GOSPEL READING: John 5:1-15
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, which has five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk.'” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
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ЕВАНГЕЛСКО ЧЕТИВО: Јован 5, 1 -15
1. Потоа беше празник јудејски, и се искачи Исус во Ерусалим. 2. А во Ерусалим, при Овчата порта, има бања, по еврејски наречена Витезда, со пет тремови. 3. Во нив лежеа мнозина болни, слепи, хроми, суви, кои очекуваа да се раздвижи водата, 4. зашто одвреме навреме во бањата слегуваше ангел Господов и ја раздвижуваше водата; и кој прв ќе влезеше по раздвижувањето на водата, оздравуваше од каква и да било болест да боледуваше. 5. Имаше таму и еден човек, кој боледувал триесет и осум години. 6. Исус, кога го виде како лежи и штом узна дека од многу години боледува, му рече: „Сакаш ли да оздравиш?” 7. Болниот Му одговори: „Да, Господи! Само немам човек што ќе ме спушти во бањата кога ќе се замати водата; додека, пак, јас дојдам, друг слегува пред мене.” 8. Исус му рече: „Стани, земи ја постелката своја и оди си!” 9. И веднаш оздраве човекот, ја зеде постелката своја и одеше. А тој ден беше сабота. 10. Заради тоа Јудејците Му рекоа на исцелениот: „Сабота е и не треба да ја земаш својата постелка!” 11. Но тој им одговори: „Оној, што ме излекува, ми рече: »Земи ја постелката своја и оди!«“ 12. А тие го прашаа: „Кој е човекот што ти рече: »Земи ја постелката своја и оди?«“ 13. Но исцелениот не знаеше кој е, зашто Исус се беше отстранил, оти на тоа место имаше многу народ. 14. А потоа Исус го сретна во храмот и му рече: „Ете, сега си здрав и не греши веќе, за да не те снајде нешто полошо!” 15. А човекот отиде и им кажа на Јудејците дека Исус е Оној, што го излекувал.
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Close to the Sheep's Gate in Jerusalem, there was a pool, which was called the Sheep's Pool. It had five porches, that is, five sets of pillars supporting a domed roof. Under this roof there lay very many sick people with various maladies awaiting the moving of the water. The first person to step in after the troubling of the water was healed immediately of whatever malady he had.
It was there that the paralytic of today's Gospel was lying, tormented by his infirmity of thirty-eight years. When Christ beheld him, He asked him, "Will you be made whole?" And he answered with a quiet and meek voice, "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool." The Lord said unto him, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." And straightaway the man was made whole and took up his bed. Walking in the presence of all, he departed rejoicing to his own house. According to the expounders of the Gospels, the Lord Jesus healed this paralytic during the days of the Passover, when He had gone to Jerusalem for the Feast, and dwelt there teaching and working miracles. According to Saint John the Evangelist, this miracle took place on the Sabbath.
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Thoughts from St. Theophan the Recluse on the Sunday of the Paralytic
Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14). Sin does not strike only the soul, but the body as well. In some cases this is exceedingly obvious; in others, although not so clearly, the truth remains that the illnesses of the body always stem from sins. A sin is committed in the soul and directly makes it sick; but since the life of the body comes from the soul, then the life coming from a sick soul is of course not healthy. The mere fact that sin brings darkness and sorrow must unfavorably act on the blood, in which lies the basis of bodily health. But when you remember that it separates man from God, the Source of life, and places man in disharmony with all laws acting in himself and in nature, then one must marvel how a sinner remains alive after sinning. This is the mercy of God, Who awaits repentance and conversion. Consequently, a sick person must rush first of all to be cleansed of sins and make peace with God in his conscience. This paves the way for the beneficial action of medicine. They say that there was one distinguished doctor who would not begin treatment until the patient had confessed and received the holy Mysteries; and the more serious the disease, the more urgently he insisted upon this.
St. Theophan the Recluse