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I was sick, and you visited me

“For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope!” (Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee Year 2025). Among the signs of Hope that we should give throughout this Jubilee year, the Holy Father insists on the works of mercy, and among these works especially visiting the sick and caring for them.

This work by Murillo (1617–1682) was painted between 1667 and 1670. It is part of a series of six large pictures produced for the church of La Caridad in Seville.¹ La Caridad was a powerful lay confraternity dedicated to aiding the poor and caring for the sick. Murillo was one of its most active members. Through scenes from the life of Jesus, the six pictures illustrate the six works of mercy extolled by our Lord as criteria at the Last Judgment, because they prove that our love for God is not insincere (cf. 1 Jn 4:20). They invite us to meditate on the words: Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, and on the fact that we can hope to be numbered among the blessed to whom these words will be addressed only if we love one another as Jesus loved us.

The scene takes place in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, beside a pool surrounded by five porticoes, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda.² These galleries were populated by invalids, lame, and paralyzed (Jn 5:3). Whenever an angel—depicted here in a halo of golden light above the first two porticoes—came to visit the pool, the water was troubled, and the first one to bathe in it was healed. In the foreground, Jesus, clothed in a purple robe—he is “the Lord”—is accompanied by Peter, James, and John. He speaks to a man who has been paralyzed for thirty-eight years and is now lying on the ground. Let us admire how, by the interplay of hands, postures, and facial expressions and by the intensity of the glances they exchange, Murillo manages to make us hear the dialogue that ensues:

“Do you want to be healed?”
“Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled.”
“Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.”

Notice on the ground the quality of the still-life depicting the chipped water jug, the empty bowl, and the crutch which was only a last resort and would soon serve no purpose: This still life symbolizes the Law of Moses, which was incapable of saving, unlike faith in Jesus Christ. Having played its role as a pedagogue, it has had its day, and now it is replaced by the Law of incarnate love through the coming of the Son of God (see Saint Paul, especially Gal 2:15–3:14).

Now, let us return to the face of Jesus. Murillo was able to make it express a quality of empathy which, instead of manifesting the miraculous power of Jesus, invites us to imitate his love, which is meek and humble, tender and active. And so the message of this work is that, until Jesus comes again to judge the living and the dead, the roles are reversed: The paralytic who stretches out his arms is Jesus, and the face of Jesus is ours: For you did it to me….

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¹ Unfortunately, we can no longer view this series in the church of the hospital of La Caridad: when Seville was occupied by the French army, the works were stolen in 1812 by Joseph Bonaparte, a brother of Napoleon. Today they are scattered in museums throughout the world. But you can see them below.

² Note that archaeological research has identified with certainty the site where this pool was located, confirming the historical veracity of the settings in which the Gospel according to Saint John places the Lord’s acts.

Pierre-Marie Dumont
Christ healing the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda (1667–1670, detail), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682), National Gallery, London. © National Gallery Global Limited / akg-images.