John 5:2, commentary and pictures

At Jerusalem by the sheep market was the pool called Bethesda with five porches sheltering crowds of blind, halt, withered and otherwise helpless sufferers who waited for the troubling of the water by an angel at its season, believing whoever first stepped in afterward would be healed. The rush for the water favored the strong and left the weakest trampled aside in disappointment and death, as seen in one man with a helpless affliction who had waited thirty-eight years and despaired of ever reaching it first. Jesus came there alone on the Sabbath and healed that most afflicted sufferer and had him carry his bed publicly through the city, showing that works of mercy and relief of suffering are lawful and in keeping with the Sabbath as a blessing rather than a burden of human restrictions. That Sabbath cure revealed divine power and Sonship to the Eternal, leading many common people to recognize Him as Messiah and friend while the Pharisees seized on the carrying of the mat to accuse Him of Sabbath-breaking, persecute Him, and plot His death until He withdrew from Jerusalem to labor in Galilee. His coming to those who did not know One stood ready to give immediate relief, and His healing without requiring the man to reach the water, shows His longing to pour healing into every soul and free body and soul from long-bound affliction and sin, while the nearby sheep gate through which sacrificial beasts had long been led pointed to Jesus Himself as the great Antitype soon to be offered for the sins of the world near Gethsemane and Calvary.

Pool Location and Sufferers

Bethesda was a pool in Jerusalem by the sheep market, called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, and it had five porches. Those porches sheltered crowds of sick people who visited the pool and waited there for healing, sometimes spending nights there and returning day after day. The multitude was great and suffered from different maladies, impotent folk, blind, halt, withered.

Those waiting watched for the water to be troubled or stirred, believing it offered healing when its waters were thought to be moved by supernatural power. The common belief was that whoever first stepped in after the troubling would be made whole of whatever disease he had. At a certain season an angel went down into the pool and troubled the water. At the appointed time the crowd rushed forward toward the water.

Competition for the water left the weakest sufferers unable to reach it first, for the stronger seized the healing opportunity and pushed the helpless aside. In the rush people trampled men, women and children weaker than themselves. Many were disappointed in their hope of relief, and some died beside the pool. One man had waited there with a helpless, incurable affliction for thirty-eight years, repeatedly coming day and night but always beaten by others, and his persistent effort, doubt and anxiety further weakened him into despair.

Sabbath Significance and Aftermath

Jesus deliberately chose the Sabbath to heal the most afflicted sufferer at Bethesda and then told him to carry his bed through the city, so that the cure would become public and draw attention both to the work itself and to the one who had done it. That open carrying of the mat raised before all Jerusalem the question of what is lawful on the Sabbath. The healing recorded in connection with the pool should have convinced the onlookers that divine power was at work.

The act declared that relieving suffering is lawful on the Sabbath and that works of mercy are consistent with the day. It taught the sanctity of God's statutes freed from the senseless restrictions men had attached to them, showing the Sabbath as intended sacred rest and a blessing rather than a burden created by added human exactions, customs and traditions. Those traditions had turned the day of blessing into a burden and blinded men to its true purpose.

Such a display of healing power should have convinced the Jews of Sonship to the Eternal and of Messiahship. Many of the common people did recognize Jesus as their friend, justified Him, and defended His act of mercy. But men who were strict demanders of the law's exactions while failing its principles in their lives seized on the carrying of the mat as a pretext to condemn Him.

Because He had healed on the Sabbath the Pharisees and leading Jews persecuted Him with determined purpose to kill Him and to compass His death. They accused Him of Sabbath-breaking, questioned the healed man to perplex him, undermine his confidence and discredit his testimony, and eagerly watched for opportunity against Him. Jesus faced them, penetrating their purposes, and defended the act as in accordance with the Sabbath law, showing that if circumcising on the Sabbath is lawful it is certainly right to relieve the afflicted and make a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day. He called for righteous judgment and not judgment by appearance, gave His discourse in His own defense, and declared His Sonship to the Eternal before the Sanhedrin.

That Sabbath healing kindled the malice of the leading Jews until they plotted to take His life. It became no longer safe for Him to remain in the city. After this He stopped attending the national gatherings and withdrew from Jerusalem to Galilee to avoid needless conflict, making Capernaum the scene of His labors.

Savior's Compassion and Symbol

Jesus came alone to the pool, in meditation and prayer, on the Sabbath day while multitudes were going to the temple for worship. He knew beforehand that an act of healing then would stir strong prejudice against Him and His work, give those who greatly desired to accuse Him something to seize upon, and cut His work short. Yet He came to where wretched sufferers lay waiting and watching for what they supposed was their only chance of relief.

They did not know that One among them was always ready to hear the cry of the oppressed, the suffering, and the sorrowing and to give immediate relief. Christ longed to exercise His healing power for them all, to pour His healing waters into every soul and make every sufferer whole. He healed the helpless, despairing paralyzed man directly, without requiring him to reach the troubled water of the pool near the sheep market with its five porches. That healing of the impotent man at Bethesda illustrates Christ's power for the healing of the soul and belongs to His mission to care for the suffering and hopeless.

His power reaches both body and soul. It can free people from evil practices and passions that have bound them through long indulgence.

The sheep market by the pool points to the nearby sheep gate, which could be seen from the summit overlooking Jerusalem. For centuries the beasts for sacrificial offerings had been led through that gate. It was soon to open for Jesus Himself, the great Antitype toward whose sacrifice for the sins of the world all those offerings had pointed. That gate stood near the garden of Gethsemane and near Calvary.