“The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.”
But he replied, 'The man who made me well said to me, "Pick up your mat and walk."' — the healed man's response attributes authority to Jesus: if Jesus commanded it, the action is justified. He defers to Jesus' authority against conventional interpretation. His response opens the question: does human healing authority supersede Sabbath law?
Church Fathers on John 5:10
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
The feast of Pentecost. Jesus always went up to Jerusalem at the time of the feasts, that it might be seen that He was not an enemy to, but an observer of, the Law. And it gave Him the opportunity of impressing the simple multitude by miracles and teaching: as great numbers used then to collect from the neighboring towns.
The pool by the sheep-market, is the place where the priest washed the animals that were going to be sacrificed.
Read all 19 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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