Category: New Testament
Scriptures:
Mark 2:1-2:12
Luke 5:17-5:26
Mark 2:1-2:12
1 When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was in the house.
2 Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them.
3 Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him.
4 When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on.
5 Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
6 But there were some of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
7 “Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?’
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—
11 “I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.”
12 He arose, and immediately took up the mat, and went out in front of them all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Luke 5:17-5:26
17 On one of those days, he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them.
18 Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus.
19 Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the middle before Jesus.
20 Seeing their faith, he said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
22 But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, “Why are you reasoning so in your hearts?
23 Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you;’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk?’
24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (he said to the paralyzed man), “I tell you, arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God.
26 Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”
Commentary
The Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem was where sick people gathered with hopes of being cured of their illnesses. The Aramaic word Bethesda means “house of mercy” or “house of grace” in English. Lounging at one of the five porticos or porches adjacent to the pool, the ill people waited and watched for an angel to stir the water. The hopeful, diseased people at the poolside believed that the first person to step into the water after it was stirred by an angel was healed (John 5:1-4).
A German archeologist living in Jerusalem unearthed surrounded by four porticos—with a fifth portico dividing the pool into two separate pools—in 1956. The site is in Jerusalem, close to the Church of Saint Anne and near the Sheep Gate, true to its location described in John 5:2. There are sections of the pool up to 40 feet deep and other areas with small caverns and shallow baths.
The pool is believed to have been used throughout history for ritualistic baths as well as a place where invalids waited to step into the pool for healing. The Bethesda Pool where Jesus healed the paralytic man believed to have been a mikveh, or ritual bath, in the time of Christ. Roman citizens in Jerusalem a century or two later had medicinal baths constructed at the Bethesda Pool. To commemorate Jesus healing the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, Christians controlling Jerusalem in the later Byzantine and Crusader periods added a chapel and churches that now cover the Bethesda Pool complex.