Homily On The Paralytic By The Pool
HOMILY ON THE PARALYTIC BY THE POOL
1 Wherever Jesus appears, there also is salvation. If he sees a tax-collector seated at the counter, he makes him an apostle and an evangelist; if he is buried among the dead, he raises them; he gives sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. When he walks around the pools, it is not to inspect the buildings but to heal the sick.
2 In Jerusalem there used to be a sheep-pool with five porticos, four surrounding the pool, the fifth in the middle, where there lay a great crowd of the sick. There was much unbelief among the Jews. The Physician and Nurse of souls and bodies granted healing in due order, tending first the man who had long been sick so that he might experience the speediest release from his sufferings; he had been lying there not for a day or two, or even a month or a year, but for thirty-eight years. Having become well known to the onlookers in the course of his lengthy illness, he was able to display the power of the healer, for everyone knew him because of the length of time he had been paralysed. Though the Supreme Physician was revealing his power, he was despised by those who took it in bad part.
3 As he walked round the pool, he saw. He didn't learn by asking questions: his divine power supplied what was lacking. He saw, without asking, how long the man had been lying there; his eyes taught him what he already knew before he saw it. For if with regard to what was in the heart he had no need for anyone to ask him about man (for he knew for himself what was in man (cf. Jn 2.25; 16.30)), all the more was this true with regard to diseases which come from outside.
4 He saw a man lying under the weight of a severe illness, for he carried a great burden of sins, and the suffering brought on by his illness had been protracted. Jesus’ question to him somehow expressed what he had been longing to hear: ‘Do you want to be healed?’ That was all he said, and broke off in the middle of the question. For the question had two meanings: the disease was of the soul as well as of the body, as is shown by Jesus’ following remark: ‘See, you have been cured, sin no more lest something worse befall you.’ That is why he asked him: ‘Do you want to be healed?’ Observe the healer's great skill, in that he makes the cure depend upon the desire. It is because salvation comes from faith that the man was asked ‘Do you want?’, so that the desire might prepare the way for the miracle. No one but Jesus spoke in this way, not even the best of earthly doctors. For doctors who treat earthly diseases cannot say ‘Do you want to be healed?’ to all their patients; but Jesus gives even the desire; he accepts the faith and grants the favour without a fee.
5 Once our Saviour was walking along the road where two blind men were sitting. However while physically they were blind, their minds still enjoyed the power of vision; for though the scribes did not recognize Jesus, the blind men's cries pointed him out. For though the Pharisees had learnt the law and practised it from childhood to old age, they had become unteachable in their advanced years, and declared: ‘We don't know where he comes from’ (Jn 9–29); for ‘he came into his own and his own did not accept him’ (Jn 1.11). The blind, on the other hand, cried out: ‘Son of David, have pity on us’ (cf. Mk 10.47). The one whom the learned lawyers did not recognize was recognized by those who had no eyes to read with.
The Saviour went up to them and said: ‘Do you believe that I can do this?’ (Mt 9–28). ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ (Mt 20.32). He did not say: ‘What do you want me to say to you?’ but: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ For he was the Creator and the giver of life; his creative power was not something new. His Father is always at work (cf. Jn 5.17), and he works alongside his Father; he was Creator of all things by his Father's decree. He who is the Only-begotten of the Only God without intermediary asks the blind men: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Not that he didn't know what they wanted (for the truth was plain to see), but he intended the gift to follow from their own words, so that by their own words they might be justified. It is not to be supposed that the one who knows hearts doesn't know what they would say, but by waiting for them to speak, he let their request elicit the miracle.
6 So Jesus approached the sick man; uninvited, the doctor visited the patient. It should not surprise us that he visited the man lying by the pool, since he came down to us uninvited from heaven. ‘Do you want to be cured?’, he asked him. By means of this question he led him on to knowledge and aroused him to question in his turn. This was a great and gracious gift. He could not pay the fee, so he had a voluntary healer. ‘Yes, Lord’, he replied. ‘My protracted sufferings have made me long for health. I do long for it, but I have no man.’
