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| Bloch |
John 5: 1-18
Some time later, there was a Jewish feast, and Jesus went
up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem, near the Sheep’s Gate, a pool,
called Bethesda in Hebrew, which is surrounded by 5 covered porches. Here lay a
great many invalids, the blind, the lame [crippled], the weak [withered],
waiting for the water to begin moving. For from time to time a powerful angel
of the Lord descended into the pool and stirred up the waters. The first one in
the pool after such a disturbance would be cured of whatever ailment he had.
And there was a certain man there who had been an invalid
for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and became aware that he had been
ill for so long, he asked him,
“Do you want [have the will] to become whole?”
The invalid answered him, “Lord [Sir], I have no one to
help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in,
someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Rise up, take up your pallet,
and walk.” At once the man was healed
and picked up his pallet and walked.
However it was the Sabbath on that day. Therefore the
Jewish leaders said to the man who was healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law
forbids you to carry your pallet.”
But he replied, “The man who healed me said to me, “take
up your pallet and walk!”
And they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you ‘take
it up and walk’?”
But the one who was healed had no idea who it was, for
Jesus had slipped away, as there was a crowd in the place.
Later, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him,
“Take to heart what I say: Behold, you have become whole. Sin no more, lest
your destiny bring you something worse.”
The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that Jesus
was the one who had healed him. That is why they persecuted Jesus and sought to
kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.
Then he himself countered them with the words, “Until now
my Father has worked, and from now on I also work.”
Then they sought all the more to kill him, because not
only had he broken the Sabbath, but also because he had called God his own
Father and had set himself equal to God.
4th Epiphany
Feb 1, 2015
John 5: 1-18
The man at the pool in Bethesda wants to be healed. But in this circumstance, only one person at a time can be healed. And so an atmosphere of competition pervades. With each stirring of the water, egotism arises; each person rushes to be the first to claim the limited resources, so there is nothing left for the others.
Christ first asks the man if he really wants to get well.
And then He gives him a direct infusion of His own strength through the power
of His creating Word. Rise, He says. Take up your pallet – your true destiny –
and walk forward on your path.
Yet the story has a complicated ending. It was the
Sabbath. Carrying a pallet was forbidden. And when the man told the leaders
that it was Jesus who had healed him and told him to do so, it further aroused
their enmity toward Christ. As Jesus knew it would. As we say, ‘no good deed goes
unpunished’.
Christ is the true self of humankind. He is also the Lord
of Karma. If it is time for healing, it doesn’t matter what the rules are – He
works. Knowing that those ‘in charge’ will oppose Him. Knowing that speaking
the truth of calling God his Father will in fact cause him to be executed.
He fears not, because He lives and acts according to the
Father’s will. As He says in the prayer that He gave us, “Thy will be done on
earth as it is in the heavens”. Mt 6:10 As he will say in the face of his own death,”
not my will but thine be done”. Luke 22:42
As we can say at any time, “May we so
perform your will as you, Father, have laid it down in our inmost being.” (Esoteric Lord’s Prayer, Rudolf Steiner)
