To read the texts click on the texts: Ezek 47:1-9; Jn 5:1-3,5-16
The miracle of the healing
of the paralytic is exclusive to the Gospel of John. The story is set in
Jerusalem and the miracle occurs during one of the Jewish festivals though John
does not specify which one. Later in the narrative we are told that the day of
the festival was also the Sabbath and this adds to the significance of both the
festival and the Sabbath and thus the miracle and the controversy that follows.
Festivals in John are used as a platform for a deep revelation of the person of
Jesus and this festival is no exception.
John gives a detailed
description of the place where the miracle was performed as if encouraging the
reader to place him/herself in that place. Three kinds of invalids are
mentioned: the blind, the lame and the paralyzed. These are at the pool waiting
for the stirring of the water. Popular belief was that an angel was responsible
for the stirring of the water and thus for the inexplicable bubbling at the
surface. Of these one is singled out. He is a man who has been ill for
thirty-eight years, which symbolizes that his illness is almost permanent. At
this point the text does not tell us what his illness is. Jesus picks out this
man and again we are not given a reason. Did he come across to Jesus as the one
most in need? Was he the only one who did not have someone to help him? We are
only told that Jesus “knew that he had been there a long time”. Jesus initiates
the miracle by approaching the man. Yet, he does not force his healing on the
man as is evident in the question that he asks him; “Do you want to be made
well?” The man does not answer the question but begins his litany of
complaints. He has already set limits to what he believes can be done for him.
He does not expect the impossible. Jesus responds to the man’s complaints with
three imperatives: “stand up, take your mat and walk”. That Jesus’ words are
effective and transformative is evident in the fact that the man was made well.
He obeys Jesus’ commands to the letter: “He took up his mat and walked”.
Immediately after the
miracle, there is an objection on the part of “the Jews” (which here refers to
the Jewish authorities who oppose Jesus and not the Jewish people in general)
because the man was carrying his mat on the Sabbath and this constituted work
which was not allowed on the Sabbath. The man responds that he is simply
obeying what Jesus asked him to do. The Jewish leaders prefer to focus not on
the fact that he had been made well, but on the one who told him to violate the
Sabbath. The man cannot respond to the question of the Jewish leaders about who
Jesus is, since he does not know Jesus.
At this point Jesus reenters
the story and finds the man in the temple confirming that he has been made well
and speaks to him about sin. He invites the man to move from the mere physical
healing to spiritual healing. The man on encountering Jesus again, announces to
the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. While some see these words of the
man as pointing Jesus out to the Jewish leaders, others interpret them as an
announcement of the man about who Jesus is. Again the leaders refuse to focus
on the positive action of the man being made well and focus instead on the
violation of the Sabbath. This is why they decide to persecute him.
Two issues are brought out
in this story. The first is that of illness. While we may be able to see with
the eyes of our head, it is possible that we too like many of those who were at
the pool may be psychologically or spiritually blind. We may not be able to see
another person’s point of view and imagine sometimes that ours is the only
correct viewpoint. We may also be blind to the sufferings of the numerous
people around us and close ourselves in on our own small worlds. We may have
the facility and use of both of our legs, but may have given in to lethargy or
laziness. We may have lost the desire and drive to do what we have to do. We
may be able to use all our limbs and move about freely, but may have given in
to fear. We may also be carrying resentments, bitterness, anger, jealousy and
even rage in our hearts because of which we are paralyzed and not able to move
freely.
The second issue which the
story brings out is that of law versus love. Like the Jewish leaders we are
also guilty sometimes of focusing too much on the law and not enough on love.
Like they were not able to focus on the man’s wholeness but only on the
violation of the Sabbath, so we are sometimes prone to focus on the negatives
rather than on the positive. We prefer often to give a negative interpretation
to a person’s actions and words rather than a positive one.
The miracle thus calls each
of us to give up the blindness of our heart and the lameness of our mind and
the paralysis of our spirit and to focus on the positive of God’s unconditional
healing and love made visible in Jesus.