In brief
The paralytic at Bethesda is a man sick for thirty-eight years, lying among a crowd of invalids by the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, waiting for the moving of the water (John 5:1-9). Jesus sees him, knows how long he has suffered and asks if he wants to be made well. The man says he has no one to put him into the pool. Jesus tells him to arise, take up his mat and walk; he is healed at once, on a Sabbath. Found in the temple, he is told: “Sin no more.”
What does the name The Paralytic at Bethesda mean?
The Bible does not give his name. John calls him only a man who “had been sick for thirty-eight years” (John 5:5), then “him who was cured” (John 5:10). He is called the paralytic at Bethesda because he lies, unable to reach the water in time, among those described in verse 3 as “paralyzed,” and because the pool bears the Hebrew name Bethesda.
The story of The Paralytic at Bethesda
A crowd of sick people by the sheep gate
John 5:1-4Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. By the sheep gate there is a pool called in Hebrew “Bethesda,” having five porches. In them lay “a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.” Everyone hopes to be the first to step into the stirred water and be healed.
Thirty-eight years of sickness, and a question
John 5:5-6Among them is a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus sees him lying there and knows he has been sick a long time. He asks a surprising question: “Do you want to be made well?” No one has told Jesus about this man; he knows him. And he does not heal him without speaking to him: he addresses his will.
“I have no one”
John 5:7The man does not answer yes; he lays out his helplessness: “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.” For years he has watched others go ahead of him. He has put his hope in the water, and he has no one to take him there.
Arise, take up your mat, and walk
John 5:8-9Jesus does not help him reach the pool and does not wait for the water to move. He commands: “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.” “Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked.” John adds a detail with heavy consequences: “it was the Sabbath on that day.” The word of Jesus is enough where the water never was.
The Sabbath and the religious leaders
John 5:10-13The Jews see not a man healed after thirty-eight years but a man carrying his mat on the Sabbath, which is not lawful. He answers simply: “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” They ask who this man is, but the healed man does not know: Jesus had withdrawn into the crowd.
Found in the temple: sin no more
John 5:14-15Jesus later finds him in the temple and says: “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” Healing of the body is not everything: Jesus calls him to a new life. The man then goes and tells the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. He now knows whom he owes his healing.
My Father is still working
John 5:16-18Because of this miracle on the Sabbath, the Jews persecute Jesus. He answers them: “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” They then seek all the more to kill him, because he called God his own Father, “making himself equal with God.” The healing of one man becomes the revelation of the identity of the Son.
Test your knowledge
What The Paralytic at Bethesda teaches us
- Jesus knows you and knows how long you have suffered: he comes to you before you even know who he is.
- When you have no one, Jesus is there: stop counting on the moving of the water or on the people who go ahead of you.
- The word of Jesus is enough: he did not help the man reach the pool, he commanded him to arise.
- Healing of the body is not the end: Jesus also wants you to break with sin and walk with him.
- Do not let a religious rule blind you to the work of God, like those who saw only a mat carried on the Sabbath.
Key verses
Jesus sees the man, knows how long he has suffered and asks whether he wants to be made well. The Lord knows your situation and speaks to your will.
At a single word from Jesus, the man sick for thirty-eight years arises, takes up his mat and walks. The power of Christ depends on no water and no superstition.
Jesus finds the healed man in the temple and calls him to sin no more. Physical healing opens onto a deeper question: the relationship with God and sin.
Accused of breaking the Sabbath, Jesus answers that his Father is still working and so is he. The miracle reveals the Son, equal to the Father, who has authority over the Sabbath.
Bible verses to meditate on
Sermons about The Paralytic at Bethesda
- Bethesda: Jesus Knows Your 38 Years of SufferingSamuel Mabboux contrasts the superstition of the stirred water with the power of Jesus, who crosses the crowd to speak to a man who has been lying there for thirty-eight years. Bethesda, “house of mercy,” becomes the picture of a Savior who knows you better than you know yourself.
- Bethesda: When Jesus Meets You in Your HelplessnessBill Cameron stops on one word: helplessness. The paralytic at Bethesda is your portrait: you were completely unable to act for your own salvation, and Jesus came to you, with no tradition or superstition, by his word alone.
- Don't Lose Sight of God: The Lesson of BethesdaThe question “Do you want to be made well?” is not a test of faith for a man who does not yet know Jesus: it aims at the small remnant of will that remains in him. The religious leaders, for their part, see only a mat carried on the Sabbath.
- John 5: You Are Not Alone, Count on the LORDPastor Israël picks up a sentence from the paralytic: “I have no one.” He turns it toward the congregation: stop trusting in people who disappoint and turn your eyes back to the Lord, for there was Someone.
Frequently asked questions
Who was the paralytic at Bethesda in the Bible?
He is a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years, lying among the sick under the porches of the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem (John 5:1-9). Jesus asks whether he wants to be made well; he answers that he has no one to put him into the water. Jesus tells him to arise and walk, and he is healed at once, on a Sabbath. The Bible does not give his name.
Why does Jesus ask him “Do you want to be made well?”
The text does not comment on this question. John only notes that Jesus knew the man had been sick a long time before asking it (John 5:6). Many preachers see in it a call to express desire or faith, since Jesus does not heal this man without speaking to him. The sick man’s answer above all reveals his helplessness: he has no one.
Where is the story of the paralytic at Bethesda found in the Bible?
The account is found only in the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verses 1 to 18: the healing by the pool of Bethesda (5:1-9), the controversy over the Sabbath (5:10-13), the meeting in the temple (5:14-15) and Jesus’ answer about his Father (5:16-18), which opens a long discourse on the Son.