John 5

John 5
← chapter 4 chapter 6 →
John 16:14-22 on the recto side of Papyrus 5, written about AD 250.
Book	Gospel of John
Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Bible part	4
Category	Gospel

John 5 is the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John of the New Testament of the Christian Bible.

As the chapter opens, Jesus goes again to Jerusalem for "a feast". Because the gospel records Jesus' visit to Jerusalem for the Passover in John 2:13, and another Passover was mentioned in John 6:4, some commentators have speculated whether John 5:1 also referred to a Passover (implying that the events of John 2-6 took place over at least three years), or whether a different feast is indicated. Bengel's Gnomen lists a number of authorities for the proposition that the feast referred to was Pentecost. The Pulpit Commentary notes that "the indefinite Greek: ἑορτη has been identified by commentators with every feast in the calendar, so there can be no final settlement of the problem". According to Deuteronomy 16:16, "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses (i.e. Jerusalem): at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles".

At the Pool of Bethesda Jesus heals a man who is both paralyzed and isolated. Jesus tells him to "Pick up your mat and walk!" This takes place on the Sabbath, and Jewish religious leaders see the man carrying his mat and tell him this is against the law. He tells them the man who healed him told him to do so, and they ask who that was. He tries to point out Jesus, but he has slipped away into the crowd. Jesus comes to him later and tells him "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." The man then tells the Jewish religious leaders it was Jesus who healed him (John 5:15).