Frameworks:
John's Gospel, chapter 5
(The
objective of these ‘Frameworks' is to provide an easy-to-read
layout of the text in order then to use these individual verses
for verse-by-verse study or meditation. To focus each
verse we have also added in italic a description of what is happening)
CHAPTER
5
v.1-15
The Healing at the Pool
v.16-30
The Authority of the Son
v.31-47
Testimonies About Jesus
v.1-15
The Healing at the Pool
v.1
(Jesus goes to Jerusalem again for one of the annual
feasts) Some time later, Jesus
went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
v.
2 (there was a place of supposed
healing there) Now there is
in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called
Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
v.
3 (the sick and disabled were there)
Here a great number of disabled people
used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
v.
5 (one had been invalid for 38
years) One who was there had
been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
v.
6 (Jesus asked him if he wanted
to get better) When Jesus saw
him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition
for a long time, he asked him, “Do
you want to get well?”
v.
7 (the man said he was unable to)
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have
no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While
I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
v.
8 (Jesus commanded him to walk)
Then Jesus said to him, “Get
up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
v.
9 (immediately he was healed)
At once the man was cured; he picked
up his mat and walked.
v.
9,10 (it was a Sabbath which caused
problems for the religious authorities) The
day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish
leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath;
the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
v.
11 (the man blames Jesus)
But he replied, “The man who made
me well said to me, ‘Pick
up your mat and walk.' ”
v.
12 (they ask who it was) So
they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up
and walk?”
v.
13 (the man didn't know) The
man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped
away into the crowd that was there.
v.
14 (Jesus met him and challenged
him) Later Jesus found him at
the temple and said to him, “See,
you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen
to you.”
v.
15 (the man reported him to the
authorities) The man went away
and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him
well.
v.16-30
The Authority of the Son
v.
16 (this upset the authorities)
So, because Jesus was doing these
things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.
v.
17 (Jesus referred to his Father
working) In his defence Jesus
said to them, “My Father is
always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
v.
18 (this upset them even more)
For this reason they tried all the
more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he
was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with
God.
v.
19,20 (Jesus equated his actions
with God's) Jesus gave them
this answer: “Very truly I
tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what
he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the
Son also does. For the Father
loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show
him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.
v.
21 (they are both in the life-giving
business) For just as the Father
raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life
to whom he is pleased to give it.
v.
22,23 (judgment has been given to
Jesus) Moreover, the
Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
that all may honour the Son
just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son
does not honour the Father, who sent him.
v.
24 (believing in Jesus' words
brings eternal life) “Very truly
I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me
has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from
death to life.
v.
25 (the dead, he says, will hear
and will live) Very truly I
tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will
hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
v.
26 (God has given him life to impart)
For as the Father has life in himself,
so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
v.
27 (and authority to judge)
And he has given him authority to
judge because he is the Son of Man.
v.
28,29 (the resurrection will prove
it) “Do not be amazed at this,
for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear
his voice and come out—those
who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have
done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
v.
30 (Jesus only does his Father's
bidding) By myself I can do
nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for
I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
v.31-47
Testimonies About Jesus
v.
31 (he doesn't testify to himself
) “If I testify about myself,
my testimony is not true.
v.
32 (yet another does testify on
his behalf) There is another
who testifies in my favour, and I know that his testimony about
me is true.
v.
33 (John testified) “You
have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.
v.
34 (not that Jesus relies on that)
Not that I accept human testimony;
but I mention it that you may be saved.
v.
35 (John was a light bringer though)
John was a lamp that burned and gave
light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
v.
36 (nevertheless the Father's works
in him testify to him) “I have
testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the
Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify
that the Father has sent me.
v.
37,38 (and the Father has spoken
on his behalf) And the Father
who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never
heard his voice nor seen his form, nor
does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he
sent.
v.
39,40 (the scriptures testify to
him) You study the Scriptures
diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.
These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet
you refuse to come to me to have life.
v.
41,42 (he doesn't want their praise)
“I do not accept glory from
human beings, but I know you.
I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.
v.
43 (he comes only in his Father's
name) I have come in my Father's
name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his
own name, you will accept him.
v.
44 (they glory self-seekers so
they won't understand) How
can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do
not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
v.
45 (Moses is their accuser) “But
do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser
is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.
v.
46 (if they believed Moses they
would believe in him) If you
believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.
v.
47 (but they don't do either)
But since you do not believe what
he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”