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1. It ought not to be a matter of wonder that a miracle was wrought
by God; the wonder would be if man had wrought it. Rather ought we
to rejoice than wonder that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was
made man, than that He performed divine works among men. It is of
greater importance to our salvation what He was made for men, than
what He did among men: it is more important that He healed the faults
of souls, than that He healed the weaknesses of mortal bodies. But
as the soul knew not Him by whom it was to be healed, and had eyes in
the flesh whereby to see corporeal deeds, but had not yet sound eyes in
the heart with which to recognise Him as God concealed in the flesh,
He wrought what the soul was able to see, in order to heal that by
which it was not able to see.
He entered a place where lay a great multitude of sick folk of blind,
lame, withered; and being the physician both of souls and bodies, and
having come to heal all the souls of them that should believe, of those
sick folk He chose one for healing, thereby to signify unity. If in
doing this we regard Him with a commonplace mind, with the mere human
understanding and wit, as regards power it was not a great matter that
He performed; and also as regards goodness He performed too little.
There lay so many there, and yet only one was healed, whilst He
could by a word have raised them all up. What, then, must we
understand but that the power and the goodness was doing what souls
might, by His deeds, understand for their everlasting salvation,
than what bodies might gain for temporal health? For that which is the
real health of bodies, and which is looked for from the Lord, will be
at the end, in the resurrection of the dead. What shall live then
shall no more die; what shall be healed shall no more be sick; what
shall be satisfied shall no more hunger and thirst; what shall be made
new shall not grow old. But at this time, however, the eyes of the
blind, that were opened by those acts of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, were again closed in death; and limbs of the paralytics that
received strength Were loosened again in death; and whatever was for a
time made whole in mortal limbs came to nought in the end: but the soul
that believed passed to eternal life. Accordingly, to the soul that
should believe, whose sins He had come to forgive, to the healing of
whose ailments He had humbled Himself, He gave a significant proof
by the healing of this impotent man. Of the profound mystery of this
thing and this proof, so far as the Lord deigns to grant us, while
you are attentive and siding our weakness by prayer, I will speak as
I shall have ability. And whatever I am not able to do, that will
be supplied to you by Him by whose help I do what I can.
2. Of this pool, which was surrounded with five porches, in which
lay a great multitude of sick folk, I remember that I have very often
treated; and most of you will with me recollect what I am about to
say, rather than gain the knowledge of it for the first time. But it
is by no means unprofitable to go back upon matters already known, that
both they who know not may be instructed, and they who do know may be
confirmed. Therefore, as being already known, these things must be
touched upon briefly, not leisurely inculcated. That pool and that
water seem to me to have signified the Jewish people. For that
peoples are signified under the name of waters the Apocalypse of John
clearly indicates to us, where, after he had been shown many waters,
and he had asked what they were, was answered that they were peoples.
That water, then namely, that people was shut in by the five books of
Moses, as by five porches. But those books brought forth the sick,
not healed them. For the law convicted, not acquitted sinners.
Accordingly the letter, without grace, made men guilty, whom on
confessing grace delivered. For this is what the apostle saith:
"For if a law had been given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law." Why, then, was the law
given? He goes on to say, "But the Scripture hath concluded all
under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given
to them that believe." What more evident? Have not these words
expounded to us both the five porches, and also the multitude of sick
folk? The five porches are the law. Why did not the five porches
heal the sick folk? Because, "if there had been a law given which
could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the
law." Why, then, did the porches contain those whom they did not
heal? Because "the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the
promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that
believe."
3. What was done, then, that they who could not be healed in the
porches might be healed in that water after being troubled? For on a
sudden the water was seen troubled, and that by which it was troubled
was not seen. Thou mayest believe that this was wont to be done by
angelic virtue, yet not without some mystery being implied. After the
water was troubled, the one who was able cast himself in, and he alone
was healed: whoever went in after that one, did so in vain. What,
then, is meant by this, unless it be that there came one, even
Christ, to the Jewish people; and by doing great things, by
teaching profitable things, troubled sinners, troubled the water by
His presence, and roused it towards His own death? But He was
hidden that troubled. For had they known Him, they would never have
crucified the Lord of glory. Wherefore, to go down into the troubled
water means to believe in the Lord's death. There only one was
healed, signifying unity: whoever came thereafter was not healed,
because whoever shall be outside unity cannot be healed.
4. Now let us see what He intended to signify in the case of that
one whom He Himself, keeping the mystery of unity, as I said
before, deigned to heal out of so many sick folk. He found in the
number of this man's years the number, so to speak, of infirmity:
"He was thirty and eight years in infirmity." How this number
refers more to weakness than to health must be somewhat more carefully
expounded. I wish you to be attentive; the Lord will aid us, so
that I may fitly speak, and that you may sufficiently hear. The
number forty is commended to our attention as one consecrated by a kind
of perfection. This, I suppose, is well known to you, beloved.
