John 5:5-18

5One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and realized that he had spent a long time in this condition, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on my way, someone else goes in before me.”

8Then Jesus told him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.”

9Immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his mat and began to walk.

Now this happened on the Sabbath day, 10so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! It is unlawful for you to carry your mat.”

11But he answered, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

12“Who is this man who told you to pick it up and walk?” they asked.

13But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while the crowd was there.

14Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”

15And the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

16Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews began to persecute Him. 17But Jesus answered them, “To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.”

18Because of this, the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him. Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.