On the 4th Sunday after Easter we apparently interrupt somehow the series of the Gospels that speak directly about the disciples’ encounter with the Risen Christ and we read three other texts on Sundays (the paralytic, the samaritan woman, the man born blind). We are still in the period of the resurrection that we mark with the greeting: Christ has risen! or with the Easter hymn “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death, and those in the tomb bestowing life!”.

We ask ourselves the question then: why in the ordo of the Church do we not continue the reading in the Divine Liturgy those texts speaking about the resurrection of the Lord? It is true that during the Matins service their reading continues as usual throughout the year.

If we look closely at the texts of the successive Gospels, they have a pedagogical, propaedeutic, theological and introductory character in what each of the Christians who will participate in the condition of the resurrected humanity of Christ and the gifts that come with will live. The related facts and miracles have a very rich theological connotation and explain through the words of the Creator Himself what the condition of being integrated in the mystery of the resurrected and restored humanity in Christ means. What happens in people's lives appears as a direct consequence of what Christ did with His humanity assumed, resurrected and transfigured into His person and which flows into the individual life of each of those who receive this work by faith and the Holy Sacraments.

The healing and restorative power of the ecclesial being through the Sacrament of Baptism

The healing of the paralytic man at the Pool of Bethesda has a deeply ecclesial significance. Here is how it is understood by one of the Holy Fathers of the Church: “What kind of a cure is this? What mystery does it signify to us? ... What is it that is shown in outlines? – asks St. John Chrysostom. A baptism was about to be given that possessed much power. It was the greatest of the gifts, a baptism purging all sins and making the people alive instead of dead. These things then are foreshown as in a picture by the pool ...”[1]

There is a parallel between what happens to humanity assumed and restored in the person of Christ and the work of the Church. The event at the Bethesda Pool is not only an individual moment of another miracle performed by Christ through which contemporaries perceive His true identity but is the image of the subsequent work, that of Baptism, which will be given to the Church until the end of the ages. The power of Christ's resurrection begins to work within our humanity in the Church. We are prepared in advance and mysteriously participate in the miracle at Bethesda Pool already in the mystery that will come at the Descent of the Holy Spirit, that is, the Baptism with fire for the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of our life, a mystery that we are urged to receive and work by faith and deeds whose consequences are both spiritual and physical-material. The moment of healing at Bethesda Pool brings the Church to live in a mystical way in anticipation the inner work of healing and fundamental renewal of the life of the Church in general and through it of each of those who are its members by faith and have joined by Baptism. If until now the Church presented us especially the moments of the encounters of the disciples – Sts. Apostles, St. Ap. Thomas, the Myrrh-bearing Women, Luke and Cleopas, etc. - with the resurrected Son of God to strengthen them in the conviction that He has risen indeed, by at Bethesda Pool we enter into the anticipated understanding of how the resurrection of Christ works through the Holy Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Baptism the restoration and the healing of each of us and the exigencies (non to sin – n.n.) that this entails.

At the feast of Mid-Pentecost, we read again: “Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, ‘Yes, you know Me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, but I know Him because I am from Him and He sent Me.’” (John 7: 28-29).

In the Sacrament of Baptism Christ works by his divine power because of the mission entrusted to Him by the Father. This powerful work reveals both the divine work of the Father through the Son and the knowledge of the Father and the Son through this work.

“Once more Jesus said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will look for Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come. … But He continued, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins.’” (John 8; 21, 23-24).

After the Church has introduced us into the dynamics of understanding the necessity of Baptism through the healing happened at Pool of Bethesda, she also introduces us through the texts of the Gospel of John further in understanding the work of the grace of Baptism without which we can do nothing in regard of God. We saw in the text of St. John Chrysostom that there are at least two things that are given to us in Baptism: 1. the forgiveness of sins; 2. the renewal of human life. As Jesus says in the text above, we first need the forgiveness of sins. The new life is not accessible to us by our own powers. The new life is an attribute of God's grace given to us through Baptism. We are from the world here-down before Baptism. Through Baptism we become mysteriously partakers of the unseen but real grace of God's kingdom. It remains for us during our concrete life to manifest in our personal life the way in which the divine gift of Christ through Baptism takes a visible form through the deeds of our life. Only by immersing ourselves into the waters sanctified by the Baptism of the Savior Christ do we partake of the renewing holiness of the new life in Christ which transfigure and transform our lives according to the will of God placed in each of us.