The Holy Scriptures very often testify to the fact. Fasting was
consecrated by this number, as you are well aware. For Moses fasted
forty days, and Elias as many; and our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ did Himself fulfill this number of fasting. By Moses is
signified the law; by Elias, the prophets; by the Lord, the
gospel. It was for this reason that these three appeared on that
mountain, where He showed Himself to His disciples in the brightness
of His countenance and vesture. For He appeared in the middle,
between Moses and Elias, as the gospel had witness from the law and
the prophets. Whether, therefore, in the law, or in the prophets,
or in the gospel, the number forty is commended to our attention in the
case of fasting. Now fasting, in its large and general sense, is to
abstain from the iniquities and unlawful pleasures of the world, which
is perfect fasting: "That, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we may live temperately, and righteously, and godly in this present
world." What reward does the apostle join to this fast? He goes on
to say: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing of the
glory of the blessed God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." In this
world, then, we celebrate, as it were, the forty days' abstinence,
when we live aright, and abstain from iniquities and from unlawful
pleasures. But because this abstinence shall not be without reward,
we look for "that blessed hope, and the revelation of the glory of the
great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ." In that hope, when
the reality of the hope shall have come to pass, we shall receive our
wages, a penny (denarius). For the same is the wages given to the
workers laboring in the vineyard, as I presume you remember; for we
are not to repeat everything, as if to persons wholly ignorant and
inexperienced. A denarius, then, which takes its name from the
number ten, is given, and this joined with the forty makes up fifty;
whence it is that before Easter we keep the Quadragesima with labor,
but after Easter we keep the Quinquagesima with joy, as having
received our wages. Now to this, as if to the wholesome labor of a
good work, which belongs to the number forty, there is added the
denarius of rest and happiness, that it may be made the number fifty.
5. The Lord Jesus Himself showed this also far more openly, when
He companied on earth with His disciples during forty days after His
resurrection; and having on the fortieth day ascended into heaven, did
at the end of ten days send the wages, the Holy Ghost. These were
done in signs, and by a kind of signs were the very realities
anticipated. By significant tokens are we fed, that we may be able to
come to the enduring realities. We are workmen, and are still
laboring in the vineyard: when the day is ended and the work finished,
the wages will be paid. But what workman can hold out to the receiving
of the wages, unless he be fed while be labors? Even thou thyself
wilt not give thy workman only wages; wilt thou not also bestow on him
that where with he may repair his strength in his labor? Surely thou
feedest him to whom thou art to give wages. In like manner also doth
the Lord, in those significant tokens of the Scriptures, feed us
while we labor. For if that joy in understanding holy mysteries be
withdrawn from us, we faint in labor, and there will be none to come
to the reward.
6. How, then, is work perfected in the number forty? The reason,
it may be, is, because the law was given in ten precepts, and was to
be preached throughout the whole world: which whole world, we are to
mark, is made up of four quarters, east and west, south and north,
whence the number ten, multiplied by four, comes to forty. Or, it
may be, because the law is fulfilled by the gospel, which has four
books: for in the gospel it is said, "I came not to destroy the
law, but to fulfill it." Whether, then, it be for this reason or
for that, or for some other more probable, which is hid from us, but
not from more learned men; certain it is, however, that in the number
forty a certain perfection in good works is signified, which good works
are most of all practised by a kind of abstinence from unlawful lusts of
the world, that is, by fasting in the general sense.
Hear also the apostle when he says, "Love is the fulfilling of the
law." Whence the love? By the grace of God, by the Holy
Spirit. For we could not have it from ourselves, as if making it for
ourselves. It is the gift of God, and a great gift it is: for,
saith he, "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, which is given to us." Wherefore love completes the law,
and most truly it is said, "Love is the perfecting of the law."
Let us inquire as to this love, in what manner the Lord doth commend
it to our consideration. Remember what I laid down: I want to
explain the number thirty-eight of the years of that impotent man, why
that number thirty-eight is one of weakness rather than of health.
