John 5:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why, then, did Christ withdraw? First, so that in His absence the testimony would be free from every suspicion. The man who had received the sense of health was certainly a trustworthy witness of the benefit.

Second, He withdrew so as not to kindle their anger still more. He knew that the mere sight of one who is hated greatly inflames those who hate.

Therefore, by withdrawing, He leaves the deed itself to work before them. It is no longer He Himself who says anything about Himself, but those whom He healed. Together with them, even the accusers themselves speak.

They also, for their part, bear witness to the miracle. They did not say, "Why do You command this to be done on the Sabbath?" but, "Why do You do this on the Sabbath?"

Jesus hid Himself partly so that, in His absence, the testimony about the healing would be free from every suspicion. They would not think that the man favored Him, but that he bore witness to the truth.

He also hid Himself partly so as not to inflame the fury of the Jews still further. For the mere sight of one who is hated adds no small spark of hatred to those who hate.

Therefore He leaves the matter to be investigated by itself. For the Jews, being accusers, made the event more public by bringing it into inquiry and discussion.

Yet he cannot name his Physician, although this is strongly demanded of him, because Christ prudently hid Himself to avoid their swift and fiery anger.

He used His withdrawal not because He could suffer anything by necessity if He did not wish to suffer. Rather, by this also He presented Himself again as an example for us.

If we judged what He did, and what lies within His power, by the narrowness of our heart and, so to speak, by human understanding and reasoning, we would conclude that He did nothing great.

If we speak of mercy, we would say that He did little. So many sick lay there, yet only one was healed, though He could have raised them all by one word.

How, then, must this be understood? These manifestations of His power and goodness were directed more toward souls understanding something for eternal salvation in His deeds than toward bodies being granted temporal healing.

What is healed for a time in a mortal body finally perishes. But the soul that has believed passes over into eternal life.

After healing the sick man, Jesus Christ hid Himself because of the crowd. This was partly to avoid praise from the well-disposed, and partly to lessen the envy of the senseless.

Often the mere appearance of a hated person can stir up violent rage.

The healed paralytic did not know who his Physician was. For Jesus Christ, soon after performing the miracle, withdrew, that is, departed and removed Himself from the multitude of people who were seeking Him there.

He did this, first, to flee human glory. Also, in His absence the paralytic's testimony would be trustworthy and indisputable.

Again, He did this lest His presence inflame the envy of the Jews even more. The presence of those who are envied inflames the hearts of the envious.

Finally, He did this to show us an example of sincere and perfect beneficence. By this example the Savior plainly teaches us, crying out: People, do not wait for prayers and requests when you intend to help the needy.

For this occasion in Jerusalem itself, the Lord chose the healing of a sick man who had already suffered for thirty-eight years; Jn 5. He performed it deliberately on the Sabbath.

After freeing him from illness, the Lord Himself commanded him to take up his bed and walk.

The strict guardians of the external demands of the law and the traditions of the elders learned of this. Instead of attending to the divine healing, they took up the violation of the Sabbath rest.

In their eyes this was a crime worthy of death, all the more because it was done in a crowd, at a feast.

But neither the sentence of a court nor the hand of a secret betrayer could strike Him before He Himself delivered Himself up to men.

Among the other sick who lay by the pool, waiting for the wondrous stirring of the water, there was a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus Christ saw him and addressed him with warm compassion, the sick man said with sorrow that he had no one to put him into the pool when the water was stirred.

Then the Lord said to the paralytic, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." At once the sick man felt himself completely whole. He immediately rose, took up his bed, and walked.

Since this was on the Sabbath, in the eyes of unreasonable zealots for the law, Jesus Christ had twice violated the law of Sabbath rest. First, He had performed a healing on the Sabbath. Second, He had permitted the healed man to carry his bed that day.

Therefore, when the former sick man told them that the One who had healed him was Jesus Christ, they became greatly embittered against the Lord. They even sought to kill Him.

The healed man could not satisfy the curiosity of the leaders of the people, because he had not known Jesus before. Nor could he point Him out, because Jesus had withdrawn, that is, had entered the crowd near the pool.

The healed man went to the temple to thank God for the mercy granted him. There Jesus met him and warned him not to sin, lest something worse happen to him because of it.

To the other paralytic Jesus said that his illness came from sins. What the sins of these paralytics were is unknown.

Yet it is beyond doubt that many illnesses come from an intemperate way of life and from deeds that are considered sins.

The person of Jesus Christ was evidently still so little known on the outskirts of Jerusalem, or this man had treated Him with such dull indifference when He first spoke to him, that he truly did not know who his benefactor was.

"Jesus had hidden Himself": "partly so that, in His absence, the testimony about the healing would be free from every suspicion, and they would not think that this man favored Him; partly so as not to inflame the fury of the Jews still further" (Theophylact; cf. Chrysostom).

The healed man, in the joy of his healing, lost sight of Him and did not even learn the name of his benefactor.

Verses 12-13. The healed man's answer did not please the clever men, though it agreed with their own rule.

They guessed who this Prophet was. Yet even if a dead man had risen from the grave before them, they would not have become better for it.

Wishing to see in the healed man a witness and accuser against the Prophet, they asked him, "Who exactly is this man?"

The healed man answered according to conscience that he did not know Him, since the wondrous Physician had quickly disappeared in the crowd.

Why did He disappear? Partly because He did not wish to become the object of praise. Partly He wished to leave men free to judge the deed apart from the One who performed it.

The Pharisees did good in order to be praised. But one must serve God for God's sake. So the Savior taught, and so He acted.

Having restored the bodily man, the Lord withdraws from the expression of his gratitude and joy in the presence of the many people.

Yet his healing is incomplete. The Lord is pleased to give him healing of soul as well. The Lord "finds" him in the temple, not by chance, but, as we dare think, "seeks and finds" him.

As in the healing of the paralytic in Capernaum, Mt 9:2-7, the Lord heals his body and soul.

Finding him in the temple, the Lord warns the healed man that bodily health is not enough. He must himself care for the health of his soul.

This latter health depends on the will given by God to man. The Lord's help in the struggle against evil comes only to the one who himself seeks and asks for it.