John Chrysostom, On the Divinity of Christ

you will know all his philosophy and his patience. Jesus came and says to him: Do you want to be made well? And who would not know this, that he wished to be made well? For what reason, then, does he ask? Not out of ignorance; for he who knows the secrets of the mind, much more knew the things that are plain and clear to all. For what reason did he ask? Just as then he says to the centurion: "I will come and heal him," not ignorant of what he was about to say, but knowing beforehand and understanding very precisely, and wishing to give him an opening and a pretext, so as to reveal to all the piety hidden in shadow, and for him to say: "No, Lord; for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof"; so also in the case of this paralytic, knowing what he was about to say, he asks if he wished to be healed, not because he was ignorant of this, but so that he might give him some pretext and an occasion to bemoan his own misfortune, and to become a teacher of patience. For if he had healed the man in silence, we would have suffered the ultimate loss, not having learned of the endurance of his soul. But Christ not only corrects the present things, but also deems future things worthy of much care. Therefore, he revealed him as a teacher of endurance and patience to all who inhabit the world, by putting him under the necessity of an answer through the question: "Do you want to be made well?" What then of that man? He was not displeased, he was not indignant, he did not say to the one who asked: "You see me paralyzed, you know the long time of my illness, and you ask if I want to be made well? Have you come to laugh at my misfortunes, and to make a comedy of another's evils?" For you know how faint-hearted the sick are, even if they have been confined to bed for only a year; but where the disease was prolonged for thirty-eight years, how is it not likely that all philosophy would have been exhausted, spent over a long time? But still he neither said nor thought anything of the sort, but with much gentleness he makes his answer, and says: "Yes, Lord; but I have no man, so that when the water is troubled, he may put me into the pool." See how many things came together and besieged the man: sickness, and poverty, and desolation of those who would help. "While I am coming, another goes down before me." This is more pitiful than all, and sufficient to move a stone itself. For I seem to see the man crawling each year, and coming to the very edge of the pool, and hanging on the very cusp of good hope each year; and what is greater, 48.806 that he endured these things not for two and three and ten years, but for thirty-eight. And he showed all diligence, but he fell short of the fruit; and the race was run, but the prize of this race belonged to another, for those many years; and what is more grievous, that he also saw others being delivered. For you know this, that we have a more acute perception of our own evils, when we see others who have fallen into the same troubles and have been delivered. For this reason also the poor man, when he sees another growing rich, then feels his own poverty more; and the sick man suffers more pain when he sees many of the afflicted putting aside their illness, while he himself has no good hope. For in the good fortunes of others we see our own misfortunes more clearly; which indeed was then happening to this man. But nevertheless, wrestling with sickness and poverty and desolation for so long a time, and seeing others delivered, and having himself always tried but never succeeded, and not even after this hoping again to be delivered from the dreadful thing, he still did not give up, but ran each year. But we, if we pray to God once about anything, and do not receive it, we immediately become distressed, and fall into the utmost despair; as we cease from the asking, we lose our zeal.

