Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 5:1-7

"After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep [gate] a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered, [waiting for the moving of the water.] [for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the waters stepped in was made whole, with whatsoever disease he was holden.] And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time [in that case], he saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." — John 5:1-7 (ASV)

John 5:8: Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your bed and walk.” [n. 716]

Above, our Lord dealt with spiritual rebirth; here He deals with the benefits God gives to those who are spiritually reborn. We see that parents give three things to those who are physically born from them: life, nourishment, and instruction or discipline. In the same way, those who are spiritually reborn receive these three things from Christ: spiritual life, spiritual nourishment, and spiritual teaching.

And so, three topics are considered here:

1. The giving of spiritual life.
2. The giving of spiritual food, beginning at after these things, Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias (John 6:1).
3. Spiritual teaching, beginning at after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee (John 7:1).

Regarding the first topic, the author does three things.

1. He presents a visible sign in which he shows Christ’s power to produce and restore life. This is the usual practice in this Gospel: to always join some appropriate visible action to the teaching of Christ, so that what is invisible can be made known through the visible.
2. He gives the occasion for this teaching, at and it was the Sabbath that day.
3. He gives the teaching itself, at then Jesus answered and said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything of himself (John 5:19).

Concerning the visible sign, he does three things.

1. The place of the miracle is given.
2. The illness involved is described, at and there was a certain man there, having been under his infirmity thirty-eight years.
3. The sick person is restored to health, at Jesus said to him: Arise, take up your bed and walk.

The place of this miracle is described in two ways: in general and in particular.

The general location is Jerusalem. Thus, he says, after this—that is, after the miracle performed in Galilee—there was a festival day of the Jews, which was Pentecost, according to Chrysostom. For when Christ went to Jerusalem previously, it was the Passover that was mentioned; now, on the following festival of Pentecost, Jesus went up to Jerusalem again. For as we read, the Lord commanded that all Jewish males be presented in the temple three times a year: on the festival days of the Passover, Pentecost, and the Dedication (Exodus 23:17).

There were two reasons why our Lord went up to Jerusalem for these festivals. First, so that He would not seem to oppose the Law, for He said Himself, I have not come to destroy the law, but to complete it (Matthew 5:17). Second, He went in order to draw the many people gathered there on the feast days to God through His signs and teaching: I will praise him in the midst of the people (Psalms 109:30); and again, I have declared your justice in the great assembly (Psalms 40:9). So Christ Himself says, I have spoken openly to the world (John 18:20).

The specific place of the miracle was the pool called the Sheep Pool; so he says, now there is a pond at Jerusalem, called the Sheep Pool. This is described in four ways: by its name, its structure, its occupants, and its power.

First, it is described by its name when he says, the Sheep Pool, for probaton is Greek for sheep. It was called the Sheep Pool because it was there that the priests washed the sacrificial animals, especially the sheep, which were used more than other animals. And so in Hebrew it was called Bethsaida, that is, “the house of sheep.” This pool was located near the temple and was formed from collected rainwater.

In its mystical sense, this pool, according to Chrysostom, prefigured Baptism. For the Lord, wishing to prefigure the grace of baptism in different ways, first chose water, for this washes the body from the uncleanness that came from contact with what was legally unclean (Numbers 19). Second, He gave this pool a power that expresses the power of Baptism even more vividly than water alone. It not only cleansed the body from its uncleanness but also healed it from its illness, for symbols are more expressive the closer they approach the reality.

Thus, it signified the power of Baptism. For just as this water, when applied to the body, had the power to heal its illness—not by its own nature, but from an angel—so the water of Baptism has the power to heal and cleanse the soul from sins: he loved us, and washed us from our sins (Revelation 1:5). This is why the Passion of Christ, prefigured by the sacrifices of the Old Law, is represented in Baptism: all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, have been baptized into his death (Romans 6:3).

