Lecture 1 — Healing at Bethsaida

^5:1^ After these things there was a festival day of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [n. 700]

^5:2^ Now there is a pond at Jerusalem, called the Sheep Pool, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. [n. 701]

^5:3^ In these lay a great multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame and the withered, waiting for the moving of the water. [n. 705]

^5:4^ And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond, and the water was moved. And whoever descended first into the pond after the motion of the water was made well from whatever infirmity he lay under. [n. 707]

^5:5^ And there was a certain man there, having been under his infirmity thirty-eight years. [n. 710]

^5:6^ When Jesus had seen him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him: do you wish to be made well? [n. 713]

^5:7^ The infirm man answered him: Lord, I have no man who, when the water is troubled, might put me into the pond. For while I am coming, another goes down before me. [n. 714]

5:8 Jesus said to him: arise, take up your bed and walk. [n. 716]

^5:9^ And immediately the man was made well, and he took up his bed and walked. And it was the Sabbath that day. [n. 719]

699. Above, our Lord dealt with spiritual rebirth; here he deals with the benefits God gives to those who are spiritually reborn. Now we see that parents give three things to those who are physically born from them: life, nourishment, and instruction or discipline. And those who are spiritually reborn receive these three from Christ: first spiritual life; second spiritual nourishment and third spiritual teaching.

And so these three things are considered here:

first, the giving of spiritual life;

second, the giving of spiritual food, at **after these things, Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias **(John 6:1); and

third, spiritual teaching, at after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee (John 7:1).

About the first he does three things.

First, he sets forth a visible sign in which he shows Christ’s power to produce and to restore life. This is the usual practice in this Gospel: to always join to the teaching of Christ some appropriate visible action, so that what is invisible can be made known through the visible.

Second, the occasion for this teaching is given, at and it was the Sabbath that day.

Third, the teaching itself is given, at **then Jesus answered and said to them: amen, amen I say unto you, the Son cannot do anything of himself **(John 5:18–19).

As to the first he does three things.

First, the place of the miracle is given.

Second, the illness involved, at and there was a certain man there, having been under his infirmity thirty-eight years.

Third, the restoration of the sick person to health, at Jesus said to him: arise, take up your bed and walk.

700. The place of this miracle is described in two ways: in general and in particular.

The general place is Jerusalem; so he says, after this, i.e., after the miracle performed in Galilee, there was a festival day of the Jews, that is Pentecost, according to Chrysostom. For above, when Christ went to Jerusalem, it was the Passover that was mentioned; and now, on the following festival of Pentecost, Jesus went up to Jerusalem again. For as we read, the Lord commanded that all Jewish males be presented in the temple three times a year: on the festival days of the Passover, Pentecost, and the Dedication (Exod 23:17).

There were two reasons why our Lord went up to Jerusalem for these festivals. First, so that he would not seem to oppose the law, for he said himself: I have not come to destroy the law, but to complete it (Matt 5:17); and in order to draw the many people gathered there on the feast days to God by his signs and teaching: I will praise him in the midst of the people (Ps 108:30); and again, I have declared your justice in the great assembly (Ps 39:10). So Christ himself says: I have spoken openly to the world (John 18:20).

701. The specific place of the miracle was the pool called the Sheep Pool; so he says, now there is a pond at Jerusalem, called the Sheep Pool. This is described here in four ways: by its name, its structure, from its occupants, and from its power.

702. First, it is described from its name when he says, the Sheep Pool, for probaton is Greek for sheep. It was called the Sheep Pool for it was there that the priests washed the sacrificial animals; especially the sheep, who were used more than the other animals. And so in Hebrew it was called Bethsaida, that is, ‘the house of sheep.’ This pool was located near the temple, and formed from collected rain water.

703. In its mystical sense, this pool, according to Chrysostom, has prefigured Baptism. For the Lord, wishing to prefigure the grace of baptsim in different ways, first of all chose water: for this washes the body from the uncleanness which came from contact with what was legally unclean (Num 19). Second, he gave this pool a power that expresses even more vividly than water the power of Baptism: for it not only cleansed the body from its uncleanness, but also healed it from its illness; for symbols are more expressive, the closer they approach the reality.