Do not be downcast, my friend, because you have no man. You have God standing beside you, who is in one respect man, in another God, for we must profess both truths. To acknowledge his humanity without acknowledging his divinity is useless, or rather brings a curse, for ‘Cursed is he who places his hope in a man’ (Jer 17.5). So if we place our hope even in Jesus as a man without involving his divinity in our hope, we incur a curse. But as it is, we acknowledge him to be both God and man, and both in literal truth. As the one begotten of a true Father, and as a man born in truth and not in mere appearance, we adore him and look forward to a true salvation.
7 ‘I want to be cured, but I have no man.’ Can't you see that at the very point where the remedy is lacking, he has given you the miracle? For while most of the sick had houses, and relations and perhaps other people too, he suffered complete and utter poverty; and when he had no help from outside to support him, and was left totally to his own resources, God's Only-begotten Son came to his help. ‘Do you want to be healed?’ ‘Yes, Lord, but I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed.’ You have the fountain, for ‘with you is the fountain of life’ (Ps 35.10 (36.9)), the fountain which is the source of all fountains. ‘If anyone drinks from this water, rivers will flow from his belly’ (Jn 7.38), not water that flows downwards, but water that ‘springs up’ (Jn 4.14) —for Jesus’ water does not make us leap down from above but leap up from earthly things to heavenly—water that ‘springs up to eternal life’. For Jesus is the source of blessings.
8 Why do you linger round a pool? You have the one who walked on the waters, who rebuked the winds, who controlled the sea, the one beneath whom the sea was spread like a floor, and who gave Peter the same power to walk on it. When there was no glimmer in the night, the Light was there unrecognized. For as he walked on the waters no one recognized him by glimpsing his face, but the familiar voice revealed his presence. Thinking they saw a ghost they were terror-struck. But Jesus said to them: ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ ‘If you are the one I know’, Peter replied, ‘or rather the one whom the Father has revealed to me, tell me to come to you across the waters.’ ‘Come’, said Jesus, unstinting in sharing his gifts.
9 So the one who controlled and created the waters was there beside the water of the pool. ‘I have no man’, the paralytic said to him, ‘to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed.’ ‘Why are you waiting for the waters to be disturbed?’, the Saviour said to him. ‘Do not be disturbed; be healed. Why are you waiting for a visible movement? The word of command is swifter than thought. Simply look at the power of the spring and recognize God appearing in the flesh. Do not judge by his appearance, but by the work which he accomplishes through the appearance. ‘I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed.’ ‘Why do you wait for what is trivial?’, Jesus said to him. Why look for healing in the waters? Rise up, the Resurrection has told you. For the Saviour is everything for everyone everywhere: bread for the hungry, water for the thirsty, resurrection for the dead, a physician for the sick, redemption for the sinner.
10 Stand up, pick up your mattress and walk. But first stand up; first cast off your disease. Then recover the sinew of faith. First lean on the mattress which is supporting you, then learn to use a wooden frame to carry the things which have long carried you. This same Saviour ordered you to carry the wooden litter of which it is said: ‘The king has made for himself a litter of wood from Lebanon. He has made its posts of silver and its seat of purple, and its interior is paved with stones’ (Cant 3.9–10 (LXX adjusted)). Symbols of the Passion are hidden away in these songs, which are bridal, sober and chaste. Do not interpret these words obtusely as many have done, taking them to be passionate love songs. They are bridal words, full of modesty.
However, if you are not familiar with the Canticle, turn to the Proverbs, and make your way up to the Canticle gradually. ‘Wisdom has built for herself a house’ (the text speaks of Wisdom as a woman) ‘and sent out her servants’ (Prov 9.1, 3). In another place it says: ‘Love her, and she will protect you’ (Prov 4.6). This is not love of a woman, but of wisdom, which drives out carnal passion, for where wisdom is gained passion is banished. Passions do not accord with wisdom, but wise thoughts do. Passion makes men like lusting stallions; their craving knows no reason. So if you hear the Canticle apparently speaking of a bridegroom and a bride, do not descend to understanding the words in an erotic sense, but exercise yourself in passionless thoughts as a means of transforming your passions.
