A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture/XXVI. Jesus heals on the Sabbath the Man languishing thirty-eight Years, and proves His Equality with the Father

by Friedrich Justus Knecht

Chapter XXVI.

JESUS HEALS ON THE SABBATH THE MAN LANGUISHING
THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS, AND PROVES HIS EQUALITY
WITH THE FATHER.

[John 5. 1— 47.]

At the time of a certain festival Jesus went up again to Jerusalem, Now there was at Jerusalem a pond called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida^[1]. It was surrounded by a great building which had five porches, under which lay, at times, a great multitude of the sick, the lame, the blind and the infirm, waiting for the movement of the water. For, at certain times^[2], an angel came down into the pond and moved the water; and he who first went down into the pool after the angel’s visit, was cured of his disease.

Among the crowd of those who wished to be healed there was a man who had been infirm thirty-eight years. Jesus, seeing him, was moved to pity^[3], and said to him: “Wilt thou be made whole?” The infirm man answered: “Sir, I have no one^[4], when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond; for, whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me. Jesus said to him: “Arise, take up thy bed and walk!” Immediately the man was healed, and he took up his bed, and went away rejoicing.

This took place on the Sabbath. The Jews^[5], therefore, seeing the man carrying his bed, said to him: “It is the Sabbath! It is not lawful^[6] for thee to take up thy bed.” The man answered: “He who made me whole, He said^[7] to me: ‘Take up thy bed and walk?’ ” But the Jews asked again: “Who is He that said to thee: ‘Take up thy bed and walk!”’ Now the man was not able to tell them, for Jesus had withdrawn^[8] from the multitude. Soon after, Jesus met this same man in the Temple^[9], and said to him: “Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest some worse thing^[10] happen to thee.” The man then went his way, and told^[11] the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

The Jews, concealing their envy under the cloak of zeal for the law, persecuted^[12] Jesus for curing the man on the Sabbath. But Jesus said to them: “My Father worketh until now, and I work.”^[13] Hearing this, the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only, as they thought, broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal to God^[14].

Jesus then, gave them more plainly to understand that He was the Son of God and equal to the Father: “Amen, amen, I say unto you; the Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do; for what things soever He doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things which Himself doeth; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may wonder.

“For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life, so the Son also giveth life^[15] to whom He will. For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath committed all judgment^[16] to the Son, that all men may honour the Son as they honour the Father. Amen, amen, I say unto you, he that heareth My word and believeth Him that sent Me hath everlasting life. Amen, amen, I say unto you, that the hour cometh and now is, when the dead ^[17] shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live Wonder not at this, for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves^[18] shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”^[19]

COMMENTARY.

Our Lord’s own testimony to His Divinity. In this chapter our Lord openly and clearly asserts and proves His equality with the Father. He is one with Him in nature, in power, and action. “My Father worketh until now, and I work.” He too, like the Father, is Lord of the Sabbath. He, like the Father, has life in Himself and can raise the dead to life. The Jews perfectly understood that He made Himself equal to the Father, and our Lord, far from correcting their interpretation, rather confirmed it in the most solemn manner by an appeal to His works: “Amen, amen, I say unto you &c.”, and finally claimed the same honour and worship as the Father.

Jesus the Judge of all men. The Son of God having become Man and redeemed mankind, it is He who will judge men as to the use and misuse of the grace of Redemption.

God's unceasing Action (Old Test. I). About this St. Chrysostom writes thus: “If you observe the rising and the setting of the sun, the movement of the earth, the ponds, springs, rivers, rain, in fact the whole process of nature, whether as seen in plants or in our own bodies and those of the beasts, or in any other thing which the hand of God touches, you will recognize the unceasing work of the Father.”

Observance of the Sabbath. “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Luke 6, 5). He permitted the man to prove the completeness of his cure by taking up his bed and carrying it home — therefore it was lawful for the man to do it.

Eternal and Temporal punishment. Grave sin brings on us both eternal and temporal punishment. Our Lord’s words: “Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee”, are a proof of this.