According to Augustine, the water in this pool signified the condition of the Jewish people, according to the verse, the waters are the peoples (Revelation 17:15). The Gentiles were not confined within the limits of the divine law, but each of them lived according to the vanity of his heart (Ephesians 4:17). The Jews, however, were confined under the worship of the one God: we were kept under the law, confined, until the faith was revealed (Galatians 3:23). Therefore, this water, confined to the pool, signified the Jewish people. And it was called the Sheep Pool because the Jews were the special sheep of God: we are his people, his sheep (Psalms 95:7).

The pool is described in its structure as having five porches, that is, surrounding it, so that a number of priests could stand and wash the bodies of the animals without inconvenience.

In the mystical sense, these five porticoes, according to Chrysostom, signify the five wounds in the body of Christ, about which we read: bring your hand here, and put it in my side, and do not be faithless, but believing (John 20:27). But according to Augustine, these five porticoes signify the five books of Moses.

The pool is also described by its occupants, for in these porticoes lay a great multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame and the withered, waiting for the motion of the water. The literal explanation is that afflicted people gathered because of the water's curative power. However, since the water did not always heal, nor could it heal many at once, it was inevitable that a large number would remain, waiting to be cured.

The mystical meaning of this, for Augustine, was that the Law was incapable of healing sins: it is impossible that sins be taken away by the blood of bulls and goats (Hebrews 10:4). The Law merely shed light on them, for the knowledge of sin comes from the law (Romans 3:20).

And so, subject to various illnesses, these people lay there, unable to be cured. They are described in several ways. First, by their posture: for there they lay, clinging to earthly things by their sins, because one who is lying down is in direct contact with the earth. He had compassion on them, for they were suffering, and lying like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). But the just do not lie down; they stand upright, toward the things of heaven: they, that is, sinners, are bound, and have fallen down; but we, the just, have stood and are erect (Psalms 20:8).

Second, they are described by their number, for there was a great multitude: the evil are hard to correct, and the number of fools is infinite (Ecclesiastes 1:15); and, the road that leads to destruction is wide, and many go this way (Matthew 7:13).

Third, these sick people are described by their condition. The author mentions four things a person brings on himself through sin. First, a person ruled by sinful passions is made listless or feeble, and so he says, the sick. This is why Cicero calls certain passions of the soul, such as anger and sinful desire, illnesses of the soul. And the Psalm says: have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak (Psalms 6:2). Second, when a man’s passions rule and conquer him, his reason is blinded by consent; regarding this, he says, the blind, that is, through sins. Their own evil blinded them ; and, fire, that is, the fire of anger and sinful desire, fell on them, and they did not see the sun (Psalms 58:8). Third, a person who is feeble and blind is inconstant in his works and is, in a way, lame. So we read: the work of the wicked is unsteady (Proverbs 11:18). With respect to this the Evangelist says, the lame. How long will you be lame? (1 Kings 18:21). Fourth, a man who is thus feeble, blind in understanding, and lame in his actions becomes dry in his affections, in the sense that all the richness of devotion withers within him. This devotion is sought in the Psalm: may my soul be filled with fat and marrow (Psalms 63:5). With respect to this the Evangelist says, the withered. My strength is dried up like baked clay (Psalms 22:15).

But there are some so afflicted by the weariness of sin that they do not wait for the moving of the water, but wallow in their sins: they live in a great strife of ignorance, and they call so many and great evils peace . We read of such people: they are glad when they do evil, and rejoice in the worst of things (Proverbs 2:14). The reason for this is that they do not hate their sins; they do not sin from ignorance or weakness, but from malice. But others, who do not sin from malice, do not wallow in their sins but wait with desire for the moving of the water. So he says, waiting. Every day of my service I wait for my relief to come (Job 14:14). This is the way those in the Old Testament waited for Christ: I will wait for your salvation, O Lord (Genesis 49:18).

Finally, the power of the pool is described, for it healed all physical illnesses by virtue of an angel who came to it; so he says, and an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond.

In certain ways, the power of this pool is like that of Baptism, and in other ways it differs.

