For me, this has always been one of the saddest passages in the Bible. This brief statement spoke volumes about a man lost and forlorn in a lonely crowd. These sad and tragic words were uttered by a man who had an infirmity for 38 years. Given the high infant mortality and short life expectancy of that era, this might as well have been a lifetime. However, as we shall see, though feeling abandoned and alone, his perseverance granted him an audience with Christ, and he would behold THE MAN.

Imagine for a moment: a life of infirmity in a harsh environment with no modern medicine or modern comforts. He must have suffered so much for so long and squandered all he had just to try to get better--only to no avail. In the end, he was destitute, pathetic, unwanted, and unclaimed, reduced to begging with only the bleak prospect of mere survival.

Nevertheless, he placed himself near this pool in the desperate hope of a miracle, interminably waiting, marginalized on the perimeter of this pool. In short, the paralytic may not have had much save his bed and his tattered, disheveled clothing, but he did have perseverance and patience, and perhaps, this why of all the other invalids, Jesus chose this man who persisted for 38 years (a veritable lifetime).  

To be sure he demonstrated patience and perseverance, but he was still alone. He had no family, friends, society, government, anyone--or anything for that matter--to help him. His simple, concise statement to Jesus encapsulated it all and crystallized his stark and utter sense of loneliness, alienation, marginalization, abandonment, hopelessness, and despair, but the lesson here is that he persisted. He did not give up.

Jesus succinctly and poignantly asked this perseverant man: “Do you want to be well?” The man being created in the image and likeness of God was free, and Jesus respected his freedom, but also, as the True Physician of Soul and Body, He also knew that if one wants to be well, one must be a good patient, change their lifestyles, and follow the guidance of the physician. Jesus also knew that this man was a sinner in need of His Grace.

The paralytic sadly and concisely responded to Jesus thus: "Sir, I have no man.” (“Κύριε, άνθρωπον ούκ έχω.") He had no man to help him, no man just to give him a push to get him into the water as it was stirred by the Angel, so that he may have some small measure of hope for cleansing, refreshment, comfort, and solace--if not the healing he so desperately sought.  

           In those times, people thought that if you had such a malady, you should be avoided, for it was a manifestation of sin, uncleanness, and divine disfavor. As unclean, you were to be shunned and ostracized so as not to be contaminated or tainted, even by association with such untouchables, but to such as these Jesus had come, for He came to save the sinner, as the One Who wills mercy, not sacrifice.

Yet, ironically, albeit spiritually and emotionally alone, the paralytic was not physically alone. He had many others nearby who shared his condition and his predicament. Most important of all, he now had a Man. He had Jesus, nearby and present, Who is THE MAN, Whose Name means God Saves, and Who shares everything we suffer and feel as the One Who shares our Human Nature, as the Perfect Man, and Who has all the Compassion, Mercy, and Love to share infinitely and Personally, as the Only Compassionate, Merciful, Loving, Omnipresent God. He gives all these to us, as the Giver of Life (Ζωοδότης) and Lover of Mankind.

           As God and Creator, there are no limits for the God-Man (Ο Θεάνθροπος), Jesus, and Jesus has the power to deliver the man, indeed any man, from his affliction and save him as our Deliverer and Saviour from his predicament. The paralytic may have been bound by his malady, but Jesus is Boundless.

As Infinite and Eternal, Jesus, THE MAN, can liberate Him. As the True Physician of Soul and Body, Jesus can totally, completely, and perfectly heal him. As the Friend of Man (Ο Φιλάνθρωπος), the paralytic not only had a man; he had a Friend. Unbeknownst to him, the paralytic had the Omnipresent One present, in his midst, with His healing, transforming, Sacramental Presence.

            As God, Jesus could not only heal him totally, but Jesus could forgive his sins and deliver him from corruption, decay, and death. As God and Man, Jesus could not just heal him for now; Jesus could heal him for eternity. As the Creator of Life, Jesus could grant him a new life and a new beginning as a new creation in Him.

At Jesus' Word, as the Eternal Word that brought the universe into being, Jesus could grant him a new life and a new beginning, but this time not just for 38 years (an ostensible lifetime for that epoch), but for eternity; for as God, He can grant life and eternity, Being Himself Life Eternal.

           With Christ, there is forgiveness, healing, reconciliation, restoration, renewal, life, and eternal salvation. With Christ our God, there is everything--and infinitely more--than our created and limited mind could possibly imagine. With Christ there is authenticity, identity, community, inheritance, and destiny. The most important relationship, and the only relationship that will save us, the only relationship that is eternal, is our relationship with our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Physicians could not heal the paralytic, and the Law could not save the paralytic. He had those, and they were as feeble and impotent as the lamentable throngs that surrounded the pool; but nearby, and present, and now at hand, was THE MAN Who alone could save him, THE VERY MAN to Whom he uttered: "I have no man." As he uttered, "I have no man," he must have heard the divine Voice internally echoing through his very being the following words: "Awake, arise from your slumber. Wipe away the spiritual stupor from your eyes, wash yourself, make yourself clean, and Behold, the MAN!"

Yes, in his presence, Jesus would fulfill the law and the Prophets and fulfill all things in Him. The paralytic needed to be spiritually cleansed and illuminated by the washing of the Word of Christ to spiritually see and behold THE TRUTH and THE SALVATION.