Now, as I was saying, love fulfills the law. The number forty
belongs to the perfecting of the law in all works; but in love two
precepts are committed to our keeping. Keep before your eyes, I
beseech you, and fix in your memory, what I say; be ye not despisers
of the word, that your soul may not become a trodden path, where the
seed cast cannot sprout, "and the fowls of the air will come and
gather it up." Apprehend it, and lay it up in your hearts. The
precepts of love, given to us by the Lord, are two: "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind;" and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." With
good reason did the widow cast "two mites," all her substance, into
the offerings of God: with good reason did the host take "two"
pieces of money, for the poor man that was wounded by the robbers, for
his making whole: with good reason did Jesus spent two days with the
Samaritans, to establish them in love. Thus, whilst a certain good
thing is generally signified by this number two, most especially is
love in its twofold character set forth to us thereby. If,
therefore, the number forty possesses the perfecting of the law, and
the law is fulfilled only in the twin precepts of love, why dost thou
wonder that he was weak and sick, who was short of forty by two?
7. Therefore let us now see the sacred mystery whereby this impotent
man is healed by the Lord. The Lord Himself came, the Teacher of
love, full of love, "shortening," as it was predicted of Him,
"the word upon the earth," and showed that the law and the prophets
hang on two precepts of love. Upon these hung Moses with his number
forty, upon these Elias with his; and the Lord brought in this
number in His testimony. This impotent man is healed by the Lord in
person; but before healing him, what does He say to him? "Wilt
thou be made whole?" The man answered that he had not a man to put
him into the pool. Truly he had need of a "man" to his healing, but
that "man" one who is also God. "For there is one God, and one
Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." He came,
then, the Man who was needed: why should the healing be delayed?
"Arise," saith He; "take up thy bed, and walk." He said three
things: "Arise, Take up thy bed, and Walk." But that
"Arise" was not a command to do a work, but the operation of
healing. And the man, on being made whole, received two commands:
"Take up thy bed, and Walk." I ask you, why was it not enough to
say, "Walk?" Or, at any rate, why was it not enough to say,
"Arise"? For when the man had arisen whole, he would not have
remained in the place. Would it not be for the purpose of going away
that he would have arisen? My impression is, that He who found the
man lacking two things, gave him these two precepts: for, by ordering
him to do two things, it is as if He filled up that which was
lacking.
8. How, then, do we find the two precepts of love indicated in
these two commands of the Lord? "Take up thy bed," saith He,
"and walk." What the two precepts are, my brethren, recollect with
me. For they ought to be thoroughly familiar to you, and not merely
to come into your mind when they are recited by us, but they ought
never to be blotted out from your hearts. Let it ever be your supreme
thought, that you must love God and your neighbor: "God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and With all thy mind; and thy
neighbor as thyself." These must always be pondered, meditated,
retained, practised, and fulfilled.
The love of God comes first in the order of enjoying; but in the
order of doing, the love of our neighbor comes first. For He who
commanded thee this love in two precepts did not charge thee to love thy
neighbor first, and then God, but first God, afterwards thy
neighbor. Thou however, as thou dost not yet see God dost earn to
see Him by loving thy neighbor; by loving thy neighbor thou purgest
thine eye for seeing God, as John evidently says, "If thou lovest
not thy brother whom thou seest, how canst thou love God, whom thou
dost not see?" See, thou art told, "Love God." If thou say to
me, "Show me Him, that I may love Him;" what shall I answer,
but what the same John saith: "No man hath seen God at any time"?
And, that you may not suppose yourself to be wholly estranged from
seeing God, he saith, "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God." Therefore love thy neighbor; look at the source
of thy love of thy neighbor; there thou wilt see, as thou mayest,
God. Begin, then, to love thy neighbor. "Break thy bread to the
hungry, and bring into thy house him that is needy without shelter; if
thou seest the naked, clothe him; and despise not those of the
household of thy seed." And in doing this, what wilt thou get in
consequence? "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning
light." Thy light is thy God, a "morning light" to thee, because
He shall come to thee after the night of this world: for He neither
rises nor sets, because He is ever abiding. He will be a morning
light to thee on thy return, He who had set for thee on thy falling
away from Him. Therefore, in this "Take up thy bed," He seems
to me to have said, Love thy neighbor.
9. But why the love of our neighbor is set forth by the taking up of
the bed, is still shut up, and, as I suppose, needs to be
expounded: unless, perhaps, it offend us that our neighbor should be
indicated by means of a bed, a stolid, senseless thing. Let not my
neighbor be angry if he be set forth to us by a thing without soul and
without feeling. The Lord Himself, even our Saviour Jesus
Christ, is called the corner-stone, to build up two in Himself.