It is similar, first, in that its power was unseen. The power of the water in this pool did not come from its own nature—otherwise it would have healed at all times. Its power was unseen, coming from an angel. So he says, and an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond. The water of Baptism is like this in that, as mere water, it does not have the power to cleanse souls; this comes from the unseen power of the Holy Spirit, according to: unless a man is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). It is similar, in a second way, in its effect: for as the water of Baptism heals, so also the water of that pool healed. So he says, and whoever descended first into the pond after the motion of the water was made well. Furthermore, God gave that water the power to heal so that men, by washing, might learn through their bodily health to seek their spiritual health.

Yet the water of this pool differs from the water of Baptism in three ways.

1. In the source of its power: the water in the pool produced health because of an angel, but the water of Baptism produces its effect by the uncreated power not only of the Holy Spirit, but of the entire Trinity. Thus, the entire Trinity was present at the baptism of Christ: the Father in the voice, the Son in person, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. This is why we invoke the Trinity in our baptism.
2. In its power: the water in the pool did not have a continuous power to cure, but only at certain times, while the water of Baptism has a permanent power to cleanse, according to: on that day a fountain will be open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse the sinner and the unclean (Zechariah 13:1).
3. As regards the number of people healed: only one person was cured when the water of this pool was moved, but all are healed when the water of Baptism is moved. And no wonder, for the power of the water in the pool, since it is created, is finite and has a finite effect. But in the water of Baptism there is an infinite power capable of cleansing an infinite number of souls, if there were such: I will pour clean water upon you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleanness (Ezekiel 36:25).

According to Augustine, however, the angel signifies Christ, according to this reading: he will be called the angel of great counsel (Isaiah 9:6). Just as the angel descended at certain times into the pool, so Christ descended into the world at a time fixed by the Father: her time is near at hand, and her days shall not be prolonged (Isaiah 13:22); when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, made from a woman, made under the law (Galatians 4:4).

Again, just as the angel was not seen except by the motion of the water, so Christ was not known in His divinity, for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8). For it is said: truly, you are a hidden God (Isaiah 45:15). And so the motion of the water was seen, but not the one who set it in motion, because, seeing the weakness of Christ, the people did not know of His divinity. And just as the one who went into the pool was healed, so a person who humbly believes in God is healed by His passion: justified by faith, through the redemption which is in Christ, whom God put forward as an expiation (Romans 3:24–25).

Only one was healed, because no one can be healed except in the unity of the Church: one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). Therefore, woe to those who hate unity and divide people into sects.

Then, at and there was a certain man there, having been under his infirmity thirty-eight years, the Evangelist mentions the disability of a man who lay by the pool. Two points are made:

1. We are told how long he was disabled.
2. We are told why it was so long, at when Jesus had seen him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time.

He was disabled for a long time, for and there was a certain man there, having been under his infirmity thirty-eight years. This episode is very aptly mentioned: the man who could not be cured by the pool was to be cured by Christ, because those whom the Law could not heal, Christ heals perfectly, according to: God did what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sin-offering, he condemned sin in his flesh (Romans 8:3), and: perform new signs and wonders .

The number thirty-eight is well-suited to his disability, for we see it associated with sickness rather than with health. As Augustine says, the number forty signifies the perfection of justice, which consists in observing the Law. But the Law was given in ten precepts and was to be preached to the four corners of the world, or be completed by the four Gospels, according to: the end of the law is Christ (Romans 10:4). So since ten times four is forty, this number appropriately signifies perfect justice. Now if two is subtracted from forty, we get thirty-eight. These two are the two precepts of charity, by which all perfect justice is fulfilled. And so this man was sick because he had forty minus two; that is, his justice was imperfect, for on these two commandments all the law and the prophets depend (Matthew 22:40).

Now, at when Jesus had seen him lying there, the reason for the length of the man’s illness is considered. This involves two parts:

1. The Lord’s question.
2. The sick man’s answer, at the infirm man answered him.

John says, when Jesus had seen him, the man, lying there. Jesus saw him not only with His physical eyes, but also with the eyes of His mercy. This is the way David begged to be seen, saying: look at me, O Lord, and have mercy on me (Psalms 86:16). And Jesus knew that he had been there a long time in his disability—which was repugnant to the heart of Christ as well as to the sick man: a long illness is a burden to the physician ()—and said to him: Do you wish to be made well? He did not say this because He did not know the answer, for it was quite evident that the man wanted to be healed. He said it to arouse the sick man’s desire and to show his patience in waiting so many years to be cured of his sickness without giving up. We see from this that he was all the more worthy to be cured: act bravely, and let your heart be strengthened, all you who hope in the Lord (Psalms 31:24).

