THE TIME came for another feast at Jerusalem, and as on the year before,
Jesus went to attend it. We do not know whether his disciples were with
him on this visit, for in the story as given by John in his gospel, they
are not mentioned.
On one Sabbath day, while Jesus was in the city, he walked past a public
bath not far from the Temple. It was a large pool or cistern, where
several could bathe at once; and beside it were five porches, forming an
arched-over platform. These porches, when Jesus came to the pool, were
crowded with people, all suffering with disease. Some were blind, some
were lame and some had legs or arms all withered and palsied.
At certain times the water in this bath used to bubble and rise up; then
it would go down again and be quiet. The people believed that this
bubbling up of the water was caused by an angel (whom no one could see)
going down and stirring up the pool. They believed, too, that at such
times when the water bubbled up, any person who was ill would be cured
by taking a bath in the pool. We know that there are many springs whose
water will cure diseases, and this pool may have been one of these
health-giving springs.
Jesus saw lying there upon a mat beside the bath one man who had been
helpless, unable to walk for almost forty years. Jesus who knew all
things, knew that this man had been ill for a long time. He said to him:
"Would you like to be made well?"
This man had never seen Jesus before and did not know who he was.
"Sir," he answered, "there is nobody to put me in the bath when the
water rises; but while I am trying to crawl down and get into the water,
somebody who can walk steps in ahead of me."
[Illustration: Pool of Bethesda from above]
Jesus said:
"Rise, take up your mat, and walk!"
The crippled man had never heard words like these; but as soon as they
were spoken, he felt a new power shooting through his body. He stood up
for the first time in thirty-eight years, picked up his piece of
matting, rolled it up and put it upon his shoulder. Then he started to
walk toward his house, carrying his burden.
You remember that it was on the Sabbath day that this took place. The
Jews were exceedingly careful in keeping the Sabbath. God had said to
their fathers many years before, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy." But the Jews had added to this commandment many useless rules.
They could not light a fire on that day, for that would be working; they
could not hold a pen, for that would be carrying a load. These little
rules had not been given by God, but had been made by the scribes or
teachers of the law.
Some people saw this man carrying his roll of matting through the
street. They said to him:
"Stop! don't you know this is the Sabbath day? You have no right to be
carrying your bed."
The man did not lay down his load. He said, "A man saw me helpless by
the pool, for I was nearly forty years a cripple. This man made me well;
and he it was who said to me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'"
"Who was this man," said the Jews, "who told you to carry your bed on
the Sabbath day?"
The man who had been cured did not know who it was that had cured him,
for many were standing near, and after healing the man Jesus had walked
away without being noticed. Soon after, the man went up to the Temple to
give thanks to God for his cure, and there he met his healer and learned
for the first time his name. Jesus said to him at that time:
"You are now free from the disease which for so many years has made you
helpless. Do not sin any more against God, or something worse will come
to you."
The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured
him. The leaders among the Jews, the priests, the scribes and the
Pharisees, were very angry at Jesus, because he had made this man well
on the Sabbath and because he had told the man to carry his mat on that
day. The rulers tried to stir up the people against Jesus, saying that
he was a Sabbath-breaker, and nobody should listen to his words.
But Jesus said to them, "My Father works on all days doing good to men;
and I do only what he does."
He meant to show them that God sends his sunshine and his rain every day
in the week, causing the grass and the grain and the flowers to grow as
much on the Sabbath as on other days; and that it was right for him and
for every man to do good works, helping men and curing their sickness,
on the Sabbath day.
But his words only made the Jews all the more angry, because he had
spoken of God as his Father, making himself (they said) equal with God.
They would have killed him if they could, so great was their hate
against him.
Jesus did not stay long in Jerusalem at this visit. Soon after the feast
he went again to his home at Capernaum.
The Lord of the Sabbath