He is called also a rock, from which water flowed forth: "And that
rock was Christ." What wonder, then, if Christ is called rock,
that neighbor is called wood? Yet not any kind of wood whatever; as
neither that was any kind of rock soever, but one from which water
flowed to the thirsty; nor any kind soever of stone, but a
corner-stone, which in itself coupled two walls coming from different
directions. So neither mayest thou take thy neighbor to be wood of any
kind soever, but a bed. Then what is there in a bed, pray? What,
but that the impotent man was borne on it; but, when made whole, he
carries the bed? What does the apostle say? "Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so shall ye fulfill the law of Christ." Now the law of
Christ is love, and love is not fulfilled except we bear one
another's burdens. "Forbearing," saith he, "one another in
love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace." When thou wast weak thy neighbor bore thee: thou art made
whole, bear thy neighbor. So wilt thou fill up, O man, that which
was lacking to thee. "Take up thy bed, then." But when thou hast
taken it up, stay not in the place; "walk." By loving thy
neighbor, by caring for thy neighbor, dost thou perform thy going.
Whither goest thy way, but to the Lord God, whom we ought to love
with the whole heart, and with the whole soul, and with the whole
mind? For we are not yet come to the Lord, but we have our neighbor
with us. Bear him, then, when thou walkest, that thou mayest come
to Him with whom thou desirest to abide.Therefore, "take up thy
bed, and walk."
10. The man did this, and the Jews were offended. For they saw a
man carrying his bed on the Sabbath-day, and they did not blame the
Lord for healing him on the Sabbath, that He should be able to
answer them, that if any of them had a beast fallen into a well, he
would surely draw it out on the Sabbath-day, and save his beast; and
so, now they did not object to Him that a man was made whole on the
Sabbath-day, but that the man was carrying his bed. But if the
healing was not to be deferred, should a work also have been
commanded? "It is not lawful for thee," say they, to do what thou
art doing, "to take up thy bed." And he, in defence, put the
author of his healing before his censors, saying, "He that made me
whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk." Should
I not take injunction from him from whom I received healing? And
they said, "Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy bed,
and walk?"
11. "But he that was made whole knew not who it was" that had said
this to him. "For Jesus," when He had done this, and given him
this order, "turned away from him in the crowd." See how this also
is fulfilled. We bear our neighbor, and walk towards God; but
Him, to whom we are walking, we do not yet see: for that reason
also, that man did not yet know Jesus. The mystery herein intimated
to us is, that we believe on Him whom we do not yet see; and that He
may not be seen, He turns aside in the crowd. It is difficult in a
crowd to see Christ: a certain solitude is necessary for our mind; it
is by a certain solitude of contemplation that God is seen. A crowd
has noise; this seeing requires secrecy. "Take up thy bed" being
thyself borne, bear thy neighbor; "and walk," that thou mayest come
to the goal. Do not seek Christ in a crowd:
He is not as one of a crowd; He excels all crowd. That great fish
first ascended from the sea, and He sits in heaven making intercession
for us: as the great high priest He entered alone into that within the
veil; the crowd stands without. Do thou walk, bearing thy neighbor:
if thou hast learned to bear, thou, who wast wont to be borne. In a
word, even now as yet thou knowest not Jesus, not yet seest Jesus:
what follows thereafter? Since that man desisted not from taking up
his bed and walking, "Jesus seeth him afterwards in the temple."
He did not see Jesus in the crowd, he saw Him in the temple.
The Lord Jesus, indeed, saw him both in the crowd and in the
temple; but the impotent man does not know Jesus in the crowd, but he
knows Him in the temple. The man came then to the Lord: saw Him in
the temple, saw Him in a consecrated, saw Him in a holy place. And
what does the Lord say to him?
"Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest some worse thing
befall thee."
12. The man, then, after he saw Jesus, and knew Him to be the
author of his healing, was not slothful in preaching Him whom he had
seen: "He departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus that had
made him whole." He brought them word, and they were mad against
him; he preached his own salvation, they sought not their own
salvation.
13. The Jews persecuted the Lord Jesus because He did these
things on the Sabbath-day. Let us hear what answer the Lord now
made to the Jews. I have told you how He is wont to answer
concerning the healing of men on the Sabbath-day, that they used not
on the Sabbath-day to slight their cattle, either in delivering or in
feeding them. What does He answer concerning the carrying of the
bed? A manifest corporal work was done before the eyes of the Jews;
not a healing of the body, but a bodily work, which appeared not so
necessary as the healing. Let the Lord, then, openly declare that
the sacrament of the Sabbath, even the sign of keeping one day, was
given to the Jews for a time, but that the fulfillment of the
sacrament had come in Himself. "My Father," saith He, "worketh
hitherto, and I work." He sent a great commotion among them: the
water is troubled by the coming of the Lord, but yet He that troubles
is not seen. Yet one great sick one is to be healed by the troubled
water, the whole world by the death of the Lord.
14. Let us see, then, the answer made by the Truth: "My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Is it false, then, which
the Scripture has said, that "God rested from all His works on the
seventh day"? And does the Lord Jesus speak contrary to this
Scripture ministered by Moses, whilst He Himself says to the
Jews, "If ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for He wrote
of me"? See, then, whether Moses did not mean it to be significant
of something that "God rested on the seventh day." For God had not
become wearied in doing the work of His own creation, and needed rest
as a man. How can He have been wearied, who made by a word? Yet is
both that true, that "God rested from His works on the seventh
day;" and this also is true that Jesus saith, "My Father worketh
hitherto." But who can unfold it in words, man to men, weak to
weak, unlearned to them that seek to learn; and if he chance to
understand somewhat, unable to bring it forth and unfold it to men,
who with difficulty, it may be, receive it, even if what is received
can possibly be unfolded? Who, I say, my brethren, can unfold in
words how God both works while at rest, and rests while working? I
pray you to put this matter off while you are advancing on the way; for
this seeing requires the temple of God, requires the holy place.
Bear your neighbor, and walk. Ye shall see Him in that place where
ye shall not require the words of men.
15. Perhaps we can more appropriately say this, that in the
saying, "God rested on the seventh day," he signified by a great
mystery the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself, who spoke
and said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." For the
Lord Jesus is, of course, God. For He is the Word of God, and
you have heard that "in the beginning was the Word;" and not any
word whatsoever, but "the Word was God, and all things were made by
Him." He was perhaps signified as about to rest on the seventh day
from all His works. For, read the Gospel, and see what great works
Jesus wrought. He wrought our salvation on the cross, that all
things foretold by the prophets might be fulfilled in Him. He was
crowned with thorns; He hung on the tree; said, "I thirst,"
received vinegar on a sponge, that it might be fulfilled which was
said, "And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." And when
all His works were completed, on the sixth day of the week, He bowed
His head and gave up the ghost, and on the Sabbath-day He rested in
the tomb from all His works. Therefore it is as if He said to the
Jews, "Why do ye expect that I should not work on the Sabbath?
The Sabbath-day was ordained for you for a sign of me. You observe
the works of God: I was there when they were made, by me were they
all made; I know them. 'My Father worketh hitherto.' The
Father made the light, but He spoke that there should be light; if
He spoke, it was by His Word He made it: His Word I was, I
am; by me was the world made in those works, by me the world is ruled
in these works. My Father worked when He made the world, and
hitherto now worketh while He rules the world: therefore by me He
made when He made, and by me He rules while He rules." This He
said, but to whom? To men deaf, blind, lame, impotent, not
acknowledging the physician, and as if in a frenzy they had lost their
wits, wishing to slay Him.
16. Further, what said the evangelist as he went on? "Therefore
the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the
Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father;" not in any
ordinary manner, but how? "Making Himself equal with God." For
we all say to God, "Our Father which art in heaven;" we read also
that the Jews said, "Seeing Thou art our Father." Therefore it
was not for this they were angry, because He said that God was His
Father, but because He said it in quite another way than men do.
Behold, the Jews understand what the Arians do not understand. The
Arians, in fact, say that the Son is not equal with the Father,
and hence it is that the heresy was driven from the Church. Lo, the
very blind, the very slayers of Christ, still understood the words of
Christ. They did not understand Him to be Christ, nor did they
understand Him to be the Son of God: but they did nevertheless
understand that in these words such a Son of God was intimated to them
as should be equal with God. Who He was they knew not; still they
did acknowledge such a One to be declared, in that "He said God was
His Father, making Himself equal with God." Was He not
therefore equal with God? He did not make Himself equal, but the
Father begat Him equal. Were He to make Himself equal, He would
fall by robbery. For he who wished to make himself equal with God,
whilst he was not so, fell, and of an angel became a devil, and
administered to man that cup of pride by which himself was cast down.
For this fallen said to man, envying his standing, "Taste, and ye
shall be as gods;" that is, seize to yourselves by usurpation that
which ye are not made, for I also have been cast down by robbery. He
did not put forth this, but this is what he persuaded to. Christ,
however, was begotten equal to the Father, not made; begotten of the
substance of the Father. Whence the apostle thus declares Him:
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God." What means "thought it not robbery"? He usurped not
equality with God, but was in that equality in which He was
begotten. And how were we to come to the equal God? "He emptied
Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant." But He emptied
Himself not by losing what He was, but by taking to Him what He was
not. The Jews, despising this form of a servant, could not
understand the Lord Christ equal to the Father, although they had
not the least doubt that He affirmed this of Himself, and therefore
were they enraged: and yet He still bore with them, and sought the
healing of them, while they raged against Him.
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