‘And Jesus says to him, “Stand up, take up your bed and walk.” And the man was made whole immediately, and took up his bed and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.'
Then Jesus said, ‘Rise, take up your mattress and go home', and at once the man was made whole. The healing was immediate, the more remarkable because his muscles must have atrophied and would need instant restoration. And he took up his mattress and walked. Some response was, of course, required. Had the man lain there and made no effort he might have been there for many years to come. But something about Jesus, and what he felt to be happening in his own body, made him make the effort and he found that he could walk. The phrase ‘made whole' is stressed in the passage (John 5:11; John 5:14-15). John is stressing that the One Who makes whole is here.
But the problem was that it was the Sabbath, and, according to Scribal teaching, to carry furniture on the Sabbath was forbidden, possibly on the basis of Jeremiah 17:19-27 with Exodus 20:10. To lift the man together with the mattress was allowable for that would be giving assistance to a disabled man, but just to lift the mattress was against the Pharisaic regulations. In general their principle was in accordance with the Law's requirements, but they lacked the compassion to differentiate special cases.
It is probable that we have here a deliberate attempt by Jesus to make the Scribes and Pharisees face up to the inadequacy of their teaching. He did not need to tell the man to carry his mattress, and the fact that He did so was a direct challenge to their beliefs, and a declaration of His own authority to override them. Would they really attack a situation where the power of God was so clearly revealed?