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The healing of the paralytic at the Sheep's pool is one of the miracles performed by Jesus.

According to the Gospel of John (John 5:1-16), this miracle happened at the Sheep Gate next to a fountain or pond, which in Aramaic was called Bethesda (lit. "house of mercy."

The water from the bath was considered miraculous when

“At times the angel of the Lord went down into the pool and disturbed the water, and whoever first entered it after the disturbance of the water, he recovered, no matter what disease he was possessed.”

At the pool there were always many sick people who wanted to be healed and tried to be the first to enter the water.

One of them was paralyzed, suffering from his illness for 38 years and almost lost hope of healing, since there was no one to lower him into the pool when the water was disturbed.

When Jesus saw him lying helplessly and knew that he had been lying for a long time, he said to him: "Take up your bed and walk."

And the paralytic immediately recovered, and took up his bed and went.

This miracle was performed on the Sabbath, and seeing the paralytic carrying his bed, the Jews said: “Today is Saturday; you shouldn't take a bed," to which he replied - "Who healed me, He said to me: take your bed and walk," but he could not say who healed him.

Later, Jesus met him in the temple and said:

“Behold, you have recovered; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you."

When it became known who had performed the healing on the Sabbath, “the Jews sought to kill Him because He not only violated the Sabbath, but also called God His Father, making Himself equal with God.”

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Healing the Paralytic at the Sheep's Pool
English Healing the paralytic at Bethesda

Gospel of John

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus came to Jerusalem. 2 And there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep [Gate] a pool, called in Hebrew Bethesda, in which there were five porches. 3 In them lay a great multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame, the withered, waiting for the movement of the water, 4 for the angel of the Lord went down at times into the pool and disturbed the water, and whoever entered first [into it] after the disturbance of the water, he recovered, whatever it was. obsessed with illness. 5 There was a man here that had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying down, and knowing that he had been lying for a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be well? 7 The sick man answered him, Yes, Lord; but I have no man to lower me into the pool when the waters are troubled; but when I arrive, another is already descending before me. 8 Jesus said to him, Get up, take up your bed and walk. 9 And immediately he recovered, and took up his bed and went. It was on the Sabbath day. 10 Therefore the Jews said to the healed man, Today is the Sabbath; you shouldn't take beds. 11 He answered them: He who healed me said to me, Take up your bed and walk. 12 They asked him, Who is the man who said to you, Take up your bed and walk? 13 And he who was healed did not know who he was, for Jesus hid himself among the people that were in that place. 14 Then Jesus met him in the temple and said to him, Behold, you have recovered; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you. 15 This man went and announced to the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And the Jews began to persecute Jesus, and sought to kill him because he did such things on the Sabbath.

Additional reading

“This will of the Lord is of the utmost importance to us. It proclaims to us that we are subject to illnesses and other disasters of earthly life for our sins. When God delivers us from illness or calamity, and we again begin to lead a sinful life, then again we are subjected to calamities, more serious than what were the first punishments and admonitions sent to us from God.

Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) Teachings in the week about the paralytic. On the Punishments of God.

“Blessed is the man who endures all the sufferings in this life with patience and trust in God! One of his days will outweigh on the scales of heaven the months and years of an atheist who either rejoices without suffering, or suffers without patience and hope in God.

Last Sunday we heard the gospel conception about the miraculous action of the great and mighty presence of Christ. Nathanael, who doubted the words of the Apostle Philip that the long-awaited Messiah appeared in the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, that same Nathanael, as soon as he found himself in the presence of the Lord Himself, immediately recognized and confessed Him as the Son of God and the King of Israel.

And today's passage from the Gospel speaks of the greatest efforts and labors of true believers, applied by them, in order to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Four of them carried the paralytic, their relative or friend, they carried him on the bed - he was in such a desperate position, unable to move. They pushed in vain through the crowded crowd to get closer to the Lord - they did not succeed.

And then they climbed to the roof of the house, opened it, and through the roof, with difficulty and effort, lowered the bed on which the sick man lay, to the feet of the Miracle Worker and Healer. So strong was their faith in Christ.

Jesus, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic: child! your sins are forgiven you. The Lord did not hear the confession of their faith, but He saw their faith. His clairvoyance penetrated to the most secret depths of the human heart, and, considering these depths of the heart, the Lord saw their great faith. But with His bodily eyes He saw and knew their faith, according to the efforts and labor that they applied in order to bring the sick to Him. So, their faith was evident to both the spiritual and bodily vision of the Lord.

