Today’s short gospel lesson is part of a larger story. It’s early in John’s gospel, the beginning of chapter 5, “Jesus’ Healing Work on a Sabbath.”[1] Jesus is in Jerusalem for a feast. He walks by a pool whose waters are believed to be healing if one were placed in the pool when the water has been stirred up. Raymond Brown wondered if it were fed by an intermittent spring.[2] Jesus focuses on an invalid and asks him, “Do you want to be healed?”[3] He never makes it to the water. Jesus’ next words to him are, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.”[4]
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