11 Meditate then on the sacred lessons of the Canticle, for they are expressions of chastity and tell of Christ's Passion. They reveal the details of his Passion. They tell us the place: ‘He has come into the garden’ (cf. Cant 5.1), for that is where he was buried. They recalled the spices: ‘He has taken the fullness of my myrrh’ (cf. Cant 5.5 (LXX)); for his human life has been completed. And after the resurrection he said: ‘I have eaten my bread with my honey’ (Cant 5.1 (LXX)); for ‘they gave him a piece of honeycomb’ (Lk 24.42 variant). The Canticle spoke also of the wine mixed with myrrh: ‘I shall give you spiced wine to drink’ (Cant 8.2). In another passage they spoke of the myrrh which was poured on his head: ‘While the king was on his couch, my nard gave out its perfume’ (Cant 1.12), for ‘as he sat at table in the house of Simon the Leper, a woman came in and broke open an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of pure nard and poured it on his head’ (Mk 14.3).
So too with regard to the cross. The ‘litter’ refers to the wood of the cross on which he was carried. ‘He has made its posts of silver’: the beginning of the cross is of silver, namely the betrayal. Just as a luxurious house is crowned with a golden roof and has pillars to support the whole edifice, so too silver was the beginning of his crucifixion and resurrection; for if Judas had not betrayed him, he would not have been crucified. For this reason he made his pillars of silver as the beginning of his renowned Passion.
12 ‘Its seat of purple.’ And so they dressed him in purple, partly in mockery, partly prophetically, for he was a king. Though they were acting mainly for their own amusement, still they did it, and it was a sign of his royal dignity. And though his crown was of thorns, it was a crown, and one woven by soldiers, for kings are proclaimed by their soldiers. ‘Its seat of purple, its interior paved with stones.’ Well instructed members of the Church know of Lithostrotos, also called Gabbatha, in Pilate's house.
13 In explaining this I have digressed from the mattress to the litter. Well then, Jesus said to the man: ‘Stand up, pick up your mattress and walk.’ The disease had been protracted, but the treatment was instantaneous; for years the sinews had been paralysed, instantaneously they were restored. For the very creator of the sinews was here, the one who contrived various cures for the blind, who used a salve of mud to dispense a miraculous remedy. For if mud is applied to a man who can see, it impedes his vision; but Jesus used mud to give sight to the blind. In other cases Jesus used other means to exercise his healing power; in this case by the words: ‘Stand up, pick up your mattress and walk.’
Imagine the onlookers’ amazement. Yet however wonderful the sight, their lack of faith was strange. The years-old disease was cured, but the protracted incredulity was not. The Jews remained ill, and had no desire to be cured.
14 If they should have marvelled at the event, they should have also worshipped the healer of souls and bodies. But they grumbled, for grumbling ran in their family; they inverted good and evil, calling bitter sweet and sweet bitter.
With full deliberation Jesus used to work on the Sabbath, doing works that transcended the Sabbath in order to teach a lesson by the very act of working. Since one argument defeats another but action is invincible, he used to give an object-lesson by healing on the Sabbath, not pitting argument against argument, but using the work to persuade the onlookers.
15 ‘It is the Sabbath’, they said. ‘It is not lawful for you to carry your mattress.’ Although the Lawgiver himself was present, he was not the one who said: ‘It is not lawful.’ The text ‘Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver against them’ (Ps 9.21 (20) (LXX)) refers to the Saviour. They were at once answered by the man who had just been healed in soul and body. Wisdom lent him wise words; though unable to answer in legal terms, his reply was concise.
‘You are all aware’, he said, ‘how long I have been ill, how many years I have been bed-ridden and how helpless my case has been. Not one of you ever did me the service of lifting me up and putting me first in the pool to be cured. So when you have done nothing to help me, why do you now act like lawyers and say: “It is not lawful for you to carry your mattress on the Sabbath”?