In the same way, the unbelief of the scribes, who were present at this event, was also obvious to the Lord. and they thought in their hearts: why does he blaspheme so? Who can forgive sins except God alone? Seeing their thoughts of the heart by his spirit, the Lord begins to gently rebuke Them in this: Why do you think like this in your hearts?

The perspicacious Lord reads with equal ease both in pure and impure hearts.. Just as He immediately saw the pure heart of Nathanael, in which there was no deceit, so now He immediately clearly saw the impure hearts of the scribes, full of deceit. And, may He show them that He has power over bodies, as well as over human souls, the power to forgive sins, and to heal relaxed bodies, the Lord said to the paralytic: I say to you, get up, take up your bed and go to your house. In response to such an imperious command, the sick immediately got up and, taking the bed, went out before everyone, so that everyone was amazed and glorified God, saying: we have never seen anything like this.

look, how many miraculous powers the Lord reveals at the same time:

• He penetrates with His gaze into the hearts of people and reveals the faith of some and the slyness of others;
• He forgives the sins of the soul and makes it healthy and clean from the root cause of sickness and infirmity;
• He restores health to a paralyzed, paralyzed body with His mighty word.

ABOUT, how great, and terrible, and marvelous, and healing, is the presence of the living Lord!

But one must come and stand before the living Lord. This is the most important thing on the path of salvation: to come with faith into the presence of the Lord and feel this presence. Sometimes the Lord Himself comes and reveals His grace-filled presence to us, as He came to Bethany to Martha and Mary; how unexpectedly He appeared on the road to the Apostle Paul; or to other apostles - on the Sea of ​​Galilee, and on the way to Emmaus, and in a closed room; or Mary Magdalene - in the garden; or many saints - in a dream and in reality.

Sometimes people come before the Lord, being led by the apostles. So Andrew brought Simon Peter, Philip brought Nathanael; so the successors of the apostles and missionaries brought thousands and millions of believers to the Lord; and so in general some believers bring other believers.

Finally, sometimes people themselves make great efforts to find themselves in the presence of God, as was the case with these four who climbed onto the roof of the house in order to lower their sick person before the Lord. Here are three ways people can feel in the presence of God. Our business is to labor diligently, that we may come into the presence of the Lord; but the work of God is to admit us into His presence and illuminate us with it.

Therefore, we must use all three methods in reverse order. That is, we must, in faith and earnestly, do everything in our power to come into the presence of the Lord; further, we must follow the call and instructions of the Holy Apostolic Church and the fathers and teachers of the Church; and, finally, only after the fulfillment of the first and second conditions, prayerfully expect with hope that the Lord will admit us to Himself, that He will illuminate us with His presence, that He will strengthen, that He will heal and that she will save us.

And what should be our work in discovering the presence of God, the example of these four people shows us best of all, who do not disdain even to climb onto the roof of a house; and are not embarrassed by any shame or fear, bringing down their sick comrade from on high into the presence of the living Lord. This is an example of jealousy, if not more, then at least similar to the example of that widow, who constantly pestered the unjust judge with a request to protect her from her rival (Luke 18: 1-5).

This is what it means to fulfill the commandment of the Lord, that one should always pray and not lose heart(Luke 18:1). This is proof of the truth of another commandment of the Lord: knock and it will be opened to you(Matthew 7:7). This, finally, is the explanation of the amazing saying of Christ: The kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it by force(Matthew 11:12).

So, the Lord requires from His faithful that they make every possible effort, put in all the work that they do, while there is light, that they pray unceasingly, ask, seek, knock, fast, do countless works of mercy - and all this with that goal, may the Kingdom of Heaven be opened to them, that is, the great, terrible and life-giving presence of God. Therefore, watch at all times and pray that you may be able to avoid all these future disasters and stand before the Son of Man.(Luke 21:36).

Watch unsleepingly over your heart, lest it cling to the earth; watch over your thoughts, lest they turn you away from God; watch over your deeds in order to increase your talent, and not to belittle or squander it; watch over your days, lest death take you by surprise and snatch you away, unrepentant, of your sins.

Such is our Orthodox faith: active through and through, prayerful and invigorating through and through, tearful and fraught with effort. No other faith offers believers to make so much effort to be worthy to stand before the Son of God. All these efforts were offered to the whole world and commanded to the faithful by our Lord and Savior Himself; The Church constantly refreshes them, repeating from century to century, from generation to generation, revealing to the faithful more and more spiritual heroes who have fulfilled the law of Christ and have been honored with glory and power unspeakable both in heaven and on earth.

