John 5:13-14 English Standard Version

¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

What can be seen here is that the man that was healed had an encounter with God but did not know it was God. This is not a matter of Jesus healing a man who had placed his faith in Jesus. This is a sovereign act of God to show that God has power over all mankind and faith has nothing to do with the act of will on God’s part.

So why did God heal someone who had not placed his faith in Christ?

John 5:18-20 English Standard Version

Jesus Is Equal with God

¹⁸ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁹ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

God was calling out the religious leaders of the day, challenging their beliefs, their authority, and their priesthood. God provoked them to wrath. They loved their position and power over the people more than they loved God.

When God shows Himself to those who have not placed their faith in Christ, it is an opportunity to change their attitude about God.

Do we then believe?

Who tells us we cannot get up off our bed of shame?

John 5:10-12 English Standard Version

¹⁰ So the Jews^[a] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

Footnote ^[a] The Greek word Ioudaioi refers specifically here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, who opposed Jesus at that time; these are the ones telling us we cannot.

This man was waiting at the Bethesda pool and said to Jesus that he could not get up by himself to enter the pool upon seeing the stirring because he had no one to help him. Jesus said to the man to get up, take his bed and walk.

Here is a point often overlooked unless we can see his bed as a symbol of the man’s reproach. Jesus did not tell the man to leave his bed, but to take it with him.

We carry our shame with us but what is it that causes us to lay down on it again?

Others will tell us it is not lawful to take up our bed of shame when it is Jesus who has said for us to do so. Do we believe Jesus or do we believe everyone else that says we cannot?

The human condition says to us that eventually we will get tired and we will lay down again. This is true, but what makes any bed a bed of shame? It is how we use it that makes it a bed of shame.

How can we stop using it as a symbol of our shame?

Remember it is Jesus that tells us to get up, take our beds and walk away.