Easter · Sixth Sunday of Easter · Year C
John 5:1-9
Do You Want to Be Healed
May 21, 2028
Overview & Insights
“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” (John 5:8)
The scene is set at a pool by the Sheep Gate, called Bethesda in most manuscripts, with five roofed colonnades; remains matching that description were excavated near the Church of St Anne, which recovered a detail long treated as pure symbolism. The reading stops at v. 9, and its final clause, that the day was a sabbath, is the hinge for everything after it: vv. 10 to 47 are controversy generated by that half sentence. Several features are unusual for John. The man asks for nothing, does not learn who healed him, and makes no confession, unlike the blind man of chapter 9; and the thirty-eight years of v. 5 are stated without comment, though the number matches Israel’s years in the wilderness at Deuteronomy 2:14. The angel stirring the water, familiar from older Bibles as part of vv. 3-4, is absent from the earliest manuscripts and reads as a gloss on the man’s own words in v. 7.
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Take it further: John 5:1-9
Commentary
Commentary on John 5:1-9Commentary on Jn 5:1-9 Working Preacher
Luther Seminary's commentary on the healing at Bethesda for the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
John 5:1-9 CommentaryJn 5:1-9 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching
A Reformed preaching commentary on the same Easter 6 healing text.
John 5 Commentary: A Healing and a DiscourseJn 5 Commentary: A Healing and a Discourse Enduring Word
David Guzik's chapter commentary covering the healing of the paralyzed man at Bethesda.
John 5 CommentaryJn 5 Commentary Precept Austin
A verse by verse evangelical commentary on the Bethesda healing narrative.
Background & Word Study
The Church Fathers
Sermons & Reflections
Chapel Sermon on John 5:1-9 (May 3, 2016)Chapel Sermon on Jn 5:1-9 (May 3, 2016) Concordia Seminary Scholar (scholar.csl.edu)
A preached chapel sermon on this exact Easter 6 gospel.
Chapel Sermon on John 5:1-9 (Benjamin Haupt)Chapel Sermon on Jn 5:1-9 (Benjamin Haupt) Concordia Seminary Scholar (scholar.csl.edu)
A second preached chapel sermon on the same healing narrative.
Podcast
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