someone who had been lame for so long would have experienced severe atrophy of the leg muscles. Yet, Jesus expected him not only to stand up on his own, but also to lift the mat on which he had been lying and carry it. Anyone standing nearby and watching this interaction would have been astonished.

The man’s response and healing were immediate. Instantly, he got well. Jesus does not command us without giving us the ability to carry out His instructions. The man perceived strength entering his broken body. Limbs that had lain lifeless began to move. Believers should offer compassion to all people. Like the man in the story, many needy people have no one to help them. God puts us in their paths so we can be His channel of blessing.

LEGALISM EXPOSED (JOHN 5:9b-13)

9bThe day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'"

Understanding Jewish ritual around the Sabbath is key to understanding the significance of both Jesus’ actions and His commands. Through the years, scribes and other teachers had added to the biblical law with an unbiblical result. Through that lens, Jesus violated the Sabbath by healing the man because that was considered work. Likewise, the man was breaking the rules because he was not allowed to carry anything on the Sabbath. So, as the man walked home with his mat, he was confronted by the Jews. John used this phrase to designate the religious leaders who upheld the Sabbath laws and opposed Jesus.

Sadly, the religious leaders were more concerned with an apparent breach of the Sabbath than the fact that the man had been healed. Actually, the Mosaic laws did not specify such minor matters. While it did exclude most forms of work, it focused more on the holiness of the day than on the minor tasks of living (Ex. 10:8-11). Over time, the religious leaders had expanded the definitions of what the law prohibited. By the first century, Jewish rabbis had identified thirty-nine types of “work” forbidden on the Sabbath.

12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

Naturally, the Jews wanted to know “Who is this fellow?” These accusers were not concerned that the man was made whole, and they were not impressed that someone else had healed him. Their main concern was that Jesus had instructed this man to break the Sabbath law. Legalism negates the spirit of God’s law by magnifying ritual and human tradition to the exclusion of love and compassion.

13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

IDENTITY EXPOSED (JOHN 5:14-16)

14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

Later on, Jesus deliberately sought the man out and found him in the temple. After 38 years, he could finally enter the house of God. Jesus came looking for him.

Interestingly, Jesus cautioned the man, even though he was now well. Having been blessed with restoration of his limbs, he was grateful. Jesus warned him that he should “stop sinning”. Too often, people experience God’s grace, only to forget their changed circumstances and return to their old lifestyle.

15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.

The Jewish leaders had so intimidated the man after his healing for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. The man wanted to shift the blame from himself to another, so he told the religious leaders that it was Jesus who made him carry his mat on the Sabbath. You would think that the man would want to be more appreciative of what Jesus had done for him and keep silent. The man betrayed the One to whom he owed everything to gain the favor of those he owed nothing.

The Jews began persecuting Jesus as a result of His actions on the Sabbath. Jesus explained His right to heal on the Sabbath came from His relationship with His Father. Because He not only had broken their Sabbath law, but then claimed equality with God, these leaders became enraged and sought Jesus’ life.

Believers can celebrate the works of Jesus. Instead of being timid when it comes to testifying about Christ, we should proclaim His glory to everyone. People need to know why we follow Jesus. They also need His saving work in their lives. By glorifying Him, we can be His witnesses.