So, human nature, like a paralytic broken in all the powers of the soul, had lain in sickness for thirty-eight years. For it did not have sound faith in the Trinity, did not firmly believe in the age to come, that is, in the resurrection and in the judgment for one's entire life. It did not receive healing. For it did not have a Man who would lower it into the pool, that is, the Son of God, Who was to heal by baptism, was not yet Man. But when He became man, then He healed our nature; He commanded to take up the bed as well, that is, to make the body also light and refined, and to rise from the earth, not being weighed down by the flesh and earthly cares, but to rise up from indifference toward the good and to walk, that is, to advance toward the doing of good.
Jn. 5:9. And he was immediately made well, and took up his bed and walked. And it was the Sabbath on that day.
Look, if you will, how he at once heard and believed. He did not think to himself or say: "Is He joking, commanding me to get up immediately? In thirty-eight years of illness I have not received healing, and now I will suddenly get up?" He thought nothing of the sort, but believed and arose.
Jn. 5:10. Therefore the Jews said to the one who had been healed: today is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.
He heals "on the Sabbath," teaching people to understand the rites of the law differently and to place the honoring of the Sabbath not in bodily understood inactivity, but in abstaining from evil. For the law, being the law of the ever-beneficent God, cannot forbid doing good on the Sabbath.
Jn. 5:11. He answered them: He who healed me, He told me: take up your bed and walk.
One must marvel at the boldness of this man before the Jews. They insistently say to him: "You must not carry your bed on the Sabbath"; but he boldly proclaims his benefactor to them: "He who healed me, He told me." He speaks as if to say: "You are mad to command me not to listen to the One who healed me from an illness so prolonged and difficult."
Jn. 5:12. They asked him: who is the Man who said to you: take up your bed and walk?
The Jews do not ask him, "Who healed you?" but rather, "Who told you to take up your bed?" Thus they willingly shut their eyes to the good, while constantly bringing the supposed violation of the Sabbath to the forefront.
Jn. 5:13. But the one who was healed did not know who He was, for Jesus had withdrawn into the crowd that was in that place.
Jesus hid Himself partly so that in His absence the testimony about the healing would be free from all suspicion, and they would not think that this man was favoring Him, but was witnessing to the truth; and partly so as not to inflame the fury of the Jews even more. For even the mere sight of the one who is hated kindles no small spark of hatred in those who hate. Therefore He withdraws, so that this matter might be investigated on its own. For the Jews — the accusers — by subjecting the event to investigation and deliberation, make it all the more widely known.
Jn. 5:14. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him: behold, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.
From the Lord's words to the paralytic: "Behold, you have been made well; sin no more," we learn, first, that the illness befell this man on account of his sins, and second, that the teaching about Gehenna is true and that the torment is eternal.
Where then are those who say: "I sinned in a single hour, so why should I bear endless punishment?" For behold, this man did not sin for as many years as he endured punishment; rather, he spent nearly an entire human lifetime in punishment. Sins are judged not by their duration, but by the very nature of the offenses. We also learn from this that although we may bear heavy punishment for our former sins, if we fall again into the same sins, we shall suffer even greater punishment. And quite justly so. For he who was not improved by the first punishment is subjected to greater torments, because he is insensible and negligent.
"Why," you will say, "are not all punished in this way? For we see that many wicked people enjoy health and prosperity." But the fact that they suffered nothing here will be the occasion for greater punishment there. Pointing to this, Paul says: "Being judged by the Lord," that is, here, "we are chastened, so that we may not be condemned with the world," that is, there (1 Cor. 11:32). For the sufferings here are corrections, while those there are punishments.
Are all diseases then from sins? Not all, but the greater part. For some of them occur because of sins, as happened with this paralytic; and in the Book of Kings we see that someone fell into leprosy because of sins (2 Kings 5:27, 15:5). Others occur for glorification and manifestation, as happened with Job, so that his virtue might be revealed. Still others come from carelessness, for example, from intemperance and drunkenness.
Some from the Lord's words "sin no more" draw the conjecture that the Lord knew that this paralytic would report about Him to the Jews and would point Him out after meeting Him in the temple, and concerning this He says: "Do not sin then." But it is not so. This man proves to be pious. For Jesus finds him in the temple. If he had not been pious, he would have returned home and given himself over to rest and pleasure, and would have fled from the fury of the Jews and their disputation. But nothing of the sort distracted him from the temple.
Oh, if only we too would receive health and upon recovery would remain in the temple, that is, not defile ourselves with unholy thoughts, so that a worse punishment would not befall us in the future.
Jn. 5:15. This man went and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Having recognized Jesus, see how wisely he announces Him to the Jews. He does not say, as they wished to hear, that Jesus said "take up your bed," but rather "He healed me," which they did not wish to hear, accusing Him of violating the Sabbath.
Jn. 5:16. And the Jews began to persecute Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He did such things on the Sabbath.
If the Jews began to persecute the Lord, how is this man at fault for telling them about Him? He proclaimed the Healer with a good intention, so that he might also draw others to faith. But if they began to persecute the Benefactor, that is their fault.
Jn. 5:17. But Jesus said to them: My Father works until now, and I work.
The Jews accuse Christ of having performed a healing on the Sabbath. But He, as equal to the Father in honor and authority, says: "Just as God and My Father works even on the Sabbath, and you do not accuse Him, so too you should not accuse Me."
How then does the Father work until now? Moses says that God rested from all His works (Gen. 2:2). Do you wish to know how God works until now? Look at the universe and learn the works of Providence: the sun rises and sets; look at the sea, the springs, the rivers, the animals, in general at all created things, and you will see that creation does its work, and especially is set in action and motion in an ineffable manner by Providence. Without doubt, Providence does its work on the Sabbath as well. Therefore, just as the Father works and governs creation even on the Sabbath, so I too, His Son, work rightly.