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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 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.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 had not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
- John 5:1-18
Yesterday, we read that after Jesus' time with the Samaritans (see readings from last Thursday, Friday and Saturday), after two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was not going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!" Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. My study bible suggests that St. John Chrysostom and other Church Fathers state that this feast is the Jewish Feast of Pentecost (or the Feast of Weeks), due to the references to the Law of Moses later in this chapter This Feast of Pentecost centers around the theme of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. A note here reads: "This double-basin pool, believed to have curative powers, has been discovered by archaeologists about 100 yards north of the temple area, near the Sheep Gate. The water for this high-ground pool came from underground springs, and it was used to wash down the sacrificial lambs before they were slain. The pool has led some Christians to see in this imagery a prefiguration of baptism."
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. My study bible says that this passage is often omitted from modern English translations because it appears in none of the oldest extant Greek manuscripts. It says that Tertullian (c. A.D. 200) is the first Latin, and St. John Chrysostom (c. A.D. 400) is the first Greek writer to refer to it. It adds, "The disturbance of the water may actually have been caused by bubbling up of the intermittent underground springs, which was understood as an angelic action. On the other hand, it is possible that angelic activity was indeed the cause for the stirring of the water. The role of spiritual powers in the world must never be discounted."
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?" Again, we see Jesus initiate an encounter (as with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well). My study bible suggests that Jesus asks this obvious question in order to stimulate the man's faith.
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. If we look at the parallels with baptism, we find the sense in which Christians have historically compared the "types" of this pool as used at the time of Jesus, and baptism as given to us by Jesus. Where the Pool of Bethesda was a place of miracles for one person at a time, in the fulfillment of Jesus we have a Person of miracles, for everyone at any time. The pool healed through angelic mediation, which is not necessary for the Person of Christ. Finally, this healing of the pool was considered to be, as my study bible puts it, for physical and temporal well-being. But the healing of Christ is "for spiritual and eternal well-being which begins with baptism." In this sense is the fulfillment of this "type" in Christ, and it is an illustration of so much of what John's Gospel teaches us about the nature of God as Spirit.
The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed." My study bible says, "Although the law of the Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15) does not specifically prohibit the carrying of burdens, this activity is mentioned in Jer. 17:21 and Neh. 13:19 and was explicitly forbidden by rabbinical regulations. The Jews again refers not to the Jewish people (for the paralytic was a Jew), but to the authorities, who thought of themselves as guardians of the Law."
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." My study bible notes: "It was a common belief that illness and misfortune were divine retribution for sin. The Savior, however, does not ratify this as an absolute principle (see 9:1-3). The paralytic's cure is to lead to conversion and a righteous life."
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 had not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. A note here tells us that when Jesus is confronted by His critics in the Jewish leadership, He argues that God's sustaining and redeeming work in the world does not cease on the Sabbath. Hearing these words, the Jewish religious leaders are doubly offended; "Jesus not only violates scribal law, but also presents Himself as equal with God."
John's Gospel goes further and deeper here into what it means that God is Spirit, as Jesus told to the Samaritan woman in the previous chapter. What does it mean, in fact, that our relationship to God centers on personhood, on the omnipresent quality of what this means with regard to worship and faith? The Pool of Bethesda, as an element of faith, is noted above -- how it changes or is fulfilled as type in the Person of Christ, and how this expands our understanding of how God works and what our relationship to God is. Is it tied to merely one place? How does Spirit work? Where does it work? While religious worship and custom sets us into patterns and helps us to understand what God is about and what our relationship to God asks of us, Jesus takes it one step further here when He heals on a Sabbath, and also expresses Himself as Son of God by referring to "My Father." It is a reflection of the ever-present and timeless quality of the life of God as Spirit, as well, when Jesus says, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." The spiritual reality of the life of God isn't something that goes away, or is there sometime and isn't there other times. We can count on the fact that Spirit works at all times. And so, we go deeper into this spiritual nature of the presence that Christ brings into the world, an awareness of the power of God, and the law written on the heart. Not only do we understand this "ceaseless working" so to speak, but we also understand it to be directed by love and always on our behalf. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? becomes answered with the idea of the Person of God, as characterized by love, and an active personal presence in our midst. That God is a Person opens up an enormous understanding of worship and relationship, just as Son and Father teach us about relationship and about love and about sacrifice for that love. Let us for now understand Jesus' direction of confrontation with the authorities as that which is driven by revelation of God's love for us, God's deep desire to find those who will worship in spirit and truth, and God's manifestation of love for the world in the Incarnation of the Son. Fulfillment of what has come before asks of us expansion, to new concepts and understanding, and into personhood and the capacity for relationship and love. Let us think about the pool stirred by the angel, and how the healing living water is always available so that we do not thirst.
