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| “Christ healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda” by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1667-70 |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading I: Ezekiel
47:1-9, 12
The angel brought me,
Ezekiel,
back to the entrance of the
temple of the LORD,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of
the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple
was toward the east;
the water flowed down from
the right side of the temple,
south of the altar.
He led me outside by the
north gate,
and around to the outer gate
facing the east,
where I saw water trickling
from the right side.
Then when he had walked off
to the east
with a measuring cord in his
hand,
he measured off a thousand
cubits
and had me wade through the
water,
which was ankle-deep.
He measured off another
thousand
and once more had me wade
through the water,
which was now knee-deep.
Again he measured off a
thousand and had me wade;
the water was up to my waist.
Once more he measured off a
thousand,
but there was now a river
through which I could not wade;
for the water had risen so
high it had become a river
that could not be crossed
except by swimming.
He asked me, “Have you seen
this, son of man?”
Then he brought me to the
bank of the river, where he had me sit.
Along the bank of the river I
saw very many trees on both sides.
He said to me,
“This water flows into the
eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the
salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature
that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant
fish,
for wherever this water comes
the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the
river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade,
nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear
fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by
the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for
food, and their leaves for medicine.”
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Commentary on Ez
47:1-9, 12
In this vision
from Ezekiel the allusion is made to one faith – the one stream flowing from
the temple into the Kedron Valley which is normally a dry wash. The imagery used has been used in other
places in scripture (Amos 9:13; Joel 4:18; Zechariah 14:8; Psalm 36:9-10; Revelation 22:1) and probably represents the water flowing from the Garden of
Eden - first stopped by Original Sin then re-started with Moses striking the 12
stones in the desert during the Exodus and finally here in Jerusalem in the end
times, the Eschaton. The analogy is to
one faith flowing into the world bringing life and well-being to any who
partake
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9
R.
(8) The Lord of hosts is with us; our
stronghold is the God of Jacob.
God is our refuge and our
strength,
an ever-present help in
distress.
Therefore we fear not, though
the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the
depths of the sea.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the
God of Jacob.
There is a stream whose
runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most
High.
God is in its midst; it shall
not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break
of dawn.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the
God of Jacob.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
our stronghold is the God of
Jacob.
Come! behold the deeds of the
LORD,
the astounding things he has
wrought on earth.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the
God of Jacob.
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Commentary on Ps
46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9
Psalm 46 is a hymn of praise.
In this passage we see the analogy presented in the reading from Ezekiel
referenced (Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12) as the Lord is praised for supporting the people
with his strength and creation.
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Gospel: John
5:1-16
There was a feast of the
Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at
the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew
Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number
of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had
been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying
there
and knew that he had been ill
for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me
into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone
else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise,
take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became
well, took up his mat, and walked.
Now that day was a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man
who was cured,
“It is the sabbath, and it is
not lawful for you to carry your mat.”
He answered them, “The man
who made me well told me,
‘Take up your mat and walk.’“
They asked him,
“Who is the man who told you,
‘Take it up and walk’?”
The man who was healed did
not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away,
since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in
the temple area and said to him,
“Look, you are well; do not
sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen
to you.”
The man went and told the
Jews
that Jesus was the one who
had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to
persecute Jesus
because he did this on a
sabbath.
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Commentary on Jn
5:1-16
The Gospel from
St. John is the third sign used in the Lord’s self-revelation. Jesus cures the paralytic by his word,
something that could not be accomplished by the waters of Judaism. When Jesus first approached the paralytic he
complained that he could not get to the waters “when they were stirred
up”. This is taken from a belief at the
time that, periodically, and angle of God would come down and stir up the
waters of the pool and the first person to touch them in that state was cured.
It is explicitly
mentioned that Jesus does this on the Sabbath which precipitates the
controversy with the Jewish leadership.
It is also noteworthy that Jesus does not say to the paralytic that his
sin has caused his condition – he tells him “Look, you are well; do not sin
anymore, so that nothing worse may happen to you." This last reference is probably to final
judgment.
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Reflection:
As population pressure
continues to strain the resources of the world one of the most important
commodities seeming to be in short supply is potable water; that is water clean
enough to drink without becoming sick and clean enough to cook with, not to
mention bathing. In many developing
countries water means the difference between life and death. Without it the human being parishes in short
order. Without water crops don’t grow
and livestock also die. In short, water
is truly the source of physical life. It
is so important that determining its presence is a singular goal of space
exploration; we look for it on the moon and Mars seeing its presence as the key
to establishing long term presence on those bodies.
In scripture the term is used
metaphorically and symbolically but with the same emphasis, without faith,
represented by water, there can be no life.
The Prophet Ezekiel saw this in his vision with the metaphor of a garden
flourishing along the stream that was faith in God, flowing from the
Temple. Jesus later redefined the temple
as residing in the New Jerusalem and the faith that flows into the world
springs from a wound in his side as a soldier’s lance opened that source; just
as surely as Moses staff brought water from the rocks, as sign of God’s love in
the desert. It was even used in the
movie Noah (which I do not recommend –
a film in which the names should have been changed to protect the truth).
The interesting thing about
this metaphor of the river of faith is that it has some additional lessons to
teach us we examine the analogy more closely.
First, the stream can be fouled if people try to throw contaminants in
upstream. This could be analogized by
attempting to put things in that do not belong (again don’t see Noah), twisting the faith to one’s own
purpose as we see in some unscrupulous evangelists. Water can likewise be diverted from its
course, bottled up and sold to those who can afford it. We can use our own imaginations here as to
the meaning of this sort of misuse.
Perhaps one of the more
interesting analogies about flowing water is that it can naturally pool when it
gets to a depression, temporarily halting its progress. This happens when it reaches a person or
group that is afraid to let it flow through them to others; that person or
group feels it is necessary to become insulated, trying to shut out the world
but at the same time, denying water its course.
They don’t realize that it is the actual flow that is necessary. Without it the water can become stagnate and
foul, contained too long it can actually become deadly.
When we recognize that in order
for our faith to remain vibrant and alive it must flow though us, we act on
that knowledge, passing on what we have been freely given. Our prayer this day is that what we have
received, we can pass on faithfully in our words, our actions, and our prayers.
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture is “Christ healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda” by
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1667-70
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