The faith in Christ as Son of God who came for our salvation is the starting point of our adherence to this renewing, transfiguring, and saving dynamic. The faith brings us to the knowledge of Christ and to the following of His precepts. Baptism is the next step that introduces us concretely and truly into the new life, laying the foundation of this new life we ​​have spoken of in faith. He endows us with the unshakable foundation of the resurrected and renewed humanity of Christ. This new humanity cleansed and liberated from passions is the leaven of the new life we ​​are trying to make emerge in our personal lives.

Here is how the Church, through the ordo of the readings of this period, after making us encounter the Risen Christ through the testimony of the disciples Him, so that through them we may be strengthened in the apostolic witnessing and in the faith of His resurrection, introduces us also into the understanding of the Sacrament that will introduce us to the change of our way of being according to the model we were made and in the dynamics of this change that will culminate in the full gift of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. It is the gift that sanctifies a path fully fulfilled by Christ in the humanity He has personally assumed and renewed, humanity whose gifts will be poured out on those who by faith desire the new life.

The new life received through Baptism presupposes a unique covenant of faithfulness with God, a unique and true worship, and an authentic understanding of God.

The following Sunday we read the text of the Gospel of John which speaks about the meeting of the Savior Jesus Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. The text is extremely rich in meaning. It is interpreted by the Church Fathers in an ecclesial sense:

“It is pertinent to the image of the reality that this woman, who bore the type of the church, comes from strangers, for the church was to come from Gentiles, an alien from the race of the Jews – says St. Augustine. In that woman, then, let us hear ourselves, and in her acknowledge ourselves and in her give thanks to God for ourselves.”[2]

We understand from this that if the woman here is the image of the Church then everything we read there as teachings of Christ applies to the whole Church that includes us all. The Mystery of Baptism, which we saw prefigured in the miracle of healing at the Pool of Bethesda opens the door to enter into another mystery, that of endless and life-giving grace.

“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”(John 4: 13-14).

The mystery of Baptism opens access to the mystery of the grace of the eternal God. We truly become the Church insofar as we participate in the risen humanity of the Savior Jesus Christ. Only then do we truly become the Church. Only then do we begin the work of passing from the image of God given to us to the likeness acquired by the grace of God and the synergic work of man's faith, will, and effort. The grace of the Holy Spirit is this water that no one thirsts to receive. “This well is clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living fountain. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the fountain of eternal life. … This water, the grace of the Spirit, is so refreshing.”[3] The church prefigured by the Samaritan woman drinks from the divine grace of the Holy Spirit and enters into this life. The light of grace that waters the Church cleanses hearts, nourishes souls, and enlightens minds: “Our Lord, the living fountain, came to cleanse the hearts of all people, to quench their thirst and to satisfy their souls. Moreover, He did not look for a pail to draw the water, but of His own accord He poured Himself into the minds of each one.”[4] The work of the grace of the Holy Spirit works in the whole person - heart, soul and mind. The church is full in all its members of the cleansing and restorative power of divine grace.

Two other things mentioned here are important to the new humanity in Christ — faithfulness and attachment to God and the purity of prayer. The Church symbolized by the Samaritan woman needs the covenant between her and God similar to the union in the marriage. The church is the bride of God. The bridegroom is only one - Christ God.

“In faith of the holy woman is pictured all the features of the church in true colors which do not grow old; for the way in which the woman denied a husband when she had many, is just the way the church denied many gods, like husbands, and left them and became betrothed to one Master in coming forth from the water.”[5]

The same goes for prayer. One is the true temple and so one is the truth. As the temple is one the true faith is one too: “God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

“To worship in the Spirit implies that our intelligence has been enlightened – says St. Basil the Great. Consider the words spoken to the Samaritan woman. … But the Lord, attempting to correct her, said that the worship ought to be offered in Spirit and in truth. By truth he clearly meant Himself. If we say that the worship offered in the Son (the truth) is worship offered in the Father’s image, we can say the same about worship offered in the Spirit since the Spirit in Himself reveals the divinity of the Lord. The Holy Spirit cannot be divided from the Father and the Son in worship. If you remain outside the Spirit, you cannot worship at all, and if you are in Him you cannot separate Him from God. Light cannot be separate from what it makes visible, and it is impossible for you to recognize Christ, the image of the invisible God, unless the Spirit enlightens you.”[6]

We understand from the words of the great Cappadocian Father that worship in spirit and truth presupposes the knowledge of God as He is as Trinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The man restored in the resurrected humanity of the Person of the Savior Jesus Christ is the man who worships in the name of the Holy Trinity. Man's understanding of God reaches its fullness. The man restored in Christ, the man who integrates this new humanity rebuilt in the image and likeness of God, understands God better in his supra-rational dimension.

