Cure on a sabbath
JOHN 5:1-16
THERE was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 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 anymore, 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.
REFLECTIONS
WHO IS THE MAN? Like the healing of the official’s son (see yesterday’s Gospel), the cure of the crippled man is an illustration of Jesus’ work as “savior of the world” (Jn 4:42). Unlike similar accounts in the Synoptics, John adds at the very end of his account, “Now that day was a sabbath.” This is done with the purpose of setting the stage for the controversy that follows. In the Synoptics, the attack of his opponents is directed against Jesus himself (e.g., Mk 3:2 and parallels). In John, it is directed against the healed man. This is designed to call our attention to the all-important question: “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it [your mat] up and walk’?” The question about the true identity of Jesus is the only question that matters. It echoes throughout the gospel: “He was in the world… but the world did not know him” (Jn 1:10). The function of all the signs in the Fourth Gospel is to reveal the true identity of him who does the signs. “It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat” (v 10). We see here an infrequently remarked obstacle that the law puts in our way. The law, even God’s law, can in fact blind us to the revelation.
Who do YOU say that Jesus is?
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2015,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel. : 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: books@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.