John 5
Devotional by Becky Lanier
Read John 5
John 5
The Healing at the Pool
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 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. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?”
“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.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
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.”
But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
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.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Authority of the Son
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 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.
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. 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. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
“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. 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. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
“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. 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.
Testimonies About Jesus
“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.
“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
“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. 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. 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.
“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. 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. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
Devotional
Blasphemy. Treason. Sorcery. Jesus was accused of these crimes and more throughout his ministry, as Jewish religious leaders saw their status and power threatened by his teachings. In John 5, Jesus healed a lame man on the Sabbath, sparking intense conflict. The leaders’ outrage escalated when he then declared himself the Son of God (John 5:18).
Jesus responded by presenting witnesses to his deity: John the Baptist, Moses, and God himself (John 5: 33, 37, 45). He proclaimed that greater miracles were coming and delivered a transformative message: those who hear and believe in him escape judgment and receive eternal life (John 5: 24).
Instead of being amazed by Jesus’ miracle and message, the leaders persecuted him for working on the Sabbath (John 5: 16; see also Matthew 12:1-8). They studied Scripture diligently, believing strict adherence to the law was the path to salvation. (John 5:39), yet they failed to realize that Jesus is the fulfillment of all Scripture. Rather than seeking God’s glory, they sought each other’s approval (Luke 11:43 and John 5:44). Jesus identified their core problem: they couldn’t believe in him because God’s love was absent from their hearts (John 5:42).
This passage inspires me to examine my own heart. Am I more devoted to following Jesus or concerned with following rules? Do I seek to glorify God or impress others?
Are you focused on rules, checklists, and the perceptions of others or on truly hearing and believing Jesus?
I loved this direct, and thought provoking message to keep our daily focus on serving and modeling our lives around Jesus and only Jesus!
Jesus I believe you are the true Son of God, help me to stay focused on you and not the word of the world.
I believe in my Lord and Savior. I will always listen to him.📖🕊✝🙏
Believing and carrying the Holy Spirit within guides us to do what it is that God wants us to do 24/7. It is the barometer to carry out his will at the time designated by Him. Listening to our Holy Spirit to carry out His will. This is the tug to do the right thing. An example would be when God puts in your heart to walk up to someone and pray for them just because you feel that tug, and then finding out that the person was struggling with some issue. And needing that prayer. Listening to God through our Holy Spirit is the only rule and/or checklist we need to follow. Focus on that and you cannot go wrong. That is what Jesus did in our Devo.
Trust and obey.
There’s really NO other way…
This is indeed thought provoking, it definitely gives one pause and make you work harder to stay focus . To God Be The Glory.
This is a great reminder to always believe and trust in Jesus regardless of the circumstances. The world doesn’t have the final say nor can anyone judge us, heal us, or do the miracles that the Lord has done for us. Even after all the judgement and disbelief, he’s still make miracles happen to this day! Amen and thank you Jesus! Let’s continue to repent and follow Jesus!
I want to be led by the Holy Spirit to be and do what He wants…not blinded and satisfied by the world and its beliefs and ways. Jesus came to free me from that life!
Father God, may we love you with all our heart, with all our soul, and all our mind; and love our neighbors as ourselves. May all we do bring glory and honor to you, Father. Jesus, together let’s go about doing good, guided by the Holy Spirit.
God’s Love flow thru me I pray.
Lord help me not to focus on my checklist, or to impress others, but to focus on YOUR will and to Glorify you!
Help us Lord🙏🏾
Lord Jesus, fill me with Your Holy Spirit today to focus my gaze on You and Your will today. Help me to cast aside those issues in my life that would avert my focus on You! Thank You Jesus for loving me so!
Powerful passage today! I just recently asked the Lord to grant me rest, from striving and performing to seek self-value and worth. That my sacrifices, bible reading, prayer time and songs of praise would bring glory to the Father and not myself! Timely devotional!
I submit myself to your will, oh Lord. Let my life be a testimony of your love and mercy to the world! For your glory and honor🙏 Eternally grateful.🙌
Today I want to know you more Jesus, follow and please you, for your glory.
Help me focus on right things…God things, and not my own!
If I understand the situation clearly, my Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ promises that I will have eternal life if I hear and believe what He says about salvation. John 5:24 seems clear to me. God the Father has given His only Son Jesus the sole authority to judge me. And the Judge, Jesus Himself, guarantees me eternal life if I surrender and allow Him into my heart. I gladly fall to my knees at the feet of my Lord and Savior Jesus. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
“My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working.” God the Father and Jesus are always working, whether I witness it or not. Thank You that Your ways are trustworthy and so beyond my comprehension.
Lord, help me to also remember that
Your Glory > others’ approval.
Lord examine my heart. I pray that your overflowing love be a direct reflection of you. We want to honor and glorify you in everything we do.
Lately I’ve prayed for the things of this world to become distasteful and for God to give me an appetite for heavenly things. I also find myself doing things almost ritualistic which I know from past experience can lead to that a heck the box mentality. I ask Lord that you give me an appetite genuine desire to focus my whole being on you for the sake of having a true deep intimate relationship with you and not doing “Godly things” for show or just doing them because it somehow makes me holier and more righteous. I want to witness and live holy but birthed from a genuine desire for you to be the only reason I am those things. Teach me to walk in your wisdoms ways Lord not my own.
Life is packed with rules, laws and opinions. Those rules and opinions are not the problem, without rules the society would be chaos. The problem is where our focus is: Are we focused on the rules, the laws and the opinions?, or Are we focused on God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and obeying His word?: “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”
John 14:23 NASB1995
Praise the lord for my salvation. It comes through the Father and Jesus. Give me strength to focus on godly things and turn my eyes from worldly things. What a battle.⚔️
Jesus I believe you are the Son of God, and you rely only on the Father. Father God, help me to stay focused solely on you and not the things of this world.
May we have the wisdom to confront the rules of this world with spiritual authority, as Jesus did! 🙌🌎
I think this is a good devotion as what Pastor Jarrett talked about on 8-4-2024 in when we get busy and when he talked about is God not given the time you give to him for your day. It is a good way on behind the scenes of how Earthly fathers need to reflect on this.