Walk Like A Man

In John chapter 5, Jesus healed a man who had been ill for 38 years and had waited at the Bethesda pools for a miracle that was based on superstition.

The name Bethesda is said to be Aramaic for House of Mercy or House of Grace, which was appropriate: the Bethesda pools, which had been known to be there since 8th century B.C. was said to be stirred by an angel at an unannounced time, and the first to get in would be healed of their sickness and disabilities.

Bethesda fell into ruins after Saladin gained control of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Fortunately, the healing pools were re-discovered in 1964. These days, anyone can go and walk the same place where Jesus walked and healed that man.

While in Paris, I was very excited to see the staircase where then-Capt. Dick Winters walked up from the river to emerge by the Notre Dame, that I had to go down there myself to take the shot at an angle that he would probably have had.

Of course, that scene in my mind was just a depiction in the HBO production of Band of Brothers (episode 5, directed by Tom Hanks), but the novelty of it was just too attractive.

If Notre Dame was special, how much more Bethesda, where Jesus himself walked and performed the miracle by which He declared Himself equal to God.

To the man who accepted healing, Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

Walk like a man
Talk like a man
Walk like a man my son
(Written by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe, Walk Like A Man featured Nick Massi's bass voice and Franki Valli's falsetto. It put The Four Seasons on number 1 for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 2, 1963.)