But, on the other hand, one should not be deceived and think that all these labors and efforts of a person bring salvation in and of themselves. It should not be imagined that a person can come into the presence of the living God solely by his labors and efforts. If the Lord did not will, no mortal could ever stand before Him. For the Lord Himself, Who commanded all these labors and efforts, says in another place: So also you, when you have done all that is commanded to you, say: We are worthless slaves, because we have done what we had to do.(Luke 17:10).

And also, elsewhere: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him(John 6:44). And also, elsewhere: without me you can do nothing(John 15:5). The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians says in the same sense: by grace you are saved(Eph. 2:5). What shall we say after that? Shall we say that all our labors for salvation are in vain? Shall we lower our hands in anticipation until the Lord appears to us Himself and by His power places us in His presence? Does not the prophet Isaiah himself cry: and all our righteousness is like a filthy garment and (Is.64:6)? So should we not give up all labors and all efforts? But will we not then become like a slave who has buried his talent in the ground and therefore heard from the master: crafty slave and lazy(Matthew 25:26)?

We must be sober and work, fulfilling the commandments of the Lord, which are clear as the sun. We must put all our work into it, and it is in God's power to bless our work and admit us into His presence. The Apostle Paul explained this wonderfully when he said: I planted, Apollos watered, but God increased; Therefore, neither he who plants nor he who waters is nothing, but God who makes everything grow.(1 Corinthians 3:6-7). So, everything depends on God - on God's power, wisdom and mercy. But still, our business is to plant and water; and we cannot neglect our duty without exposing ourselves to the danger of eternal destruction.

The duty of the farmer is to plow and water, and it depends on God's power, wisdom and mercy whether the crop will sprout, whether it will grow and bear fruit.

The duty of the scientist is to search and seek, and it depends on God's power, wisdom, and mercy whether knowledge is revealed to him.

The duty of parents is to raise their children and bring them up in the fear of God, and it depends on God's power, wisdom and mercy whether the children will live and for how long.

The duty of a priest is to teach, enlighten, denounce and correct believers, and it depends on God's power, wisdom and mercy whether the work of a priest will bear fruit.

It is the duty of all of us to be diligent and labor in order to be worthy to stand in the presence of the Son of God, but it depends on God's power, wisdom and mercy whether we will be admitted to the Lord.

However one should not work without trusting in the mercy of God. Let all our work be illumined with the hope that the Lord is near us and that He will receive us in the presence of His face. There is no deeper and inexhaustible source than the source of God's mercy. When the prodigal son repented after his deplorable fall to the level of a pig's life, the merciful father ran out to meet him, fell on his neck and forgave him.

The Lord tirelessly comes to meet His repentant children. He stretches out His hands to all who turn their faces towards Him. All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient people- says the Lord about the Jews (Is.65:2). And if the Lord extends His hands to the disobedient, how much more so to the obedient? The obedient prophet David says: I will take out the foreknowledge of the Lord before me, as if at my right hand, but I will not move(Ps. 15:8). So, the Lord does not deprive the humble workers in the matter of His salvation of His presence.

Therefore, let us not consider our labor in vain, as those who have fallen into godlessness and despair do; but, trying and working with all our strength, let us hope in the mercy of the Lord God. Let us deliberately intensify our labors during Great Lent, as the Holy Church commands us.

Let the example of these four shine upon us in that, who climbed to the roof of the house, and opened it, and lowered the fifth - their paralyzed friend - before the Lord. If one-fifth of our soul is weakened or rotten from illness, let us hasten with the rest, healthy, four-fifths before the Lord, and the Lord will heal that which is sick in us.

If one feeling tempted us in this world and got sick from the temptation, let us hasten with the other four feelings before the Lord, so that the Lord would have mercy on our sick feeling and make it healthy. If one part of the body hurts, doctors advise doubly taking care of the rest of the body, doubly protecting and nourishing it, so that the healthy becomes even healthier and stronger and thus overcomes the disease of the sick. So it is with our soul. If we have doubted with our minds, then we will quickly work with our hearts and souls to increase our faith and heal and strengthen the sick mind with the help of God. If we have sinned by abandoning prayer, then let us hasten to return the lost prayerfulness by deeds of mercy, and vice versa.

