"DO YOU WANT TO BE HEALED?" ^_[1]

WAREHOUSING

1. The pool of Bethsaida, near Jerusalem's Sheep Gate, was a shrine for the infirm who sheltered there. Although the pool was revered by first century Palestinian Jews, its healing properties were not sufficient for curing large numbers of sick and infirm people who clustered around its porticoes. Its still cool water quenched ones thirst perhaps, but neither drinking or wading proved to be a cure for the lame or restored sight to the blind. Like many holy places, Bethsaida was a sign of contradiction. It could be said that the pool of Bethsaida was a place of hope for the impaired. Some of the sick found cures. Most retreated in disappointment bereft of healing. Many pilgrims believed that an angel of the Lord touched the waters of the Sheep Pool from time to time. In such a circumstance, healing was reserved for only one person--the first to step into the water. No other person could make a claim on the healing properties of the pool until the angel returned again to disturb its surface. Certain elements of the story are disturbing. In spite of being infirm, the people assembled at Bethsaida ironically were dependent upon their physical prowess to win the prize. They were forced to watch the water and compete aggressively with one another at the proper moment. Anxiety and resignation shrouded the hope of the sick. Their future was mortgaged to the movement of the water. The Bethsaida story suggests that God rewards the suffering with indifference and capriciousness. Only one person could benefit from the pool even if all could see its waters stirred by the angel. The pool was a sign of a people subservient to visible, external phenomena. Reliance on formula and custom, while normative in first-century Palestinian Judaism, was clearly inadequate. It is not uncommon for societies to profess faith in divine intervention while, at the same time, warehousing their "multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed". [Jn 5:3] as did the City of Jerusalem at the Sheep Pool. Paradoxically, Bethsaida acknowledged the impaired even as it discounted them. It was convenient. Its mechanism allowed for simple explanations. Resigned to their situation, the lame had no option other than to remain rooted where they were.

"WHAT IS THAT TO YOU?"

2. One day Jesus enters the sub-culture of the Sheep Pool. He walks among the many who suffer there. On one hand he does not feel fright or revulsion, nor does he attempt to romanticize their poverty. He is not officious or bureaucratic. Pausing for a moment, Jesus addresses a crippled man sprawled on his pallet. The man's sorrowful face reveals that his existence has been a living funeral of almost forty years. He cannot walk, and has no one to assist him. Over the years, he tried to pull himself from his pallet to the waters edge at the right moment, but someone would plunge into the pool before him. There were many things Jesus could have said. He could have preached or taught or judged. Knowing what the man needs, Jesus asks him a simple question: "Do you want to be healed?"^[2] [Jn 5:6] Surprisingly, the suppliant does not offer him a direct answer. The sick man, without responding yes or no, says he tried to do what needed to be done. Jesus accepts the man's unsophisticated plea and makes up for what is lacking in the man's response. "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk", he says. [Jn 5:8] Johns Gospel reveals that Our Lord satisfied the crippled man's professed immediate need: "And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked....Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place." [Jn 5:9, 13] The entire encounter between Jesus and the lame man took place in a few moments.^[3] Eventually the grateful man discovered who it was that healed him. He encountered the saving Messenger of God and received it in childlike simplicity. Lack of learning and community standing were not impediments. The gospel story does not reveal what became of the man Jesus healed, nor do we know anything about his origins. Did he understand that the miracle of spiritual healing is more wondrous than the physical cure? That it matters less, very much less, for us to judge or control the marrow of a person's life than to say, "Do you want to be healed?" Like Peter who troubled Jesus regarding the one whom he loved "Lord, what about this man?" [Jn 21:21], we wonder what will happen to us. What eventually will we make of our lives? Where will we go? What will our responsibilities be? Who will be there to help us? Jesus answers us as he answers Peter, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!" [Jn 21:21-22]

^[1] Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent /Weekday Lectionary Years I and II /Jn 5:1-16.

^[2] The pool of Bethsaida would be superseded by the Sacrament of Baptism: "...a spring of water welling up to eternal life". [Jn 4:14]

^[3] The Bethsaida story is an archetype of forgiveness as healing and the reversal of human expectations.