John 5: 1-16 Healing of a Cripple by the Pool of Bethesda {ecumenical}

Water is the predominate feature of the old testament reading, the responsorial psalm, and the gospel reading today as well. The water in these readings are portrayed as healing and the source of all life. In the first reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the water was portrayed as majestic, fresh and life giving as it flowed out from underneath the temple. The temple of course is where God dwells and all life on earth flows from this source, because God is our creator.

All life on earth exists because of water. This is the same with our spiritual lives too. Eternal life began for us, when we were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Original sin was washed away at our baptism and we were born into a new life in Jesus Christ, through his holy church. However, our faith was still small then, like a trickle.

God’s grace increases in us as we grow older, as long as we remain connected to Jesus Christ and his church. We grow in faith, through God’s grace, to be life giving to those around us. God’s word flows through us into the world, bringing love and goodness into a world that is often darkened by sin. Hopefully we will change the world around us into a better place a little more each day.

In the gospel today, Jesus had compassion for a man who had been sick for 38 years. This man could not get to the healing waters in the pool of Bethesda, because there was no one to carry him (when the angel stirred the waters). So Jesus, in his compassion had pity on him and healed him. There is something worth noting about the words Jesus said to him, “Take up your mat and walk.”

The Pharisees got upset with this man because he was carrying his mat on the sabbath, which was against their rules. Jesus surely must have known it was against the rules to carry your mat on the sabbath, so why did he tell this man to do this? It made the Pharisees upset with the man who had been healed, but also with Jesus for healing him on the sabbath. It’s almost like Jesus intentionally provoked the Pharisees, by telling this man to take up his mat and walk.

The Pharisees questioned the man who was healed. They wanted to know who healed him, but he did not know who it was. Later, Jesus confronted the man that he had healed and told him not to sin anymore, less something worse befall him, but the man went and told the Pharisees who he was anyway.

It really makes you wonder why Jesus did something that was against the rules of his time? He would have known the rules since he was a child, and yet he broke them on purpose. Perhaps it was to make a point that people are more important than the rules.

Another thing that seems a bit odd is that the man who was healed told the Pharisees he didn’t know who had healed him, and then Jesus purposely sought him out and told him to not sin anymore. So, of course the man who was healed ran straight to the Pharisees and told them it was Jesus who had healed him. It’s almost as if Jesus wanted him to do this because this man didn’t know him and that Jesus wanted him to tell others that the miracle was attributed to him. Is it possible that Jesus provoked the Pharisees on purpose? Jesus did provoke the people in his own hometown so bad that they wanted to kill him. If Jesus did provoke the Pharisees on purpose, then it must be so that God’s plan of salvation would be fulfilled, if the Pharisees got mad enough at him to kill him. Jesus knew the bigger picture of the purpose of his life and may have been laying the groundwork for his eventual execution on the cross, even this early.

Things are not always what they seem to be on the surface of things. What began as a simple healing of a cripple by the pool of Bethesda, ended with the Pharisees getting so angry at Christ for doing this, that they began persecuting him for it. But, the whole thing may have been part of God’s plan all along, because the reason Jesus came to earth was to die for our sins.

Both of the readings for mass today encourage us to try and see the bigger picture. The angel guided the prophet Ezekiel to see the big picture in today’s first reading for mass, but the gospel reading today wasn’t quite as obvious. Our own lives are like that too. It’s easy to get caught up in the small details, tasks, and encounters with other people we have each day, and never really see the bigger picture of our lives.

That is a good question to ask ourselves as we travel through Lent. Do we have any idea what God’s will is for our lives? Are we learning to listen to Him a little more each day, through an active prayer and sacramental life? If we have not grown very much closer to God during this Lenten season, then perhaps today’s readings could be taken as a reminder to seek the Lord in prayer and listen for Him in periods of silence throughout our day. Self will is a good thing, but God’s will is even better.

https://drbo.org/chapter/50005.htm

1 After these things was a festival day of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. 4 And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. 5 And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity.

6 Him when Jesus had seen lying, and knew that he had been now a long time, he saith to him: Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The infirm man answered him: Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me. 8 Jesus saith to him: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed, and walked. And it was the sabbath that day. 10 The Jews therefore said to him that was healed: It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed.

11 He answered them: He that made me whole, he said to me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 They asked him therefore: Who is that man who said to thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 But he who was healed, knew not who it was; for Jesus went aside from the multitude standing in the place. 14 Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee. 15 The man went his way, and told the Jews, that it was Jesus who had made him whole.

