Bartolome Esteban Murillo
Christ Healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda [1667-70]
https://hopetowalk.org/rise-take-up-thy-bed-and-walk/
Father Vassilios Argyriadis
The gospel passage we heard today seems to have an almost cinematic flow. First of all, he places us in a lively and bustling scene: "a great multitude of the sick" , in a large pool ( "pool" ) with five galleries, next to a gate ( "ἐπὶ τῇ provatikῇ" ) from where the sheep were led to the Temple for the sacrifices. Then, everything is permeated by an atmosphere of tension: anxious waiting for a sign in the water ( "when the water is troubled" ) and a man with 38 years on his back "ἐν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ" ; and below, the tension of a conflict with the Jews, their accusations of breaking the Sabbath ( "οὐκ ἔχεστι σοι ἆραι τὸν κράβατον" ). Finally, the cinematography is sealed by the double entry of Jesus into the narrative — he enters, works miracles and disappears in the crowd ( "ἐxeneusen, ὅχλου ὅντος ἐν τῷ τοπῳ" ); he then reappears, "ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ" and finds the former paralytic there again.
A special gospel passage! Almost cinematically structured.
In order not to get lost in this narrative density, let us focus our attention on the faces of Christ and the paralytic. Their meeting also has something special. Jesus appears before the paralytic without anything that has called Him. In other cases, the forced appear to beg Him, to make requests of Him. Here, nothing like that happens. Nor does He see any faith that moves Him, as He once saw some people bring down a paralytic from the roof of a house. There is nothing that has "invited" Him. He appears there unbound by any condition. He appears to take care of the paralytic by himself ( "toutton idὼν τακετεμενον" ), to know everything ( "gnoshes ὅτι πολεν idi χρονον ἔχει" ) and to work miracles without paying attention to the waters and their movements (he is not willing to let him down in the water). As the interpreters tell us, Christ is depicted in such a way as to give a visible proof of what the evangelist John quotes a few verses after today's passage: "as the father raises the dead and gives life, so also the son who wants to give life". . "Whoever wants to...". This is how he appears: God of love, free from everyone and everything, Lord of everything.
On the other hand, the paralytic looks lost. He doesn't seem to be aware of who is standing in front of him. In other cases, the forced appear to recognize Jesus as Savior: "Son of David" , they say to him, "have mercy on us". The paralytic of today's passage understands nothing. He has his attention directed in the wrong direction (in some waters). Christ asks him "Do you want to be born?" , and instead of a whole-hearted "yes", he says to him "ἀθροπον οὐκ ἔχω" - he has before him The Man and he is looking for a man. But even after the miracle, he seems disoriented again. The Jews meet him and accuse him of carrying his bed on the Sabbath, and he seems to place the blame elsewhere: "He who made me well, he said to me, has taken off your tie and is walking" . "And who told you that?", they ask him. And he doesn't even know who did him good, He lost him in the crowd!
Then, Jesus rediscovers the former paralytic "ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ" (it is Christ who acts the meeting again): "Ἴδε ὑγιὴς γεγονας" , he tells him, "Be a sinner, so that they do not know what is happening to you" . And as if the miracle is established within him. The paralytic understands and is regenerated. Where does this appear? From the next verse: "the man came, and announced to the Jews that Jesus is the one who healed him" . The verb "announce ," the interpreters tell us, has great significance — it refers to a revelation, to something completely new, that changes people's lives. The former paralytic is now a reborn man. Now he knows Jesus, he is naturalized in His Kingdom. So much so that he shares it fearlessly and brazenly.
In the Gospels, every miracle of Jesus is accompanied by a deeper encounter between Christ and the man who experiences the miracle and is thus renewed internally. And we call all this a miracle. Today's cut seems to make a surgical incision in what we call a "miracle" and reveals to us its components. As if he is telling us that miracles are one thing and meeting Christ is another. The healing of a paralytic is the small, the bit of the miracle, the outward manifestation of God's power. To really meet with Christ and to recognize him as Savior and Lord of his life, as the free and unbound God of Love, who seeks us and finds us, this is the great, the most miraculous, the inner experience of Love God's. Miracles may happen, but man (like the paralytic in today's passage) may continue to look lost, without having known deep within himself the face of the true and free God. This acquaintance finally happens, when man decides to turn "to God" and to put the beginning of the work of the commandments ( "meketi amartane" ).
All this is of particular importance to us today. Most of us are probably physically healthy, not plagued by the harsh need for healing. And yet our minds are permanently attached to miracles—not as an expectation of personal benefit (those of us who are not sick), but as mere spectacle. We are seduced by power all around. We long for stories and incidents that explode like fireworks in the sky of our imagination and excite our curiosity. We hear about tear-jerking images and we run. We obsessively collect "oils", holy things and "read" items. In synaxaries (especially modern ones), we look for the pages that tell of otherworldly signs, prophecies, and manifestations of otherworldly power. We spend ourselves searching for miracles (that do not concern us), forgetting that all of us (healthy and sick, able-bodied or disabled) need above all the miracle of meeting Christ over and above any physical healing. We put aside the most and run after the little. And this is understandable for someone who is sick, who is plagued by the burden of some cruel disease. But for all the rest of us? How can such a confusion of criteria be justified? "An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign..." (Matthew 12:39).
Today's passage therefore calls us "to God" . He calls us to turn within ourselves and cultivate the field of His commandments. Yes, the risen Christ, the Lord of all, seeks us. And His love will find us wherever and whenever He wants. But in the meantime, it is our duty to study His commandments (persistently and meticulously studying His word, the Holy Bible) and apply them in our lives. To turn unceasingly to His face. Let us long for His love to feed our hearts, not His power to feed our curiosity. Only by discerning which is the little and longing for the much, will Apan come and meet us. Because this is Christ and His love: The Apan.