εἴσεσθε αὐτοῦ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν καὶ τὴν ὑπομονὴν ἅπασαν. Ἐπέστη ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Θέλεις ὑγιὴς γενέσθαι; Καὶ τίς ἂν τοῦτο ἠγνόησεν, ὅτι ἐβούλετο γενέσθαι ὑγιής; Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν ἐρωτᾷ; Οὐκ ἀγνοῶν· ὁ γὰρ τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα τῆς διανοίας εἰδὼς, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὰ δῆλα καὶ σαφῆ πᾶσιν ἠπίστατο. Τίνος ἕνεκεν ἠρώτα; Ὥσπερ τότε τῷ ἑκατοντάρχῃ φησίν· Ἐγὼ ἐλθὼν θεραπεύσω αὐτὸν, οὐκ ἀγνοῶν ἅπερ ἤμελλεν ἐρεῖν, ἀλλὰ προειδὼς καὶ σφόδρα ἀκριβῶς ἐπιστάμενος, καὶ βουλόμενος ἀρχὴν αὐτῷ δοῦναι καὶ πρόφασιν, ὥστε τὴν ἐν σκιᾷ ἐκκαλύψαι πᾶσιν εὐλάβειαν, καὶ εἰπεῖν· Μὴ, Κύριε· οὐ γάρ εἰμι ἄξιος, ἵνα μου ὑπὸ τὴν στέγην εἰσέλθῃς· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ παραλελυμένου τούτου, εἰδὼς ἅπερ ἤμελλεν ἐρεῖν, ἐρωτᾷ εἰ βούλοιτο θεραπευθῆναι, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ἠγνόει τοῦτο, ἀλλ' ἵνα παράσχῃ αὐτῷ τινα πρόφασιν καὶ ἀφορμὴν ἐκτραγῳδῆσαι τὴν οἰκείαν συμφορὰν, καὶ γενέσθαι διδάσκαλον ὑπομονῆς. Εἰ γὰρ σιγῇ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐθεράπευσεν, ἐζημιώθημεν ἂν ἡμεῖς ζημίαν τὴν ἐσχάτην, μὴ μαθόντες αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν καρτερίαν. Ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς οὐ τὰ παρόντα διορθοῦται μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα πολλῆς ἀξιοῖ τῆς ἐπιμελείας. ∆ιδάσκαλον τοίνυν ὄντα αὐτὸν καρτερίας καὶ ὑπομονῆς ἅπασιν ἐξεκάλυψε τοῖς τὴν οἰκουμένην οἰκοῦσι, διὰ τῆς ἐρωτήσεως εἰς ἀνάγκην αὐτὸν ἀποκρίσεως ἐμβαλών· Θέλεις ὑγιὴς γενέσθαι; Τί οὖν ἐκεῖνος; Οὐκ ἐδυσχέρανεν, οὐκ ἠγανάκτησεν, οὐκ εἶπε πρὸς τὸν ἐρωτήσαντα· Ὁρᾷς με παραλελυμένον, τὸν χρόνον ἔγνως τὸν μακρὸν τῆς ἐμῆς ἀῤῥωστίας, καὶ ἐρωτᾷς εἰ βούλομαι γενέσθαι ὑγιής; ταῖς ἐμαῖς ἦλθες ἐπιγελάσαι συμφοραῖς, καὶ ἀλλότρια κωμῳδῆσαι κακά; Ἴστε γὰρ ὡς μικρόψυχοι οἱ ἄῤῥωστοί εἰσιν, εἰ καὶ ἐνιαυτὸν μόνον ἐπὶ κλίνης κατακλιθεῖεν· ὅπου δὲ τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη τὸ νόσημα παρετάθη, πῶς οὐκ εἰκὸς ἅπασαν ἀνηλῶσθαι φιλοσοφίαν ἐν μακρῷ τῷ χρόνῳ δαπανηθεῖσαν; Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον οὔτε εἶπεν, οὔτε ἐνενόησεν ἐκεῖνος, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἐπιεικείας ποιεῖται τὴν ἀπόκρισιν, καί φησι· Ναὶ, Κύριε· ἀλλ' ὅτι ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἔχω, ἵν', ὅταν ταραχθῇ τὸ ὕδωρ, βάλῃ με εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν. Ὅρα πόσα συνῆλθεν ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπολιόρκει· νόσος, καὶ πενία, καὶ ἐρημία τῶν προστησομένων. Ἐν ᾧ δὲ ἐγὼ ἔρχομαι, ἄλλος πρὸ ἐμοῦ καταβαίνει. Τοῦτο πάντων ἐλεεινότερον, καὶ λίθον αὐτὸ ἱκανὸν ἐπικάμψαι. Καὶ γὰρ ὁρᾷν μοι δοκῷ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἕρποντα καθ' ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ τὸ στόμα τῆς κολυμβήθρας γιγνόμενον, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τέλει τῆς χρηστῆς ἐκκρεμάμενον ἐλπίδος καθ' ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτόν· καὶ τὸ δὴ μεῖζον, 48.806 ὅτι ταῦτα ὑπέμεινεν οὐκ ἐπὶ δύο καὶ τρισὶ καὶ δέκα ἔτεσιν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ὀκτὼ καὶ τριάκοντα. Καὶ τὴν μὲν σπουδὴν ἐπεδείκνυτο πᾶσαν, τοῦ δὲ καρποῦ ἐξέπιπτε· καὶ ὁ μὲν δρόμος ἐγίνετο, τούτου δὲ τοῦ δρόμου τὸ βραβεῖον ἑτέρου, ἐπὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐκείνοις ἔτεσι· καὶ τὸ δὴ χαλεπώτερον, ὅτι καὶ ἄλλους ἀπαλλαττομένους ἑώρα. Ἴστε γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο, ὅτι τῶν οἰκείων κακῶν ἀκριβεστέραν αἴσθησιν λαμβάνομεν, ὅταν ἑτέρους τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπεσόντας δεινοῖς καὶ ἀπαλλαγέντας ἴδωμεν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ πένης, ὅταν ἴδῃ πλουτοῦντα ἕτερον, τότε μᾶλλον τῆς οἰκείας αἰσθάνεται πενίας· καὶ ὁ νοσῶν πλεῖον ὀδυνᾶται, ὅταν πολλοὺς τῶν καμνόντων ἴδῃ τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν ἀποθεμένους, αὐτὸν δὲ οὐδεμίαν ἔχοντα χρηστὴν ἐλπίδα. Ἐν γὰρ ταῖς ἑτέρων εὐπραγίαις τὰς οἰκείας σαφέστερον καθορῶμεν συμφοράς· ὃ δὴ καὶ τούτῳ τότε συνέβαινεν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ νοσήματι καὶ πενίᾳ καὶ ἐρημίᾳ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον χρόνον παλαίων, καὶ ἑτέρους ὁρῶν ἀπαλλαττομένους, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐπιχειρήσαντα μὲν ἀεὶ, ἰσχύοντα δὲ οὐδέποτε, καὶ οὐδὲ μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν ἐλπίζων ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι τοῦ δεινοῦ, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἀφίστατο, ἀλλὰ κατ' ἐνιαυτὸν ἔτρεχεν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐὰν ἅπαξ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν εὐξώμεθα περὶ ὁτιοῦν, καὶ μὴ λάβωμεν, εὐθέως ἀλύομεν, καὶ εἰς ἀκηδίαν ἐσχάτην ἐμπίπτομεν· ὡς τῆς αἰτήσεως ἀφιστάμεθα, ἐκλύομεν τὴν σπουδήν.