Readings
Acts 16:9-15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
John 5:1-9
In today’s Gospel we encounter Jesus in Jerusalem at a healing pool. We are told that the pool is surrounded by “many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.” Specifically, we hear about a man who had been ill for 38 years. Jesus asks the man if he wants to be made well, and the man replies that there’s no one to put him in the water when the spirit moves upon it, and that when he tries to do it himself someone always cuts him off. Jesus then simply says “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” And immediately the man is healed and walks away.
This is an interesting story. Not so much for the healing, but for the part of the story that precedes it. We hear about a man that has been ill for decades. We do not know whether his illness is genuinely physical, or spiritual, or (using our modern term) psychological. What we do know is that this man is stuck in his circumstance and has been for a long time. And what is most interesting is that while he has come to a place of healing, he has found it impossible to be healed.
This is where the story gets the most interesting, however. When Jesus asks the man if he wants to be healed, he doesn’t say “yes.” Instead, he replies by giving all the reasons that it hasn’t or can’t happen. It is almost as if after so many years of being lame he cannot imagine any other existence than the one he has been consigned to. It is as if he is so stuck in his understanding of what it will take to be healed that he cannot imagine any other alternative. And while I would never say that he wanted to stay in the state he found himself in, in one way it had become familiar to the point that he could not even see himself as a healed or whole person.
To this Jesus simply says, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” Jesus cuts through all the assumptions, all the cultural and religious expectations, and all the obstacles. Can you imagine the impact this had on the man? I would imagine that at first there was some fear and trepidation. Would he be able to do as Jesus commanded? What if this didn’t work? What if it didn’t last? And yet, even in the midst of all of this, immediately he was freed from the physical prison that had lasted for so long. Immediately he was no longer presumed to have sinned or for his family to have sinned. Immediately the prospect of a full life was returned to him.
Now while most of us do not struggle with nearly 40 years of paralysis, many of us have had extended periods of difficulty or struggle. Perhaps it was or is a chronic illness. Perhaps it is a family member who is an alcoholic and whose behavior makes our life difficult, to say the least. Perhaps it is the shadow of mental illness. Perhaps it is something like struggling with our weight or body image.
Regardless, like the man in our story it is easy to become fixated on a solution to our problem and to find obstacle after obstacle keeping us from achieving what we believe we truly want … an end to that struggle and a life of peace and joy.
But like the man we also may be afraid of a life without those struggles. Even while we do not want to suffer there is something comforting and comfortable in what we know. It is easy to become afraid of change in pattern or identity. This can often be the reason we find so many reasons for why some things never change.
Jesus offered the man a new way of being by simply choosing a different path. We too can find new ways of being if we are brave enough to choose a different path. Oftentimes the grace and healing we so desperately seek is within our grasp if we but choose an alternative approach that may, at first, seem too simple or is outside our field of vision. And like with the man and Jesus we may need the help of another to see the path forward.
This is not just true in our personal lives, but also in all the ways in which our world is wounded and torn. How many of us have desired to see a change in the sins of racism, sexism, heterosexism, political polarization, or the loss of our common humanity in society? How many of us feel trapped by the dynamics we see and have no shortage of reasons why change and healing cannot occur?
Just as Jesus offered the man at the pool of Bethzatha an alternative to the reality he was trapped in, God is offering to all of us alternatives to the social ills that plague us today. But in order for that to happen we need to be open to the voices offering us alternatives. In order for that to happen we need to be open to the healing grace present even in the midst of suffering. In order for that to happen we need, like the man that was healed, be willing to stand up and take our mat. In other words, we need to have faith that healing is possible and then strike out, with the help of others, in new ways that break the patterns of the past.
Part of the answer to how we do that is that we must be the embodiment of love. We must first trust that we are loved by God. We must then love ourselves. And finally, we must become the embodiment of that love for others. But this is not simply a sentimental love that is filled with affection. No this is the fierce and steadfast love of God that seeks justice for ourselves and for others. It is a love that “believes all things, endures all things, sustains all things.” It is a love that “never fails.” In the end it is a love that brings the shalom of God ushering in equity and hope for all.
Christ stands in our life asking us if we want to be healed. May we have the grace and courage to stand up, take our mat and walk when we are invited to do so. May we find the healing we so deeply desire and may we be agents of healing to a hurting and broken world.