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Our Lord’s  own  testimony  to  His  Divinity. In  this  chapter  our Lord openly  and  clearly  asserts  and  proves  His  equality  with  the  Father. He is  one  with  Him  in  nature,  in  power,  and  action. “My Father worketh until  now,  and  I work.”  He  too,  like  the  Father,  is  Lord  of the  Sabbath. He, like  the  Father,  has  life  in  Himself  and  can  raise  the dead to  life. The Jews  perfectly  understood  that  He  made  Himself equal to  the  Father,  and  our  Lord,  far  from  correcting  their  interpretation, rather  confirmed  it  in  the  most  solemn  manner  by  an  appeal to His  works:  “Amen,  amen,  I say  unto  you  &amp;c.”,  and  finally  claimed the same  honour  and  worship  as  the  Father.

Jesus the  Judge  of  all  men.  The  Son  of  God  having  become  Man and redeemed  mankind,  it  is  He  who  will  judge  men  as  to  the  use  and misuse of  the  grace  of  Redemption.

God's unceasing  Action  (Old  Test.  I). About this  St.  Chrysostom writes thus:  “If  you  observe  the  rising  and  the  setting  of  the  sun,  the movement of  the  earth,  the  ponds,  springs,  rivers,  rain,  in  fact  the whole process  of  nature,  whether  as  seen  in  plants  or  in  our  own  bodies and those  of  the  beasts,  or  in  any  other  thing  which  the  hand  of  God touches, you  will  recognize  the  unceasing  work  of  the  Father.”

Observance of  the  Sabbath. “The  Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the Sabbath” (Luke  6,  5). He permitted  the  man  to  prove  the  completeness of his  cure  by  taking  up  his  bed  and  carrying  it  home — therefore  it was  lawful  for  the  man  to  do  it.

Eternal and  Temporal  punishment. Grave  sin  brings  on  us  both eternal and  temporal  punishment. Our Lord’s  words:  “Sin  no  more, lest some  worse  thing  happen  to  thee”,  are  a proof  of  this.

Relapse into  sin. Our  Lord  warned  the  cured  man  not  to  fall back into  sin,  because  a relapse  leads  easily  to  impenitence,  and  thereby to everlasting  damnation.

A type of  Baptism.  The  Pool  of  Bethsaida  was  a type  of  that spring of  grace,  holy  Baptism. As in  the  one  all  possible  diseases  of the  body  were  cured,  so  in  Baptism  all  possible  sins  are  remitted.

The misery  of  unredeemed  mankind. The condition  of  the  sick  man, for so  many  years  miserable  and  abandoned  by  all  who  might  have helped him,  is,  according  to  St.  Augustine,  Venerable  Bede  and  others, a striking picture  of  the  misery  of  unredeemed  mankind. Man had turned away  from  God,  and  had  remained  sunk  in  vice  and  sin  for four thousand  years; and  there  was  no  one  to  help  him. Then the  Son of God  had  mercy  on  him  and  became  Man  Himself  in  order  to  redeem him. He, the  Incarnate  Son  of  God,  is  our  helper  and  comforter!