Day 7 of 49
Third sign: Healing the Man by the Pool
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.
3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath.
10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”
11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ”
12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
Jn 5:1–17.
This pool of Bethesda always confused me. It seemed so contrary to how the Lord does things. We don’t read anywhere else in scripture about an angel stirring the waters for healing or about Bethesda.
God used water to heal. He healed Naaman when he dipped seven times in the Jordan River (2 Kings 5). He healed the blind man when he washed in the Pool of Siloam (John 9).
I’m taking a class that talks about the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. The professor gave an explanation for this pool which could explain why we don’t hear more about this pool.
Bethesda was likely an Asclepion, a pagan place of healing. In the 300 quiet years between the Old and New Testaments, the Greeks held a lot of power and influence in the region. While the Maccabeans did succeed in removing the pagan gods from the temple, other places of pagan worship would have remained.
Sick Greeks and Romans would seek the favor of Asclepius with an offering, and remain in the Asclepion until until they heard from god…through the interpretation of the priests. Treatment started with a temple sleep after which the dream was interpreted. Some people remained a long time, not receiving an answer.
If we consider this place an asclepion, it adds a new dimension to the narrative. Jesus entered a pagan god’s stronghold to redeem one of his own.
Jesus’ encounter with the man begins with the question, “Do you want to be healed?” The response is an excuse, “I have no one to help me.” I’ll leave you to ponder the implications of that question.
Jesus healed the man and told him to make up his bed and walk. The man obeyed and was accosted by Jews who let him know he was breaking the Law of Moses. He did not disobey the Law of Moses, he disobeyed one of the oral traditions built up around the keeping of the Sabbath.
This was often the source of contention between Jesus and the Jewish authorities. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mk 2:27). The oral traditions built up such a wall of rules around the Sabbath that it did not allow the people to enjoy the day.
When confronted about carrying the bed the man said, “The man who healed me told me to carry my bed.” The Jews who confronted him did not care that he had been healed after 38 years, just that he carried his bed.
Jesus found the man in the temple, perhaps he had gone to the temple to thank God for his healing. Jesus told him “Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” Was his first illness a consequence of his sin?
The man goes and tells the Jewish authorities that Jesus had healed him.
We don’t hear anything more about this man. Did he come to believe in Jesus? Did he continue to sin? We don’t know.
The narrative ends with a comment by Jesus about his Father. “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” The Jews had no problem with God working on the Sabbath, he took care of the world. They did have problems with Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God, making himself equal with God.
How does this reveal Jesus as the Messiah?
- If it was an asclepion, then Jesus entered a pagan god’s stronghold to deliver one of his own
- Jesus healed a lame man.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
Is 35:4–6.
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples
3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:
5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
Mt 11:2–5.
- Jesus continued to reach out to this man, knowing what he would do.
- Jesus did the work of God, even on the Sabbath
Lord, thank you for reaching out to us in our pain and in our sin. Thank you for being our source of healing and hope. Help us to look no farther than you for all that we need.
TRICIA LATHROP 