Take up your bed and walk

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. but while I am coming, another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the sabbath.

The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed." He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.' " Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk?' " But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he had done these things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

- John 5:1-18

In today's reading, we're given the third "sign" or miracle of this gospel. Altogether, John records seven. The first two were the water turned to wine at the wedding in Cana, and the healing of the nobleman's son from yesterday's passage.

According to commentary by St. John Chrysostom and other Church Fathers, the feast Jesus attends in this passage is the Jewish Feast of Pentecost (or the Feast of Weeks), due to references to the Law of Moses later in the chapter. The Feast of Pentecost centers around the theme of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. So, the theme in the text is underscored by the theme of the feast itself. The pool discussed in this story was a double-basin pool, according to my study bible, which has been discovered by archaeologists about 100 yards north of the temple area, near the Sheep Gate mentioned in the reading. The water for this high-ground pool was from underground springs and was used to wash down the sacrificial lambs before they were slain.

My study bible states that the law of the Sabbath does not specifically prohibit the carrying of burdens. But this activity is mentioned in scripture (Jer. 17:21, Neh. 13:19), and was forbidden by rabbinical regulations. It's important to understand, my study bible notes, that the conflict here is between the authorities and Jesus; "the Jews" referred to in the gospel by the Evangelist are not the whole Jewish people, but rather the authorities who thought of themselves as guardians of the Law. It is important to remember that the Evangelist himself, the Apostle John, was a devout Jew, and this is a story set within the framework of Jewish life and faith.

After the healing, Jesus finds the man again in the temple, and tells him to "sin no more." It was a common belief, my study bible points out, that illness and misfortune were the divine retribution for sin. But, it notes, Jesus does not ratify this as an absolute principle. The paralytic's cure is to lead to conversion and a righteous life. For myself, I accept that all healing within this context is for restoration of right-relatedness to God. To "sin no more" is an admonishment to retain this relationship with Creator, the one who has blessed him with restored health.

When Jesus is confronted by those who would chastise him for healing on the sabbath, he replies that His Father's work in the world - my study bible calls it "God's sustaining and redeeming work in the world" - does not stop on the sabbath. Jesus has presented himself as an equal to God, so the offense is not simply one of healing, work, on the sabbath. He has outraged his critics, and pierced the net of what is deemed acceptable and what is not. The healing, the sign he has revealed, little matters to those for whom the Law is all.

The pool, according to some commentators, has been seen in imagery as a prefiguration of baptism. Via a perceived angelic action, people were healed. This served one person at a time, and worked for physical and temporal well-being. Jesus transforms this reality, and the "type" becomes a gift of life offered to all people in redemption in the person of Jesus - not via a place. Mediation is not angelic but in the Person of Christ present to everyone, and offers healing on all levels and for an eternal life.

So, this third miracle is a transformation on many levels. Importantly, though, we are witnessing a kind of action of the Beatitudes, in which the spirit and letter of the law are taught via Jesus that they must not be in conflict. Healing and restoration are the eternal work of Spirit and that which is life itself: the sabbath and all connected with it must serve this purpose. As we see from the image of the "type" which is transformed in Jesus (the example of the Bethesda Pool), Jesus' presence is transforming in many ways, on many levels. We are to understand that he is the fount and source of life, the sustaining "living water" that heals and transforms and redeems, making things new. We are to have eyes to see and ears to hear, and if we cling to old cherished law that somehow is in conflict with this perception of "life" - that is, of life itself - then we must choose to change our view or serve that which does not support life. How does this story teach us today? In what way do we serve life and help and goodness, redemption, to people today, without letting custom or cherished rules - made for the good - to get in the way? Are we capable of seeing which is more important, more good? We must be alive to that Presence to have discernment, to make a good choice, for life, healing, well-being, redemptive love.