Jesus heals the man who has been ill for 38 years

March 8, 2016

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Saint of the Day: Saint John of God, Religious (1495-1550)

Reading 1

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12

1The 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.[1]

2He 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. 3Then 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.

4He 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.

5Once 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.

6He asked me, “Have you seen this, son of man?” Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit. 7Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides. He said to me, 8“This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.

9Wherever 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.

12Along 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.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

R. (8)The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

2God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. 3Therefore 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.

5There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High. 6God 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.

8The LORD of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. 9Come! 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.

Verse Before The Gospel Psalm 51:12a, 14a

A clean heart create for me, O God; give me back the joy of your salvation.

Gospel 
John 5:1-16

1There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.[2] 2Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.[3] 3In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.[4]

4[5]

5One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6When 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?” 7The 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.”

8Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” 9Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a sabbath. 10So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”  11He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’“

12They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”

13The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.

14After 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.”[6]

15The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. 16Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.

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Notes on Readings:

[1] Ezekiel 47:1-12 - The wonderful and superabundant stream flowing from the temple, restoring to fertility traditionally arid ground, is symbolic of the return of the conditions of primeval paradise; compare with Genesis 2:10-14. Water signifies great blessings, just as dryness signifies a curse; compare with Ezekiel 26:5, 14.

[2] John 5:1 - The reference in John 5:45-46 to Moses suggests that the feast was Pentecost. The connection of that feast with the giving of the law to Moses on Sinai, attested in later Judaism, may already have been made in the first century. The feast could also be Passover (compare with John 6:4). John stresses that the day was a sabbath (John 5:9).

[3] John 5:2 - There is no noun with Sheep. "Gate" is supplied on the grounds that there must have been a gate in the NE wall of the temple area where animals for sacrifice were brought in; compare with Nehemiah 3:1, 32; 12;39. Hebrew: more precisely, Aramaic. Bethesda: preferred to variants "Be(th)zatha" and "Bethsaida"; bet-esdatayin is given as the name of a double pool northeast of the temple area in the Qumran Copper Roll. Five porticoes: a pool excavated in Jerusalem actually has five porticoes.

[4] John 5:3 - The Caesarean and Western recensions, followed by the Vulgate, add "waiting for the movement of the water." Apparently an intermittent spring in the pool bubbled up occasionally (see John 5;7). This turbulence was believed to cure.

[5] John 5:4 - Toward the end of the second century in the West and among the fourth-century Greek Fathers, an additional verse was known: "For [from time to time] an angel of the Lord used to come down into the pool; and the water was stirred up, so the first one to get in [after the stirring of the water] was healed of whatever disease afflicted him." The angel was a popular explanation of the turbulence and the healing powers attributed to it. This verse is missing from all early Greek manuscripts and the earliest versions, including the original Vulgate. Its vocabulary is markedly non-Johannine.

[6] John 5:14 - While the cure of the paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 is associated with the forgiveness of sins, Jesus never drew a one-to-one connection between sin and suffering (compare with John 9:3; Luke 12;1-5), as did Ezekiel 18:20.