Relapse into sin. Our Lord warned the cured man not to fall back into sin, because a relapse leads easily to impenitence, and thereby to everlasting damnation.

A type of Baptism. The Pool of Bethsaida was a type of that spring of grace, holy Baptism. As in the one all possible diseases of the body were cured, so in Baptism all possible sins are remitted.

The misery of unredeemed mankind. The condition of the sick man, for so many years miserable and abandoned by all who might have helped him, is, according to St. Augustine, Venerable Bede and others, a striking picture of the misery of unredeemed mankind. Man had turned away from God, and had remained sunk in vice and sin for four thousand years; and there was no one to help him. Then the Son of God had mercy on him and became Man Himself in order to redeem him. He, the Incarnate Son of God, is our helper and comforter!

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Application. Each sin you commit deserves a punishment which you must suffer either here or in Purgatory. Have you ever thought seriously about this? Do you not sometimes say to yourself: “Oh, such and such a sin will hurt no one?” Ah, but it will hurt your own soul, and draw down punishment on you! Do some voluntary penance and guard more carefully against sin for the future.

God works day and night, and every moment, for your good. And you do not thank Him! You do not love Him at all, or, at least, very little!

1. Bethsaida. i. e. the place of grace. This pond was near the Temple.
2. At certain times. No man knew at what time the angel would come, or else there would have been no necessity for the sick people to wait so long.
3. Moved to pity. This man aroused the compassion of Jesus in an especial manner, and He put this question to him in order to re-kindle in the lame man a desire to be cured, and a hope of relief. His compassionate sympathy inspired the poor man with confidence, and he briefly related his pitiful story.
4. No one. Thus the poor man was utterly forsaken and helpless in his misery. Jesus, however, took an interest in him and cured him instantly by one almighty word: “Arise!” We can picture the joy of the cured man.
5. The Jews. The Scribes and Pharisees.
6. Not lawful. They spoke thus heartlessly, because they expounded the law unspiritually, and beyond God's intention. What did they mean? Did they want the sick man to lie down again on his bed in order not to infringe the Sabbath-rest?
7. He said. “He must know what is allowed to be done on the Sabbath, and He must have had the right to say: ‘Take up thy bed and walk.’ "
8. Withdrawn. To avoid notice.
9. The Temple. For the cured man had gone straight from his home to the Temple to thank God for his restored health. Now our Lord acted as a spiritual physician to him, by reminding him of the grievous sins of his past life.
10. Some worse thing. It is evident that his thirty-eight years’ illness was at once the consequence and the punishment of the sins of his youth. But, what thing could happen to him that would be worse than an infirmity of thirty-eight years’ duration? Our Lord meant the eternal punishment of hell.
11. And told. He did this with no evil intention, but in order to bear testimony to Jesus, and to justify his own seeming breach of the Sabbath.
12. Persecuted. They now came forward openly as the enemies of our Lord, calumniating Him and seeking His death.
13. And I work. Our Lord meant this: You apply the law about the Sabbath rest wrongly. It does not apply to God the Father, who is ever active since the days of creation; neither does it apply to me, His Son. The Sabbath is made for man, and applies to human, not divine works; as you can see at the pool of Bethsaida, where my Father works miracles on the Sabbath.
14. Equal to God. They, therefore, quite understood that our Lord called God His Father, making Himself equal to God; but instead of being filled with fear by this declaration, and withdrawing their reproaches about breaking the Sabbath, their rage only increased, and they called our Lord a blasphemer, and sought more eagerly than ever to kill Him.
15. Giveth life. He has the power to raise the dead to life at His pleasure (remember the young man of Naim, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus!).
16. All judgment. The judgment of all men.
17. The dead. Here our Lord refers especially to those who are dead spiritually, but who by receiving grace and faith in His teaching are spiritually restored to life.
18. In the graves. Here our Lord speaks of the general resurrection of the dead.
19. Judgment. Damnation.