Do you want to be made well?

 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  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.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

Yesterday, we read that after the two days Jesus departed from the town of the Samaritan woman 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 now 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. Tradition teaches that this feast was the Jewish Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, a celebration of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.  Throughout the chapter, there are references to the Law of Moses which affirm this interpretation.

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. My study bible says that this was a double--basin pool which has been discovered about 100 yards north of the temple area (near the Sheep Gate).  The water for this high-ground pool came from underground springs.  It was used to wash down the sacrificial lambs before slaying them.  In the pool, commentators see a type of Christian baptism.  Under the old covenant, a great multitude waited to enter the water for healing after an angel touched it.  The waters were special because they were an indirect way of participating in the animal sacrifices of the temple (the lambs were washed in the water).  But grace was limited only to the first person to enter.  In the new covenant, baptism is given to all nations and in direct participation in Christ's sacrificial death (Romans 6:3-6), without the mediation of angels.  Therefore, says my study bible, baptism grants the healing of the soul and the promise of eternal resurrection of the body, with inexhaustible grace.

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.  My study bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who states that Jesus singled out this particular man who had waited thirty-eight years in order to teach us to have perseverance.  It is also a type of judgment against those who lose hope or patience in much lesser troubles lasting a shorter time.  Jesus' question, "Do you want to be made well?" is relevant for several reasons.  It makes a public display of his great faith -- even in a seemingly hopeless situation.  How could he ever be first into the water?  It draws attention away from the water and toward the need for a man to help us, which is fulfilled in Christ Himself, who became Man to heal all people.  Finally it focuses attention on the fact that not everyone who is ill, in one sense or another, actually truly wants healing.  Some really may prefer to remain infirm for various reasons.  There's a  hidden "benefit" in being able to complain, to avoid responsibility for various things in one's life, or to continue to receive the pity of others, for example. In many ways, becoming well is another kind of challenge in the change of life it may entail.

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.  My study bible tells us that although the Law itself doesn't specifically forbid the carrying of burdens on the Sabbath, it is prohibited in Jeremiah 17:27 and explicitly in rabbinical teachings.  That Christ is Lord over the Sabbath is made clear by His command to "take up your bed and walk" and also the man's obedience to it.  We recall that in John's Gospel the term Jews is used to refer to the leadership and not the people.  (By the time this Gospel was written, persecution in the synagogues had become very fierce.  "Jews" is used as a sort of title of political party affiliation.  All people in this story are Jews.)   My study bible points to the malice of the leaders evident in the story.  Their sole focus is on the violation of the Sabbath, searching for the Man who gave the command to "Take up your bed" while completely ignoring the miraculous healing. 

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."  We note the healed man was found by Jesus in the temple.  It shows he is a man of great faith, gone there directly to thank God for his cure rather than leaving for someone's home or the marketplace, says my study bible.  There may be a general connection, a note tells us, between sin and suffering (Romans 6:23), but it's not always direct; that is, one-to-one, for the innocent frequently suffer, and the guilty are often spared earthly suffering.  (See also Jesus' comment in John 9:1-3.)  However, sometimes our sins do lead directly to our own problems and suffering in this world.  Chrysostom comments that such is the case with this man.  But Christ's warning applies to all.  This man has been given a gift of great grace.  To fail to refrain from sin would be to repudiate  God's gift.  My study bible says that the sins that destroy the soul lead to a far worse result than an affliction of the body.  The great hope is to flee from sin altogether. 

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.  The man witnesses that it is Jesus who healed him; his testimony is not given in malice.  Regardless of what the leadership's aims were, the man testifies to Jesus' goodness, that He made him well, and does not speak of the command to carry his bed.  Jesus' statement is clearly one of equality.  In Monday's reading, Jesus will continue His teaching on this subject.

We see the 'wondrous' events that we link with the Old Testament; the water that is stirred by the angel, the people awaiting God's grace by the Sheep Gate, the tie with the sacrificial lambs and the Christ who is to come.  As a sort of parallel to Simeon in the temple just after Christ's birth, the person in need in today's reading is an older man, who has been awaiting his salvation for thirty-eight years.  In a sense, he is all of Israel who has been awaiting this light, in a group perhaps with both Simeon and Anna (see again Luke 2:22-38).  Awaiting the New Covenant, for baptism for forgiveness of sins, for healing, for reconciliation, for the true Light of Israel.  And here is Jesus, the One who stands in for the Law and is both Lord of the Law and of the Sabbath, with a new command, "Take up your bed and walk."  This question, "Do you want to be made well?" comes in that context as one that is far more profound that merely asking this man if he wishes to be healed of his physical infirmity.  Indeed, one assumes his illness is a paralysis of some type, and paralysis has often been used as a metaphor for sin, in that with sin we are "stuck" in some type of behavior and unable to move forward, so to speak.  All of these elements -- of full healing and redemption, deliverance from sin, the forward movement into the journey of faith -- are present here as metaphor for all of Israel and the extension of this light into the rest of the world.  The man waiting for help and healing is in a metaphorical sense all of the world, stuck in sin, and clinging to a slim hope, in need of help and deliverance.  It reminds us that sin is a difficult problem, an affliction, one with multiple and terrible consequences of suffering, whether we look on an individual life mired in difficulties, or at the whole of the world.  Our help comes first of all from the Lord, without whom we can do nothing.  Christ's healing may even set us apart from others, but apart from Him there is no healing.  We look upon a world full of problems.  Let us remember on whom we rely for help to even begin to address them, and the value of the gift we've been given.  Sometimes that is hard to see.  But we must remember these men and women who awaited the Light and rejoiced to see it.