The miracle of the healing of the blind man - transition from the material understanding and knowledge to the intelligible light of the faith in God

The Sunday in which we read about the healing of the blind man leads our mind to the enlightening power of God's work of grace and the paradox that one can have eyes open, and yet be blind in understanding things. One sees things happening around him as signs of a new reality or identity, but the reason, the mind, fails to understand them properly and to draw final conclusions. Ultimately, knowledge means faith.

The dialogue of the blind man with the Pharisees gives us the opportunity to see that there is a progression in his understanding of the identity of the Savior Jesus Christ - as a man, as a prophet, and as God. Man, first recognizes Christ according to His humanity: “He answered and said, ‘A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash. So, I went and washed, and I received sight’” (John 9:11). Then he understands that Jesus is a man of God - that is, a prophet: “They said to the blind man again, ‘What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?’ He said, ‘He is a prophet’” (John 9:17). And at the end, he recognizes Jesus as the Son of God: “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of God?... ‘Lord, I believe!’ And he worshiped Him” (John 9; 35, 38).

There is in the understanding of the blind man more lucidity and clarity than of those who have never had any infirmity. For the Church Fathers, the miracle of healing the blind man is a miracle that also heals some of those who attend it:

“The [blind man] washed the clay from his eyes and saw himself. These others washed their blindness from their hearts and were approved. When our Lord opened [the eyes of] one blind man publicly on that occasion, he opened [the eyes of] many blind people secretly. For that blind man was [indeed] blind. He was like a source of gain for our Lord, since he gained many blind people through him, [healing them] from blindness of heart.”[7]

The healing that the blind man receives, and bears fruit has a double aspect - physical and spiritual. The miracle first has a material, physical healing purpose, but it also has a spiritual one for the blind man but also for those who were presents there. Moreover, healing becomes a matrix of the spiritual work of the Church. Physical vision is important, but more important is the inner, spiritual vision of the heart, which is performed on the blind man and on a part of those present. Christ by the miracle performed considers the profit of as many as possible after St. Ephrem the Syrian. The light of healing and sight received at the Pool of Siloam is the image of the spiritual light received through Baptism:

“[…] He who restored the man to health by anointing his eyes with clay is the very One who fashioned the first man out of clay, and that this clay that is our flesh can receive the light of the eternal life through the sacrament of Baptism.”[8] The Pool of Siloam becomes the image of the grace received at Baptism which illuminates and heals all in order to understand and see God.

The Church distinguishes through the texts read in these three Sundays three stages through which we are progressively introduced into the mystery of participation in the resurrected humanity of the Savior Jesus Christ begun at Baptism and in the experience of the grace of the Kingdom of heaven. First comes the healing of the infirmity and weakness following the example of healing the paralytic man, then the strengthening by participating in the depths of eternal life-giving grace in the measure of an authentic life, a righteous and true faith in God, and a true worship of Him like the Samaritan woman, then the knowledge of God due to the spiritual light springing from the faith in Him. All these gifts will be fulfilled and will continue at the Descent of the Holy Spirit. They are part of the permanent work of the Church which is the work of divine grace and the presence of God as Trinity which inspires and guides the dynamics of the renewal of

[1] St. John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Gospel on John 36.1 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.) Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament I Va/ John 1-10). Ed. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois USA 60515, p 179 col. 1  

[2] Augustine. Treaties on the Gospel of John 15.10 in in Thomas C. Oden (ed.) Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament I Va/ John 1-10). Ed. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois USA 60515, p 146-147 col. 2/1

[3] Ambrose of Milan. Despre Duhul Sfânt 1.16.180-81 in in Thomas C. Oden (ed.) Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament I Va/ John 1-10). Ed. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois USA 60515, p 151 col.1

[4] Cesarius of Arles. Sermon 170.4 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.) Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament I Va/ John 1-10). Ed. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois USA 60515, p 150-151 col.2/1

[5] Romanus Melodus. Kontakion on the woman of Samaria 9.11-12 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.) Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament I Va/ John 1-10). Ed. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois USA 60515, p 157 col.1

[6] St. Basil the Great. On the Spirit 26.64 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.) Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament I Va/ John 1-10). Ed. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois USA 60515, p 162 col.1/2

[7] Ephrem the Syrian. Commentary of Tatian’s Diatessaron 16.30 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.) Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament I Va/ John 1-10). Ed. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois USA 60515, p 327 col.1

[8] St. Ambrose of Milan. Letter 67.4-6 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.) Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament I Va/ John 1-10). Ed. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois USA 60515, p 326 col.1