Thus it signified the power of Baptism: for as this water when applied to the body had the power, not by its own nature, but from an angel, to heal its illness, so the water of Baptism has the power to heal and cleanse the soul from sins: he loved us, and washed us from our sins (Rev 1:5). This is the reason why the passion of Christ, prefigured by the sacrifices of the old law, is represented in Baptism: all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, have been baptized into his death (Rom 6:3).

According to Augustine, the water in this pool signified the condition of the Jewish people, according to: the waters are the peoples (Rev 17:15). The gentiles were not confined within the limits of the divine law, but each of them lived according to the vanity of his heart (Eph 4:17). But the Jews were confined under the worship of the one God: we were kept under the law, confined, until the faith was revealed (Gal 3:23). So this water, confined to the pool, signified the Jewish people. And it was called the Sheep Pool, for the Jews were the special sheep of God: we are his people, his sheep (Ps 94:7).

704. The pool is described in its structure as having five porches, i.e., round about, so that a number of the priests could stand and wash the bodies of the animals without inconvenience.

In the mystical sense these five porticoes, according to Chrysostom, signify the five wounds in the body of Christ; about which we read: bring your hand here, and put it in my side, and do not be faithless, but believing (John 20:27). But according to Augustine, these five porticoes signify the five books of Moses.

705. The pool is also described from its occupants, for in these, porticoes, lay a great multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame and the withered, waiting for the motion of the water. The literal explanation of this is that since all the afflicted persons gathered because of the curative power of the water, which did not always cure nor cure many at the same time, it was inevitable that there be many remaining waiting to be cured.

The mystical meaning of this, for Augustine, was that the law was incapable of healing sins: it is impossible that sins be taken away by the blood of bulls and goats (Heb 10:4). The law merely shed light on them, for the knowledge of sin comes from the law (Rom 3:20).

706. And so, subject to various illnesses, these people lay there, unable to be cured. They are described in four ways. First, by their posture: for there they lay, i.e., clinging to earthly things by their sins; for one who is lying down is in direct contact with the earth: he had compassion on them, for they were suffering, and lying like sheep without a shepherd (Matt 9:36). But the just do not lie down, but stand upright, toward the things of heaven: they, i.e., sinners, are bound, and have fallen down; but we, the just, have stood and are erect (Ps 19:9).

Second, they are described as to their number, for there was a great multitude: the evil are hard to correct, and the number of fools is infinite (Eccl 1:15); and: the road that leads to destruction is wide, and many go this way (Matt 7:13).

Third, these sick people are described as to their condition. And he mentions four things which a person brings on himself through sin. First, a person who is ruled by sinful passions is made listless or feeble: and so he says, the sick. So it is that Cicero calls certain passions of the soul, such as anger and concupiscence and the like, illnesses of the soul. And the Psalm says: have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak (Ps 6:3). Second, due to the rule and victory of a man’s passions, his reason is blinded by consent; and he says as to this, the blind, that is, through sins. Their own evil blinded them (Wis 2:21); and: fire, that is the fire of anger and concupiscence, fell on them, and they did not see the sun (Ps 57:9). Third, a person who is feeble and blind is inconstant in his works and is, in a way, the lame. So we read: the work of the wicked is unsteady (Prov 11:18). With respect to this the Evangelist says, the lame. How long will you be lame? (1 Kgs 18:21). Fourth, a man who is thus feeble, blind in understanding, and lame in his exterior actions, becomes dry in his affections, in the sense that all the fatness of devotion withers within him. This devotion is sought by the Psalm: may my soul be filled with fat and marrow (Ps 62:6). With respect to this the Evangelist says, the withered. My strength is dried up like baked clay (Ps 21:16).

But there are some so afflicted by the lassitude of sin, who do not wait for the motion of the water, wallowing in their sins: they live in a great strife of ignorance, and they call so many and great evils peace (Wis 14:22). We read of such people: they are glad when they do evil, and rejoice in the worst of things (Prov 2:14). The reason for this is that they do not hate their sins: they do not sin from ignorance or weakness, but from malice. But others, who do not sin from malice, do not wallow in their sins, but wait by desire for the motion of the water. So he says, waiting. Every day of my service I wait for my relief to come (Job 14:14). This is the way those in the Old Testament waited for Christ: I will wait for your salvation, O Lord (Gen 49:18).

707. Finally, the power of the pool is described, for it healed all physical illnesses in virtue of an angel who came to it; so he says, and an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond.

In certain ways, the power of this pool is like that of Baptism, and in other ways it differs.

