1. In the Orthodox gospel reading for Sunday (John 5:1-15), Jesus heals a paralytic & says, “Stand up, take your mat & walk.” Jesus is not telling him to go home as he does to the healed paralytic in the Synoptics.

2. In John, the man walks into the Temple (to offer thanks?), likely through the nearby Sheep Gate (John 5:2). Jeremiah 17:19–27 had come to be understood as prohibiting carrying things in general on the Sabbath, especially carrying things through any of the gates of Jerusalem.

3. By telling the man to take his mat & walk (through the Sheep Gate & into the Temple where Jesus will find him), Jesus is intentionally confronting conventional religious sensibilities of his day. Religious rules are not ends; they are meant to foster hearts open to God’s mercy