Sin is associated with disease and sickness. We live perpetually under the dark shadow of the consequences of the Fall and the sin of the First Man, the First Adam. For this reason, the Eternal Reason (Ο Λόγος), has come as the New Man, the New Adam, to forgive us and remit our sins in order to redeem us from the sin--and its consequences (death)--of the First Adam.

Jesus Christ came as the Paschal Lamb to be washed, like the lambs for the sacrifice in this very pool for the Feast of Passover, in order to offer Himself as the Perfect and Spotless Sacrifice to deliver us from Death and lead us to the Heavenly Promised Land—the True Promised Land of which the former was but a pale reflection.

 

           The five porches around the pool symbolized the Five Books of Moses (The Pentateuch), the Law, which could not save. The Law was incomplete. The Law had its part to play in the salvation story to be sure, and the Law was necessary, but the Law was not sufficient. However, the Law kept the people together, protected them, and led them to Jesus Who would take them to the true Promised Land, one not limited in time and place.

The pool with these five porches provides the perfect backdrop for this miracle, for it was in this very pool, in the shadow of the Law, where they washed the lambs for the sacrifice. Jesus was the true Sacrificial Lamb that washes and takes away the sins of the world. The lame, blind, deaf, and dumb came to be cured one person at a time through the mediation of an Angel for a physical and temporal healing.

The Pool of Bethesda, a place of miracles, was thus transcended by the Man of miracles Who heals all persons, at any time, for eternity, without Angelic, or any human or institutional mediation. The waters would point to a new passage and a new beginning, and to baptism symbolizing death, burial, and resurrection--a new birth from above in spirit (not flesh) for eternity. The Pentateuch (The Five Books of Moses) pointed to Jesus the Word and Water of Life Who cleanses, restores, sanctifies, delivers, and reconciles.

Not for nothing, then, this Great Feast for which Jesus came to Jerusalem was the Old Testament Feast of Pentecost which commemorates God’s giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. This had to be as part of the Divine Plan, but although we receive that which is necessary from Moses, we receive that which alone is sufficient in Jesus Christ, for the Law came through Moses, but Grace and Life came through Jesus Christ, and Jesus confirms this in this miracle. Jesus demonstrates that His Grace Alone is Sufficient, and that as God, He has the power to forgive sins, and as God, He can heal the paralytic of 38 years, and He demonstrates it beyond a shadow of a doubt by having the paralytic pick up his bed and walk away.

Furthermore, as the True Physician, Jesus followed up on His spiritual child to make sure he was well and make sure he continued in his new beginning and new life on the right path, lest he stumble and sin again, and perhaps something worse may befall him. Jesus did all this quietly, for He withdrew, because He wanted no attention or glory. His sole motivation and compunction were mercy, love, and compassion. 

           The Old Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea to the other side on their journey to an earthly Promised Land with Joshua the Son of Nun; the New Israel now passes through the waters of baptism to the other side on their journey to the heavenly Promised Land with Jesus the Son of God. As Moses, the Great Prophet and Lawgiver, brought the People of God out of Egypt and led them into the Promised Land, so the Law kept them together and led them to the Grace and Light in Jesus Christ.

 

The Law had served its purpose, but it had been eclipsed. There was now a new Dawn and a New Beginning in Jesus Christ Who was foretold, and now beheld, by the paralytic—the paralytic who was raised up a new man at the Word of God Who created the universe with His resounding Word and gave the paralytic a new beginning with His abiding Word.

As Love never ends, so The Lord’s work is never done. Jesus’ work was for salvation. Mercy, Love, and Compassion should never rest. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus liberates us from any law, rule, or regulation that strangles, inhibits, stops, or forbids mercy and love.

Ironically, the so-called authorities and powers that be did not know—or perhaps rather conveniently forgot--that even the Law allowed for mercy for the dumb beasts of the earth on the Sabbath if they were thirsty, hungry, or suffering and needed to be helped—so why not this man, a child of God?

           My Brothers and Sisters in Christ: Though the world seems to abandon you, and others disappoint you, and the fallen powers of this world neglect or abuse you, with Christ, you will overcome all things. For Christ is God, and God is Love, and Love is His Gift to you and to me, to endure all things, and prevail in all things, for with God there are no limits, and there is no end.

With God, the laws of nature and mathematics, and man-made institutions are overcome, and with Him, we are victorious in all things, even over death, which He has abolished by His own death for us—His Death prefigured when He came to the pool of Bethesda where they washed the lambs for the sacrifice of Passover.

Abide in His Presence, therefore, and know and feel that He has transformed the suffering of our fallen human nature into a divine glorification by His own Voluntary suffering, our humiliation into His exaltation, our imprisonment into freedom, our death into His Resurrection, and our burial into His Ascension.

Ultimately, this is His Will for us: Eternal Salvation. For our salvation, He has come. “God is the Lord and has revealed Himself to us,” just as He revealed Himself to the paralytic whose miracle we commemorate today--the miracle that was performed quite fittingly in Bethesda (“The House of Mercy”) in the shadow of the Law by the “Most Merciful One.”

           Thus, unlike those who have no faith, we are not alone. We are not alone in a lonely crowd of spiritual invalids waiting for others to help us. We have THE MAN, The One True God, Jesus Christ, Who raised the paralytic from his bed, Resurrected from the Dead, raises those who believe in Him from their condition of suffering and malaise, and, moreover, and ultimately, raises them from death, for Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life, and to Him, be due all Glory, Honour, and Worship, forever and ever. Amen. †

“Ecce Homo!”

Yours in our Risen Lord,

     †Father Jim