16 Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them: My Father worketh until now; and I work. 18 Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God. 19 Then Jesus answered, and said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things which himself doth: and greater works than these will he shew him, that you may wonder.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxxvi. 1) This pool was one among many types of that baptism, which was to purge away sin. First God enjoined water for the cleansing from the filth of the body, and from those defilements, which were not real, but legal, e. g. those from death, or leprosy, and the like. Afterwards infirmities were healed by water, as we read: In these (the porches) lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. This was a nearer approximation to the gift of baptism, when not only defilements are cleansed, but sicknesses healed. Types are of various ranks, just as in a court, some officers are nearer to the prince, others farther off. The water, however, did not heal by virtue of its own natural properties, (for if so the effect would have followed uniformly,) but by the descent of an Angel: For an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water. In the same way, in Baptism, water does not act simply as water, but receives first the grace of the Holy Spirit, by means of which it cleanses us from all our sins. And the Angel troubled the water, and imparted a healing virtue to it, in order to prefigure to the Jews that far greater power of the Lord of the Angels, of healing the diseases of the soul. But then their infirmities prevented their applying the cure; for it follows, Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. But now every one may attain this blessing, for it is not an Angel which troubleth the water, but the Lord of Angels, which worketh every where. Though the whole world come, grace fails not, but remains as full as ever; like the sun’s rays which give light all day, and every day, and yet are not spent. The sun’s light is not diminished by this bountiful expenditure: no more is the influence of the Holy Spirit by the largeness of its outpourings. Not more than one could be cured at the pool; God’s design being to put before men’s minds, and oblige them to dwell upon, the healing power of water; that from the effect of water on the body, they might believe more readily its power on the soul.

He did not, however, proceed immediately to heal him, but first tried by conversation to bring him into a believing state of mind. Not that He required faith in the first instance, as He did from the blind man, saying, Believe ye that I am able to do this? (Matt. 9:28) for the lame man could not well know who He was. Persons who in different ways had had the means of knowing Him, were asked this question, and properly so. But there were some who did not and could not know Him yet, but would be made to know Him by His miracles afterwards. And in their case the demand for faith is reserved till after those miracles have taken place: When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? He does not ask this question for His own information, (this were unnecessary,) but to bring to light the great patience of the man, who for thirty and eight years had sat year after year by the place, in the hope of being cured; which sufficiently explains why Christ passed by the others, and went to him. And He does not say, Dost thou wish Me to heal thee? for the man had not as yet any idea that He was so great a Person. Nor on the other hand did the lame man suspect any mockery in the question, to make him take offence, and say, Hast thou come to vex me, by asking me if I would be made whole; but he answered mildly, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. He had no idea as yet that the Person who put this question to him would heal him, but thought that Christ might probably be of use in putting him into the water. But Christ’s word is sufficient, Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

Behold the richness of the Divine Wisdom. He not only heals, but bids him carry his bed also. This was to shew the cure was really miraculous, and not a mere effect of the imagination; for the man’s limbs must have become quite sound and compact, to allow him to take up his bed. The impotent man again did not deride and say, The Angel cometh down, and troubleth the water, and he only cureth one each time; dost Thou, who art a mere man, think that Thou canst do more than an Angel? On the contrary, he heard, believed Him who bade him, and was made whole: And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.

The man, when healed, did not proceed to the market place, or give himself up to pleasure or vain glory, but, which was a great mark of religion, went to the temple: Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple.

Here we learn in the first place, that his disease was the consequence of his sins. We are apt to bear with great indifference the diseases of our souls; but, should the body suffer ever so little hurt, we have recourse to the most energetic remedies. Wherefore God punishes the body for the offences of the soul. Secondly, we learn, that there is really a Hell. Thirdly, that it is a place of lasting and infinite punishment. Some say indeed, Because we have corrupted ourselves for a short time, shall we be tormented eternally? But see how long this man was tormented for his sins. Sin is not to be measured by length of time, but by the nature of the sin itself. And besides this we learn, that if, after undergoing a heavy punishment for our sins, we fall into them again, we shall incur another and a heavier punishment still: and justly; for one, who has undergone punishment, and has not been made better by it, proves himself to be a hardened person, and a despiser; and, as such, deserving of still greater torments. Nor let it embolden us, that we do not see all punished for their offences here: for if men do not suffer for their offences here, it is only a sign that their punishment will be the greater hereafter. Our diseases however do not always arise from sins; but only most commonly so. For some spring from other lax habits: some are sent for the sake of trial, as Job’s were. But why does Christ make mention of this palsied man’s sins? Some say, because he had been an accuser of Christ. And shall we say the same of the man afflicted with the palsy? For he too was told, Thy sins are forgiven thee? (Matt. 9:2) The truth is, Christ does not find fault with the man here for his past sins, but only warns him against future. In healing others, however, He makes no mention of sins at all: so that it would seem to be the case that the diseases of these men had arisen from their sins; whereas those of the others had come from natural causes only. Or perhaps through these, He admonishes all the rest. Or he may have admonished this man, knowing his great patience of mind, and that he would bear an admonition. It is a disclosure too of His divinity, for He implies in saying, Sin no more, that He knew what sins He had committed.

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