Jesus Heals a Hopeless Man

After these things there was a holy day of the Judeans, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, called in Hebrew, Beth-zatha, which has five covered porches. In these lay a large crowd of sick people: the blind, the crippled, and the paralyzed, waiting for the water to be disturbed. For an angel went down into the pool at certain times, troubling the water. Then the first person to step in after the water was disturbed, was healed of whatever illness he had.

A certain man there had been ill for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him lying there. And knowing that he had been there a long time, He asked him, “Do you want to become well?”

The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is troubled. Instead, while I am getting there another steps down ahead of me.”

Jesus said to him, “Stand up, pick up your bedding, and walk.” In that instant the man was healed, and he took up his bedding and walked. Now this was on a Sabbath day.

So the Judeans said to the man who was healed, “It is the Sabbath! It is not lawful for you to carry your bedding.”

But he answered them, “The man who made me well, He said to me, ‘Pick up your bedding, and walk.’”

Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick up your bedding, and walk?”

But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had moved away, and so many people were there.

Jesus Claims Equality with God

Later on, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See? You are now well! Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

The man went away and told the Judeans that Jesus is the One who had healed him. And because of this the Judeans persecuted Jesus, because He did such things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father continues working to this very moment, and so I work.”

This made the Judeans want to kill Him all the more, because He not only broke the Sabbath but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

So Jesus responded by saying to them, “I tell you the absolute truth, the Son has no ability in Himself to do anything, except what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does in the same way. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all the things He Himself is doing. And He will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.

“For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them live, so also the Son gives life to whomever He will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

“I tell you the absolute truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has life that lasts forever, and will not come into judgment, but has crossed over from death into life.

“I tell you the absolute truth, the time is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of God’s Son, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has also given to the Son to have life in Himself; and has also given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Don’t be astonished by this, for a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come out — those who have done good, to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to a resurrection of judgment.

“I can do nothing on My own. Whatever I hear, I judge. And My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will but the will of the One who sent Me. If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who gives testimony about Me, and I know that the testimony that He gives about Me is true.

“You sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth. Nevertheless, I do not accept the testimony of men. But I say these things so that you may be saved. John was a lamp, burning and shining; and for a while you were willing to rejoice in his light.

“But I have a testimony greater than John’s. For the tasks that the Father gave Me to carry out, the very things that I do, they testify about Me that the Father did send Me. And the Father Himself who sent Me has given testimony about Me. You have never heard His voice. You have never seen His form. And you do not have His Word living in you, for you do not believe Him whom He has sent.

“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, and they bear witness to Me. But you not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

“I do not accept glory from men. But I have known you, that you have no love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept Me. If another comes in his own name, him you will accept. How can you believe? You accept praise from each another and do not seek the approval that comes from the only God.

“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, in whom you have hoped. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, since he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

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