And our Lord will look down on our faith, on our efforts and labors, and will have mercy on us. And by His infinite mercy He will admit us into His presence, into the immortal and life-giving presence, giving life, strength and joy to the innumerable angelic forces and the hosts of the saints. Honor and glory befits our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity of Consubstantial and Indivisible, now and forever, at all times and forever and ever. Amen.

Saint Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirovich)

The paralyzed man was brought to the Lord Jesus Christ by four of his friends; and seeing their faith, Christ absolved the sick man's sins, that healing was possible, and that he should rise.

There are two things in this story that I would like us to think about.

First of all, this man was sick, he was in need; maybe he was not able to express his need or express his belief in the possibility of healing; but his friends had faith: faith in Christ, faith in His power to heal, to make a person whole. And they took the paralytic and brought him to the Lord.

But their faith alone would not be enough: there were many paralyzed, many were sick who did not have friends to bring them to the Healer. And so it was not only their faith in Christ, but also their love for a friend that spurred them to action.

And precisely because this man, in the years when he was still whole and healthy, managed to awaken love, friendship, devotion, fidelity in their hearts - in an hour of need they came to his aid.

Here we have a double lesson: firstly, that it is possible to bring to God the needs of people: physical, spiritual and others, if we have enough faith in His healing power, and this faith of ours can open the doors of salvation for those who may not have enough faith that maybe they can't even say: “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!” or who doubt, who hesitate, who are not even sure that we can bring them to Christ.

But this becomes possible only if a person in need has somehow awakened love in us, a love so personal, so true that we become able to act.

Or maybe if our life in God has such depth that God could sow in us so many His compassion, His own love, so that we can turn to a stranger, someone we have never heard of, prompted only his need, and bring him to God, for salvation, for healing.

The faith of these people was effective. They took it upon themselves to carry this sick man to Christ. True faith does not look at any barriers. She overcomes everything. “Be of good cheer, child, your sins are forgiven you”, says Christ, because he sees that these people have real faith. They, in fact, do not even pray to Christ, nothing is said about this. They simply lay down at the feet of the paralyzed Christ, and that is enough.

We seem to be shown what prayer is. Prayer is not necessarily words, but it is necessarily such a standing before God, when we ourselves stand before Him and offer Him people who need God's help. All our experience for our personal grief, for the grief that happens to the whole people, when it is in Christ, when we present this grief before Christ God - this is prayer.

Let us remember that in equal measure we must become able to love and capable of awakening, evoking love around them. We must also learn boldness in faith so that when we see the need around us, bring it to God, Who alone can solve the need and heal, make whole not only the body, and mind, and soul, but also complex relationships between people.

This is our calling, this is our call; let us listen attentively to what God tells us in this gospel story, in this good news about the power of love, divine and human, and about the power of faith, upon which God's love and God's mercy respond. Amen.

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh

Healing the paralyzed

One person could not walk. He wants to bend his legs, but they do not bend. Wants to sit down, but no strength. He was so weak that they called him that - relaxed.

His mother fed him with a spoon and washed him like a small child. And he also had friends who often visited him and loved him very much. Suddenly, the friends learned that the Lord Jesus Christ had come to their city. They had already heard that He worked miracles. Friends immediately put the paralytic on a stretcher and carried him away.

They wanted to bring him to the house where Christ was staying. It wasn't there! The house was crowded with so many people that it was impossible to get through.

“Let us pass,” friends said. “Look what a sick person we are carrying.

But no one listened to them. Everyone was just pushing. Then they climbed onto the clay roof of the house and made a wide hole there. A stretcher with a relaxed lifted up on ropes. And then they began to lower into the house through the hole. They shouted from below:

- What are you doing? Why did they break the roof? You will drop it on us!

But it was already too late. The sick man was lowered at the very feet of the Savior. And after him, his friends jumped into the room.

The Lord, seeing how they believed Him, said to the paralyzed man:

- Get up and go.

The patient immediately got up. He took a few steps, stretched out his arms, jumped slightly and squatted down. Legs jumped, arms bent and clenched into fists. The body again became obedient and strong. The man fell on his knees before the Savior. The friends of the paralytic were silent. They knew that the Lord worked miracles. But they didn't know it was that easy. Get up and go!

And the man picked up the stretcher and went home. The next morning he took the tools, a cart with wet clay and went to the owner of the house where Jesus had been yesterday. He spent the whole day repairing his roof.