Sunday of the Paralytic
Acts 9:32-42
John 5:1-15
Since before Easter, in the Gospel and Epistle readings, the Church has been teaching us about God’s sacramental grace. It all began on Holy Thursday.
Fulfilling the Law of the Old Covenant, Christ acted as our new High Priest. He unveiled the shadow of the Passover meal and the Old Sacrificial system, showing them fulfilled in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist.
Two weeks ago, in the events of the evening of the Resurrection, we saw the shadow of the Levitical priesthood fulfilled in the ordination of the Apostles as the first Christian priests. As leprosy separated the individual from the community so serious sin separates the individual from God. Just as a priest under the Law could declare an individual free from leprosy, so Christ gave his new priests the authority to forgive sin. And last week, we saw the sacramental grace of ordination extended from the priesthood to include the diaconate.
In both our Epistle and Gospel readings today, we see the grace of God extended to the individual in the form of healing.
One thing that comes to mind here is why did God wait so long to heal these people? The man in Jerusalem had been paralyzed for 38 years. Aeneas was bedridden for eight years. And poor Dorcas died.
Suffering is not fun. Yet, it’s often how we grow. Writing to the Romans, Paul said, “For we know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose”. He wrote to the Colossians, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church”.
The Catechism puts it this way. “Already in the Old Testament, those afflicted by illness recognized …. the limits of their existence and reflected on how physical illness was related to sin. At the same time the sickness and suffering of the righteous person was able to become an occasion for expressing hope in the Lord and faithfulness to him (e.g. Job, Tobit). In illness, people turned to the Lord, seeking healing from him and confessing their sins before him (see Ps 6:3, 8; Ps 102[103]). In the New Testament, through his suffering and life-giving death, Jesus gives our suffering a new meaning: joined to his sufferings they become a means of purification and a path of salvation for ourselves and others.“ (Christ our Pascha, 463)
“Sending the twelve apostles to preach the Gospel, Jesus “gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness” (Mt 10:1). He promised that healings would accompany their preaching: “They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mk 16:18). Following Christ’s example, the apostles also enjoined prayers for the afflicted: “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven” (Jas 5:14-15). The Church continues the Apostolic Tradition: it celebrates the Mystery of Holy Anointing for the healing of soul and body, and for the forgiveness of sins.” (ibid, 464)
But, there is another sickness to which we are prone, a far worse sickness than that affecting the body. It is the sickness of the soul - sin. And that is the point to all these sacraments, these mysteries. God is not willing that any should perish, yet he respects our free will so that we can reject him. But he’s given us the means to be healed.
One description of the Eucharist is “The medicine of immortality”. Why? Because the church isn’t the place where good people go to pat each other on the back for being good. No. The church is first and foremost a hospital for the sick, a place where we can come and be healed.
Let’s go back to the man at the pool of Bethesda. That pool, the place where healing occurred, is like the church. Jesus asked him why he’d been lying there and if he wanted to be healed. He replied that he had nobody to take him to the pool.
He had nobody to take him to be healed.
Jesus said, “come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.
Do you know anybody who is caught in sin, somebody who needs spiritual healing? Has anybody offered to take them to the pool? Have you offered to take them to the pool?
There are three things you can take away from this.
- Seek to learn from your suffering.
- You can be healed spiritually, and, if it’s God’s will, physically.
- You may be the one God has chosen to bring somebody to this Bethesda, this hospital for the soul.
Christos Voskres!
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