Did an angel really "stir" the waters at the Bethesda pool in John 5?

[RonJohnSilver]

I'm teaching this story in SS next week so I've got questions. From a human curiosity viewpoint, I guess a lot of my questions are unanswerable but I'd still like your thoughts. First, did an angel really do this? It's easy to say no, but, people had been coming for 38 years. That's a long time for nothing to happen. The text says 'blind, lame, etc.' Were blind people really healed, limbs reset? And what were the 'rules' for healing? The healings took place after the waters were stirred. Was there some kind of 'ready, set, go' type of start? How often did it happen? The text says in certain seasons. Annual? Daily? As I said, probably unanswerable, but I'd still like your thoughts. Thanks, RJS

 

[mattfivefour]

Based on the Bible, I would say yes an angel stirred the water, and the first person in most likely did get healed. After that? All I got is crickets, because that's all the Bible tells me.