"pick up your mat and walk"

John 5:2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.6 When Yeshua saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, 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 trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me8 Then Yeshua said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Yeshua had slipped away into the crowd that was there.14 Later Yeshua found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Yeshua who had made him well.

WHAT IS NOT SIN

Some notable details are that the Jewish leaders said it is forbidden to carry your mat on Sabbath.  Is that true?  Shouldn't we go to our Father's instructions and see?

Jer 17:21 This is what YHVH says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-neckedand would not listen or respond to discipline.24 But if you are careful to obey me, declares YHVH, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it,25 then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. 

So "carrying your load" is related to doing your work as verse 24 says.  It is not picking up your mat.....obviously.....or Yeshua just told the guy to sin against our Heavenly Father.

WHAT IS SIN

Notice that the man's condition was directly related to his sin.  Yeshua said "stop sinning or something worse may happen to you".  Why did Yeshua say this?  Are our own health conditions related to our sin?  Shouldn't we go to our Father's instructions and see?

Deut 28:58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—YHVH your God—59  YHVH will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.61  YHVH will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.

Here are the ruins of Bethesda