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Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
"Do you want to be well?"
The sick man answered him,
"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."
Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
Now that day was a Sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,
"It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."
He answered them, "The man who made me well told me,
'Take up your mat and walk.'"
They asked him,
"Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?"
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,
"Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you."
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a Sabbath.
JN 5:1-16
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he pool that the invalid was sitting by had the reputation of being a place of healing. When the water was stirred up, supposedly by an angel, the first one into the water was cured of whatever was wrong with him. For a man that was paralyzed, the chances of being the first to get into the water were very slim. But this was a place of hope and the man had a sincere belief that he could be cured someday. On this day, the Sabbath, he was once again at the pool. I have to wonder what the social life was like amongst the frequenters of the place. Did they speak to each other while they were waiting for the angel to stir up the healing waters? Were they like the old men that gather at McDonalds Restaurants all over the place and discuss the news of the day, the things that happened in their lives? Or, did they just sit there each one intently watching the pool for the first sign of turbulence? I like to think that they had a small community formed there where they could sympathize with each other while they waited.
So, to this rag-tag group of sick people, Jesus approached. It is worthy to note that Jesus took the initiative here and asked the man if he wanted to be cured. Read carefully and you will see that the man does not actually answer the question of Jesus. He says that he has no one to put him in the water when it is stirred up by the angel. I think that if the man knew who he was speaking to that he would have simply said that he wanted to be made whole. So it appears that he did not know of Jesus or at least he did not know that it was Jesus who was speaking to him. Jesus tells the man to pick up his mat and to go home. The man, his health restored, does exactly as he was told. He picks up his mat and walks away. We do not hear him offer any words of thanks. His journey home brought him into contact with some of the temple officials who immediately chastised him for walking home carrying his mat. It was after all the Sabbath and carrying the mat was considered work and that was not allowed in accordance with the laws of Yahweh. He tells them that the man who cured him, a further violation of the Sabbath law of rest, told him to pick up his mat and go on home. They pressed him for the name of the miracle maker but, as we suspected, the cured man had no idea who Jesus was. The temple crew, realizing that this man would be of no use to them probably told him to put his mat down and obey the Law. The man then caught sight of Jesus. He went and told the officials that it was Jesus who had done this work to him. How they could be so blind as to completely discount the healing that they had seen take place almost in front of their eyes is amazing. The officials became enraged at the violation of the Sabbath and they were blinded to the work of healing and compassion that Jesus had wrought.
I think that it is important that we realize two things about the man who was cured. First of all, he never said, “Thank you” for the gift he was given and secondly, his telling who cured him was not because he was tattling on Jesus, he was rather proclaiming that this is the person that cured him.
In our lives, we should be alert to those times when we have been the recipient of a minor miracle. They happen every day. The fact that you wake up in the morning is a minor miracle and we should start the day with a note of gratefulness even if arthritis makes it hard to get out of bed! To follow a law in blind obedience will certainly keep you out of trouble, but to learn the reason for the law and to keep it in the spirit it was written is a far better way of doing things. Finally, we must always keep our eyes focused on Jesus. To move our eyes elsewhere could mean that we could lose him in the crowd. This crowd is made up of the things of this world and we could be blinded by the things that glitter, One of the most beautiful rocks is “fools gold” It shines brightly as the sunlight hits it but it is bogus, not real, not lasting, and certainly not valuable. Keeping our eyes on Jesus will help us to stay focused on what is important in life.
A Word From Our Sponsor...on Purgatory
1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death, they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.606 The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:607
- As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence, we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.608
1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin."609 From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.610 The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:
- Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.611
The above is an Excerpt From the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
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