Jesus incites the man’s desires because we keep more securely what we acquire with desire, and we acquire it more easily. Knock, with your desire, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7).

Note that in other situations the Lord requires faith: Do you believe that I can do this for you? (Matthew 9:28). But here He does not make any such demand. The reason is that the others had heard of the miracles of Jesus, of which this man knew nothing. And so Jesus does not ask for faith from him until after the miracle has been performed.

Then, at Lord, I have no man, the sick man’s answer is given. Two reasons are given for the length of his illness: his poverty and his weakness. Because he was poor, he could not afford a man to plunge him into the pool; so he says, Lord, I have no man who, when the water is troubled, might put me into the pond. For while I am coming, another goes down before me. Perhaps he thought, as Chrysostom says, that Christ might even help to put him into the water.

Someone else always reached the pool before him because he was weak and not able to move fast; so he says, for while I am coming, another goes down before me. He could say with Job: I cannot help myself (Job 6:13). This signifies that no mere man could save the human race, for all had sinned and needed the grace of God. Mankind had to wait for the coming of Christ, God and man, by whom it would be healed.

Now, at arise, take up your bed, we see the man restored to health, that is, the working of the miracle. This involves two parts:

1. The Lord’s command.
2. The man’s obedience, at and immediately the man was made well, and he took up his bed and walked.

The Lord commanded both the man’s nature and his will, for both are under the Lord’s power. He commanded his nature when He said, arise. This command was not directed to the man’s will, for this was not within the power of his will. But it was within the power of his nature, to which the Lord gave the power to stand by His command.

He gave two commands to the man’s will: take up your bed and walk. The literal meaning is that these two things were commanded in order to show that the man had been restored to perfect health. For in all His miracles the Lord produced a perfect work, according to what was best in the nature of each case: the works of God are perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4). Now this man was lacking two things: first, his own energy, since he could not stand up by himself, for our Lord found him lying by the pool. Second, he lacked the help of others, for he said, I have no man. So our Lord, in order that this man might recognize his perfect health, ordered him who could not help himself to pick up his mat, and him who could not walk to walk.

These are the three things which the Lord commands in the justification of a sinner.

1. He should stand up, by leaving his sinful ways: Rise up, you who sleep, and arise from the dead (Ephesians 5:14).
2. He is commanded to take up your bed, by making satisfaction for the sins he has committed. For the mat on which a man rests signifies his sins. And so a man takes up his mat when he begins to do the penance given to him for his sins. I will bear the anger of God, because I have sinned against him (Micah 7:9).
3. He is commanded to walk, by advancing in what is good, according to: they will go from strength to strength (Psalms 84:7).

According to Augustine, this sick man was lacking two things: the two precepts of charity. And so our Lord gives two commands to his will, which is perfected by charity: to take up his mat, and to walk. The first concerns the love of neighbor, which is first in the order of action; the second concerns the love of God, which is first in the order of precept.

With respect to the first, Christ says, take up your bed. As if to say: when you are weak, your neighbor bears with you and, like a mat, patiently supports you: we who are stronger ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and not seek to please ourselves (Romans 15:1). Thus, after you have been cured, take up your bed, that is, bear and support your neighbor, who carried you when you were weak: carry each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

About the second he says, walk, by drawing near to God. So we read: they will go from strength to strength, and it then says, the God of gods shall be seen in Zion (Psalms 84:7); walk while you have the light (John 12:35).

Next we see the man’s obedience: and immediately the man was made well. First, we see the obedience of his nature, because immediately the man was made well. And no wonder, because Christ is the Word through whom heaven and earth were made: he commanded and they were created (Psalms 148:5); by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made (Psalms 33:6). Second, we see the obedience of the man’s will: first, because he picked up his bed, and second, because he walked. We will do everything that the Lord commands, and obey him (Exodus 24:7).