It is like it, first, in the fact that its power was unperceived: for the power of the water in this pool did not come from its very nature, otherwise it would have healed at all times; its power was unseen, being from an angel. So he says, and an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond. The water of Baptism is like this in that precisely as water it does not have the power to cleanse souls, but this comes from the unseen power of the Holy Spirit, according to: unless a man is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). It is like it, in a second way, in its effect: for as the water of Baptism heals, so also the water of that pool healed. So he says, and whoever descended first into the pond after the motion of the water was made well. Further, God gave to that water the power to heal so that men by washing might learn through their bodily health to seek their spiritual health.

Yet the water of this pool differs from the water of Baptism in three ways. First, in the source of its power: for the water in the pool produced health because of an angel, but the water of Baptism produces its effect by the uncreated power not only of the Holy Spirit, but of the entire Trinity. Thus the entire Trinity was present at the baptism of Christ: the Father in the voice, the Son in person, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. This is why we invoke the Trinity in our baptism. Second, this water differs in its power: for the water in the pool did not have a continuous power to cure, but only at certain times; while the water of Baptism has a permanent power to cleanse, according to: on that day a fountain will be open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse the sinner and the unclean (Zech 13:1). Third, this water differs as regards the number of people healed: for only one person was cured when the water of this pool was moved; but all are healed when the water of Baptism is moved. And no wonder: for the power of the water in the pool, since it is created, is finite and has a finite effect; but in the water of Baptism there is an infinite power capable of cleansing an infinite number of souls, if there were such: I will pour clean water upon you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleanness (Ezek 36:25).

708. According to Augustine, however, the angel signifies Christ, according to this reading: he will be called the angel of great counsel (Isa 9:6). Just as the angel descended at certain times into the pool, so Christ descended into the world at a time fixed by the Father: her time is near at hand, and her days shall not be prolonged (Isa 14:1); when the fullness of time had come God sent his Son, made from a woman, made under the law (Gal 4:4).

Again, just as the angel was not seen except by the motion of the water, so Christ was not known as to his divinity, for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). For it is said: truly, you are a hidden God (Isa 45:15). And so the motion of the water was seen, but not the one who set it in motion, because, seeing the weakness of Christ, the people did not know of his divinity. And just as the one who went into the pool was healed, so a person who humbly believes in God is healed by his passion: justified by faith, through the redemption which is in Christ, whom God put forward as an expiation (Rom 3:24).

Only one was healed, because no one can be healed except in the oneness or unity of the Church: one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph 4:5). Therefore, woe to those who hate unity, and divide men into sects.

709. Then, at and there was a certain man there, having been under his infirmity thiry-eight years, the Evangelist mentions the disability of a man who lay by the pool.

First, we are told how long he was disabled; and

second, why it was so long, at when Jesus had seen him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time.

710. He was disabled for a long time, for and there was a certain man there, having been under his infirmity thirty-eight years. This episode is very aptly mentioned: the man who could not be cured by the pool was to be cured by Christ, because those whom the law could not heal, Christ heals perfectly, according to: God did what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sin-offering, he condemned sin in his flesh (Rom 8:3), and: perform new signs and wonders (Sir 36:6).

711. The number thirty-eight is well-suited to his infirmity, for we see it associated with sickness rather than with health. For, as Augustine says, the number forty signifies the perfection of justice, which consists in observing the law. But the law was given in ten precepts, and was to be preached to the four corners of the world, or be completed by the four Gospels, according to: the end of the law is Christ (Rom 10:4). So since ten times four is forty, this appropriately signifies perfect justice. Now if two is subtracted from forty, we get thirty-eight. These two are the two precepts of charity, by which all perfect justice is fulfilled. And so this man was sick because he had forty minus two, that is, his justice was imperfect, for on these two commandments all the law and the prophets depend (Matt 22:40).

712. Now, at when Jesus had seen him lying there, the reason for the length of the man’s illness is considered.

First, we have the Lord’s query;

second, the sick man’s answer, the infirm man answered him.

713. John says, when Jesus had seen him, the man, lying there. Jesus saw him not only with his physical eyes, but also with the eyes of his mercy; this is the way David begged to be seen, saying: look at me, O Lord, and have mercy on me (Ps 85:16). And Jesus knew that he had been there a long time in infirmity—which was repugnant to the heart of Christ as well as to the sick man: a long illness is a burden to the physician (Sir 10:11)—said to him: do you wish to be made well? He did not say this because he did not know the answer, for it was quite evident that the man wanted to be healed, he said it to arouse the sick man’s desire, and to show his patience in waiting so many years to be cured of his sickness and in not giving up. We see from this that he was all the worthier to be cured: act bravely, and let your heart be strengthened, all you who hope in the Lord (Ps 30:25).

Jesus incites the man’s desires because we keep more securely what we perceive with desire and more easily acquire. Knock, by your desire, and it will be opened to you (Matt 7:7).

Note that in other situations the Lord requires faith: do you believe that I can do this for you? (Matt 9:28); but here he does not make any such demand. The reason is that the others had heard of the miracles of Jesus, of which this man knew nothing. And so Jesus does not ask faith from him until after the miracle has been performed.

714. Then, at Lord, I have no man, the answer of the sick man is given. Two reasons are given for the length of his illness: his poverty and his weakness. As he was poor, he could not afford a man to plunge him into the pool; so he says, Lord, I have no man who, when the water is troubled, might put me into the pond. For while I am coming, another goes down before me. Perhaps he thought, as Chrysostom says, that Christ might even help to put him into the water.

Someone else always reached the pool before him because he was weak and not able to move fast; so he says, for while I am coming, another goes down before me. He could say with Job: I cannot help myself (Job 6:13). This signifies that no mere man could save the human race, for all had sinned and needed the grace of God. Mankind had to wait for the coming of Christ, God and man, by whom it would be healed.

715. Now, at arise, take up your bed, we see the man restored to health, i.e., the working of the miracle.

First, the Lord’s command is given;

second, the man’s obedience, at and immediately the man was made well, and he took up his bed and walked.

716. The Lord commanded both the nature of the man and his will, for both are under the Lord’s power. He commanded his nature when he said, arise. This command was not directed to the man’s will, for this was not within the power of his will. But it was within the power of his nature, to which the Lord gave the power to stand by his command.

He gave two commands to the man’s will: take up your bed and walk. The literal meaning for this is that these two things were commanded in order to show that the man had been restored to perfect health. For in all his miracles the Lord produced a perfect work, according to what was best in the nature of each case: the works of God are perfect (Deut 32:4). Now this man was lacking two things: first, his own energy, since he could not stand up by himself, thus our Lord found him lying by the pool. Second, he lacked the help of others; so he said, I have no man. So our Lord, in order that this man might recognize his perfect health, ordered him who could not help himself to pick up his mat, and him who could not walk to walk.

717. These are the three things which the Lord commands in the justification of a sinner. First, he should stand up, by leaving his sinful ways: rise up, you who sleep, and arise from the dead (Eph 5:14). Second, he is commanded to take up your bed, by making satisfaction for the sins he has committed. For the mat on which a man rests signifies his sins. And so a man takes up his mat when he begins to do the penance given to him for his sins. I will bear the anger of God, because I have sinned against him (Mic 7:9). Third, he is commanded to walk, by advancing in what is good, according to: they will go from strength to strength (Ps 83:8).

718. According to Augustine, this sick man was lacking two things: the two precepts of charity. And so our Lord gives two commands to his will, which is perfected by charity: to take up his mat, and to walk. The first concerns the love of neighbor, which is first in the order of doing; the second concerns the love of God, which is first in the order of precept.

Christ says, with respect to the first, take up your bed. As if to say: when you are weak, your neighbor bears with you and, like a mat, patiently supports you: we who are stronger ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and not seek to please ourselves (Rom 15:1). Thus, after you have been cured, take up your bed, i.e., bear and support your neighbor, who carried you when you were weak: carry each other’s burdens (Gal 6:2).

About the second he says, walk, by drawing near God; so we read: they will go from strength to strength, and it then says: the God of gods shall be seen in Zion (Ps 83:8); walk while you have the light (John 12:35).

719. Next we see the man’s obedience: and immediately the man was made well. First, the obedience of his nature, because, and immediately the man was made well. And no wonder, because Christ is the Word through whom heaven and earth were made: he commanded and they were created (Ps 148:5); by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made (Ps 32:6). Second, we see the obedience of the man’s will: first, because he picked up his bed, and second, because he walked. We will do everything that the Lord commands, and obey him (Exod 24:7).