Now
it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat.” He answered them, “He who made me well, the same said to me, ‘Take up your mat, and walk.’” Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your mat, and walk’?” But he who was healed didn’t know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
John 5:10-15
John 5 [8.] Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”
John 5 [9.] Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked.
Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat.”
John 5 [11.] He answered them, “He who made me well, the same said to me, ‘Take up your mat, and walk.’”
John 5 [12.] Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your mat, and walk’?”
John 5 [13.] But he who was healed didn’t know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.
John 5 [14.] Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
John 5 [15.] The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
John 5 [24.] “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
Meaning:
Jesus has just healed a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years, telling him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk” (John 5:8). Now John adds a detail that turns joy into controversy: it was the Sabbath. What follows sets the religious leaders against Jesus (John 5:16-17).
- “It is not lawful for you to carry the mat”
“The Jews” here, as often in John, means the religious authorities in Jerusalem. The Law commanded rest on the seventh day: “You shall not do any work in it” (Exodus 20:10). Through Jeremiah God had warned, “bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 17:21-22). Jewish teachers counted carrying objects among the forbidden kinds of work. The leaders see only a broken rule; they show no joy that a man sick for decades is walking, like the synagogue ruler who protested, “come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!” (Luke 13:14).
- “He who made me well, the same said to me”
The man’s defence is simple: the one who had power to heal him also told him to carry his mat. Without realizing it, he raises the real question of the chapter: who is this man, that he speaks with such authority? Jesus would later teach that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
- “He who was healed didn’t know who it was”
The man had not even learned Jesus’ name, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd. The healing was an act of pure grace to a man who did not know his healer.
- “Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you”
Jesus seeks the man out again in the temple, caring not only for his body but for his soul. His words raise the question of whether the man’s illness had been caused by sin. Some readers think Jesus implies a link here; others note that elsewhere he denied that a man’s blindness was caused by anyone’s sin (John 9:3) and warned against judging sufferers as worse sinners (Luke 13:2). What is clear is that Jesus calls him to turn from sin, as he told the woman caught in adultery, “From now on, sin no more” (John 8:11). The worse thing Jesus warns of is most naturally understood as judgment, more serious than any illness.
- “Told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well”
Some see ingratitude or self-protection in this; others think he simply answered the authorities honestly, or even bore witness to his healer. John does not tell us his motive. Whatever he intended, his report led the leaders to persecute Jesus, and Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too” (John 5:17).
The Significance of John 5:10-15
- People matter more than rules
The leaders could not rejoice at a miracle of mercy. God’s commands are given for our good, never to stand in the way of compassion.
- Healing calls for holiness
Jesus healed the man freely, then called him to leave sin behind. Grace does not leave us as we were; it calls us to a new life.
Cross-References:
Jeremiah 17:21-22: “Bear no burden on the Sabbath day.” The command behind the leaders’ objection.
Mark 2:27: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Jesus on the purpose of the Sabbath.
John 8:11: “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.” Grace and a call to holiness.
Conclusion: In John 5:10-15 the religious leaders object that the healed man is carrying his mat on the Sabbath, and he answers that the one who healed him told him to do so. Later Jesus finds him in the temple and warns him to sin no more, and the man tells the leaders it was Jesus who healed him. The passage contrasts rigid rule-keeping with Jesus’ compassion and shows that his grace calls people to a changed life.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible