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From: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12

The Spring in the Temple

[1] Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was
issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple
faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the
threshold of the temple, south of the altar. [2] Then he brought me out by way
of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate, that faces
toward the east; and the water was coming out on the south side.

[3] Going on eastward with a line in his hand, the man measured a thousand
cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep. [4] Again
he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep.
Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up
to the loins. [5] Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could
not pass through, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a ri-
ver that could not be passed through. [6] And he said to me, “Son of man,
have you seen this?”

Then he led me back along the bank of the river. [7] As I went back, I saw upon
the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. [8] And
he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into
the Arabah; and when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea, the water will be-
come fresh. [9] And wherever the river goes every living creature which swarms
will live, and there will be very many fish; for this water goes there, that the wa-
ters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.
[12] And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees
for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit
every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will
be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

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Commentary:

47:1-12. The vision of the spring revitalizing everything it meets on its flowing
from the southern end of the way, is one of the most striking images temple and
ending up in the Dead Sea, in the book. Its content is reminiscent of the vision
of the bones (37:1-14): there, it was the Spirit that gave life to the dry bones; here,
the water refreshes the dead waters. The image of the river reminds one of how in
paradise (Gen 2:10-14) the four branches of the river make the whole garden beau-
tiful; here, a single river actually gives life. Although the vision contains references
to actual places, such as the oasis of En-gedi (v. 10), the Dead Sea or the Arabah,
it is symbolic and what it shows is that the renewal of the temple and its worship
will bring all sorts of advantages to the whole people.

There is an echo of this vision in the New Testament in the words of Jesus recor-
ded by St John: “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes
in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water’”
(Jn 7:37). Early Christian tradition links this text of St John with Ezekiel’s vision,
seeing in the spring in the temple the waters of Baptism that flow from Christ who
is life, or from Christ’s side on the altar of the cross: We go down to the water’s
edge steeped in our sins and impurity, and we walk out of the water, our hearts
filled with grace, fear of the Lord and hope in Jesus” (”Epistula Barnabae” 11, 10).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: John 5:1-16

The Cure of a Sick Man at the Pool at Bethzatha

[1] After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [2]
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethza-
tha, which has five porticoes. [3] In these lay a multitude of invalid, blind, lame,
paralyzed. [5] One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. [6]
When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there for a long time, He
said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” [7] The sick man answered Him, “Sir,
I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am
going another steps down before me.” [8] Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your
pallet, and walk.” [9] And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet
and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. [10] So the Jews said to the man who was
cured, “It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” [11] But he
answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet, and
walk.’” [12] They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your
pallet, and walk’?” [13] Now the man who had been healed did not know who it
was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. [14] Afterward,
Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more,
that nothing worse befall you.” [15] The man went away and told the Jews that it
was Jesus who had healed him. [16] And this was why the Jews persecuted
Jesus, because He did this on the Sabbath.

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Commentary:

1. We cannot be certain what festival this was; it probably refers to the Passo-
ver, known the world over at the time as the national festival of the Jewish people.
But it could refer to another festival, Pentecost, perhaps.

2. This pool was also called the “Probatic” pool because it was located on the
outskirts of Jerusalem, beside the Probatic Gate or Sheep Gate (cf. Nehemiah 3:
1-32; 12:39) through which came the livestock which was going to be sacrificed
in the temple. Around the end of the nineteenth century the remains of a pool
were discovered: excavated out of rock, it was rectangular in shape and was sur-
rounded by four galleries or porches, with a fifth porch dividing the pool into two.

3-4. The Fathers teach that this pool is a symbol of Christian Baptism; but that
whereas the pool of Bethzatha cured physical ailments, Baptism cures those of
the soul; in Bethzatha’s case only one person was cured, now and again; shown
through the medium of water (cf. Chrysostom, “Hom. on St. John”, 36, 1).

The Sixto-Clementine edition of the Vulgate includes here, as a second part of
verse 3 and all of verse 4: “waiting for the moving of the water; [4] For an angel of
the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water’ who-
ever stepped in first after the troubling of the water was healed of whatever di-
sease he had.” The New Vulgate, however, omits this passage, assigning it to
a footnote, because it does not appear in important Greek codices and papyri,
nor in many ancient translations.

14. The man may have come to the temple to thank God for his cure. Jesus
goes over to him and reminds him that the health of the soul is more important
than physical health.

Our Lord uses holy fear of God as motivation in the struggle against sin: “Sin no
more, that nothing worse may befall you”. This holy fear is born out of respect for
God our Father; it is perfectly compatible with love. Just as children love and res-
pect their parents and try to avoid annoying them partly because they are afraid
of being punished, so we should fight against sin firstly because it is an offense
against God, but also because we can be punished in this life and, above all, in
the next.

16-18. The Law of Moses established the Sabbath as a weekly day of rest.
Through keeping the Sabbath the Jews felt they were imitating God, who rested
from the work of creation on the seventh day. St. Thomas Aquinas observes that
Jesus rejects this strict interpretation: (The Jews), in their desire to imitate God,
did nothing on the Sabbath, as if God on that day had ceased absolutely to act.
It is true that He rested on the Sabbath from His work of creating new creatures,
but He is always continually at work, maintaining them in existence. [...] God is
the cause of all things in the sense that He also maintains them in existence;
for if for one moment He were to stop exercising His power, at that very moment
everything that nature contains would cease to exist” (”Comm. on St. John, in
loc.”).

“My Father is working still, and I am working”: we have already said that God is
continually acting. Since the Son acts together with the Father, who with the Ho-
ly Spirit are the one and only God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can
say that He is always working. These words of Jesus contain an implicit refe-
rence to His divinity: the Jews realize this and they want to kill Him because
they consider it blasphemous. “We all call God our Father, who is in Heaven (I-
saiah 63:16; 64:8). Therefore, they were angry, not at this, that He said God was
His Father, but that He said it in quite another way than men. Notice: the Jews
understand what Arians do not understand. Arians affirm the Son to be not equal
to the Father, and that was why this heresy was driven from the Church. Here,
even the blind, even the slayers of Christ, understand the works of Christ” (St.
Augustine, “In Ioann. Evang., 17, 16). We call God our Father because through
grace we are His adopted children; Jesus calls Him His Father because He is
His Son by nature. This is why He says after the Resurrection: “I am ascending
to My Father and your Father” (John 20:17), making a clear distinction between
the two ways of being a son of God.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.