Rise and Walk: John 5 for Young Men

What the Text Says

At the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, a crowd of the sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed waits by the water. One man has been an invalid for thirty-eight years. Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be healed?” The man explains he has no one to help him into the pool in time. Jesus simply tells him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk,” and he is healed immediately (Jn 5:1-9). It happens to be the sabbath, and the Jewish authorities confront the healed man for carrying his pallet, then confront Jesus once they learn who healed him. Jesus answers them, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” This only increases their hostility, since he is not only breaking the sabbath but “calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (Jn 5:16-18).

Jesus then gives a long answer explaining his relationship to the Father: “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing,” and whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise (Jn 5:19). The Father has given the Son authority to give life and to judge, “that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (Jn 5:22-23). Jesus says an hour is coming when the dead will hear his voice, “and those who hear will live,” and an hour when “all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment” (Jn 5:25-29).

Jesus then points to the evidence for who he is: not merely his own testimony, but John the Baptist’s witness, the works the Father gave him to do, the Father’s own testimony, and the Scriptures themselves, which testify of him even though the religious leaders study them without recognizing what they point to (Jn 5:31-40). He closes with a hard rebuke: they refuse to come to him for life, they seek honor from one another instead of from God, and Moses himself, whom they claim to trust, will accuse them, “for he wrote of me” (Jn 5:41-47).

What the Church Teaches

Jesus healing on the sabbath is not a violation of the sabbath’s purpose. It is the fulfillment of it. CCC 2173 teaches that Christ “gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation,” declaring that the sabbath “was made for man, not man for the sabbath,” and that it exists for doing good and saving life. The healing at Bethesda is not Jesus breaking a rule. It is Jesus showing what the rule was for all along.

The resurrection Jesus describes in this chapter is not vague symbolism. It is the actual Last Judgment the Church professes in the Creed. CCC 1038 quotes this very passage directly: “the resurrection of all the dead, ‘of both the just and the unjust,’ will precede the Last Judgment,” describing “the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man’s] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” CCC 1039 adds that “in the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare.”

Personal Reflection: For Young Men

(This section is pastoral application and personal takeaway, not a restatement of defined Church teaching. If you are wrestling with a real question about your own spiritual life, bring it to confession or a conversation with a priest or spiritual director rather than treating this reflection as a ruling.)

Jesus asks the invalid man a question that sounds almost strange: “Do you want to be healed?” After thirty-eight years, you might assume the answer is obviously yes. But long stuck patterns have a way of becoming identity, comfortable in their own dysfunctional way, even while a man keeps complaining about them. If there is a habit, a relationship, or a mindset you have been stuck in for a long time, ask yourself honestly whether you actually want it to change, or whether some part of you has quietly settled into it.

Notice how directly Jesus acts once the man answers: “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” No gradual process, no waiting for perfect conditions. Real discipline and real conversion often start the same way: a direct, decisive action taken the moment the truth is faced, not a plan to eventually get around to it.

And the rebuke at the end of the chapter cuts sharp: the religious leaders study Scripture carefully and still miss Christ entirely, because they are “seeking honor from one another” instead of from God (Jn 5:44). That is worth checking honestly against your own life. It is possible to know a lot about the faith, even to look impressively religious to others, while actually chasing approval rather than actually knowing Christ. The two are not the same thing, and only one of them will hold up.

Call to Action

This week, name honestly one area where you have been stuck a long time, and ask yourself whether you genuinely want it to change, the way Christ asked the man at Bethesda. Then take one direct, decisive action toward that change today rather than a vague plan for later, the way the man rose and walked the instant he was told to. And examine whether any part of your faith life has quietly become about looking good to others rather than actually knowing Christ, and redirect it back toward him this week.

Doctrinal note: Claims above are tied to CCC 2173, 1038, and 1039. Translation used: RSV-CE. Please confirm any point you plan to teach publicly with a priest, deacon, or trusted catechist before publishing.

Read Next

If you are leading in the home, this companion lesson speaks directly to fathers: My Father Is Working Still: John 5 for Fathers.