(REFLECTIONS ON John 5:1-12)

10 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”

As Jesus continued to move, to work, to do the Father’s will, He continued to show the rules according to the kingdom of God in the midst of conflict with the rules according to Jewish tradition. Jewish tradition, although seen by the Jews as God’s rules, lacked the relational component necessary to be His heart and will for His people.

Similar to what Jesus already showed in John 4, that ethnic distance and physical distance cannot hinder the work of God, Jesus again shows by the pool of Bethesda that His work doesn’t require magical waters, which discriminates between those that can get into the water first, and those that cannot, that there is healing and kingdom work in His words alone.

As the man who had been lying there for thirty-eight years was immediately healed by Jesus’ words, he did as Jesus commanded and picked up his pallet and began to walk. However, according to the Jews, it was not permissible for him to carry his pallet on the Sabbath.

Jesus healed the man with His words, bringing Him into relationship with Him, but the Jews said with their rules outside of relationship, it is not permissible. Jesus connected Himself with the man by seeing Him, speaking to Him, and thus made healing possible, but the Jews didn’t care about the man’s needs and healing, because all they cared about were the rules.

It is not permissible is a statement based on rules and regulations, but “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk,” is a statement based on grace, mercy, and relationship. Brothers and sisters, as we interact with the world and with one another as the church, will we be a church that walks in the sphere of it is not permissible, or in the grace, mercy, and relationship of “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk?”

Are we too eager to say, “it is no permissible,” or are we willing to put down our weapons, which at times are our rules and regulations, and be relational rather than be judgmental? Let our words be as Jesus’ words, words that bring people into relationship with the church and with God, and that do the impossible, rather than hinder people from being healed, getting up, picking up their pallet, and walking with the Lord.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: John 5