Unwinding At Bethseda | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Unwinding At Bethseda | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
04/09/21
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The whiff of sheep dung drifted in on the breeze as Alpheus scanned the pilgrims trudging through the stone gate. The constant stream of able-bodied pilgrims claiming their lambs for sacrifice had become a blur in the periphery of his vision. For thirty-eight years he had watched the procession with little hope of ever joining it. Once he had concentrated with all his might to stretch out a finger or a toe. It had been pointless.

Small pots of burning frankincense and vases of jasmine helped stifle the odor of the sheep. His shepherd brothers rarely noticed the scent when they dropped by for a weekly visit. Being suppliers of the lambs for the pens next door kept them wealthy enough. If they thought to stop by for a brief greeting, they came from obligation to their father to see what coins he had collected. He understood the shame that came on a family for claiming someone like him.

The pool he lay beside was sixty strides by 100 strides – if only he could have taken just one. His fingers were hopelessly gnarled into tight little bent fists. His legs were twisted, his back curved, his whole self a feeble ball of unmoving flesh.
The awesome Temple complex to the south provided a towering shimmering backdrop to the five colonnades with covering porticos sheltering the pool that served as part mikveh and part reservoir for the public. Today’s Sabbath celebrations seemed especially grand if only some of the pilgrim’s generosity would flow here.

This “pool of mercy” beside him had been anything but merciful over the years. The crude sarcasm of the black-robed scholars debated with students on the depth of sins that might have plagued him. If only the Almighty might notice him and take pity.

The southern of the two pools, the one closest to the Temple, was the Mikveh of Bethesda. Most of the able-bodied cleansed themselves elsewhere in places like the Pool of Siloam, but here the blind, the lame, the paralyzed and the unwanted had found a sense of community. Only lepers were kept from these sacred grounds where the hope for healing grew like roses in a desert.

Every evening blind Jonas would drag him under the roof of the second portico to shield him from the weather. Every morning, if the sun shone, Jonas would find him and drag him back to the edge of the pool. Unfortunately, the blind man couldn’t see the water bubbling under the touch of an angel so Alphaeus could only writhe like a stranded porpoise but never get into the water.

The few times he got close to the edge he hesitated, knowing that only the first person in might be healed. If he actually succeeded in flopping into the pool he would likely drown before he was healed. Besides, he confided with Shimon, the quadriplegic next to him, it’s probably just the underground springs stirring the water.

“Two hundred and thirty-eight” announced Deborah, the shepherd’s daughter who loved to drop by and count the people. On a good day she would sing a psalm of David and share her adventures in the hills near Bethlehem. Today, she sang a different song.

“Where did you learn that song?” Jonas asked.

“Yeshua taught it to the children,” she answered.

“Who’s Yeshua?” Alphaeus asked.

“He’s a healer,” Deborah said.

“Avoid him,” Jonas said. “Healers have no time for people like us.”

A gaggle of groupees followed a young rabbi into the shade of the second portico nearby. They doffed their sandals, stepped down into the cool water and walked along the first step. The rabbi stopped next to Alphaeus and looked him over. “Do you want to get well?”

Alphaeus chuckled. “Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

The rabbi smiled again. “Get up. Pick up your mat and walk.”

Energy surged into his limbs He stretched out his index finger, then flexed his thumb back and forth. All ten digits on his hands stretched without pain and without restriction. His back straightened as did his legs. Before the dream could diminish, he pushed himself to his feet, rolled up his mat and danced his way out of the entrance.

As the Sabbath police stepped into his path, Alphaeus stopped. “I wonder who that was that got me to stretch the law and get into trouble?”

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