‘I can answer you very briefly: the man who cured me told me to do it. You may think nothing of me, but the event should leave you dumbfounded. He put no ointment on me; he employed no medical techniques or aids. He simply spoke, and the effect followed. He gave me an order, and I am obeying it. I trust his command, because his command healed me. If the man who gave me the order hadn't the power to heal me by his orders, it would not be right for me to obey them. But since my illness, which for many years has been plain to see, has ceased at his command, it is right for me to listen to him, seeing that my illness has listened to him and departed. It was the man who restored my health who said to me: “Pick up your mattress.”’
16 The man who was healed did not know who his Healer was. We can see how far our Saviour was from vainglory. Having worked the cure, he slipped away, not wanting to receive credit for the cure. We do just the opposite. If we ever experience dreams, or perform works of healing with our hands, or drive away demons by an invocation, we are so far from hiding our success that we boast of it even before we are questioned. Jesus teaches us by his own example not to speak about ourselves. Once the cure was provided, he slipped away so as not to receive the credit. He withdrew at the right time, and came back at the right time. In order to set healing of the soul alongside the physical cure, he came once the crowd had dispersed, and said: ‘See, you are cured. Do not sin any more.’
17 What a versatile healer! Sometimes he heals the soul before the body, sometimes vice versa. ‘Do not sin any more, in case something worse happen to you.’ This one example contains a general lesson, for the words apply not only to that one man, but to us all. If ever we suffer illness or grief or hardship, we should not blame God. ‘For God cannot be tempted with evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone’ (Jas 1.13). Each of us is ‘caught in the ropes of his own sin’ (Prov 5.22) and scourged.
‘Do not sin any more, in case something worse happen to you.’ Let all mankind attend to these words. Now let the fornicator set aside his lust; now let the miser turn almsgiver; now let the thief heed the words: ‘Do not sin any more.’
God's forgiveness is great, his grace generous. But do not let the vastness of his mercy lead you to presumption, or make his forbearance a reason for sin. Rather let your carnal passions in future be healed, and make your own the words of the reading which suit your case so well: ‘For while we were in the flesh, our sinful passions which came through the law were active in our members’ (Rom 7.5). When the apostle said: ‘While we were in the flesh’, he was not speaking of the flesh which clothes us but of our carnal actions; for when he said: ‘While we were in the flesh’, he was still clothed in flesh himself. But just as God said before bringing about the Flood: ‘My spirit shall not remain in these people because they are flesh’ (Gen 6.3) (for the spirit had been transformed into carnal desire), in the same sense the Apostle says ‘While we were in the flesh’ in this passage.
18 So no one should be in the flesh, or rather, while in the flesh we should not ‘walk according to the flesh’ (Rom 8.4). For the apostle doesn't want us to withdraw completely from the world in order to avoid doing evil, but while remaining in the flesh to enslave the flesh and not be led by it. We should be leaders not slaves. We should take food in moderation, and instead of being carried away by gluttony we should restrain our bellies in order to control our lower parts. Let the body be led by the soul instead of the soul being carried away by carnal pleasures.
‘Do not sin any more, in case something worse happen to you.’ These words contain a message for us all; I only wish everyone had ears to hear them. For when words reach the hearing of the flesh they are not always admitted to the mind. This is what the Saviour implied when he said: ‘he that has ears to hear, let him hear’ (Mt 11.15), for he was speaking to people who had the ears of the flesh.
19 So let everyone listen to Jesus and avoid sin in future, running instead to the one who forgives our sins. If we are ill, let us seek refuge with him; if our spirits are afflicted, let us have recourse to the doctor of knowledge; if we are hungry, let us accept his bread; if we are dead, let us share his resurrection; if we have grown old in ignorance, let us ask Wisdom to grant us wisdom.
20 My thoughts have led me into speaking for too long; perhaps this has impeded our Father's teaching. The hour calls us to hear greater words; may they enable us to perform greater works through which to praise God, to whom is the glory now and always and for ever and ever. Amen.