Sunday of the Paralytic Man

Title

Do You Want to be Healed?

Outline

We are good at giving excuses

We tell people why we cannot do this or that, when we are asked if we want to do this or that

Do you want a vacation in Hawaii? Oh, it is too expensive to fly there and to arrange for someone to care for the dog. And I do not know if I would have time to get out and purchase sunscreen.

The fact is that we do not trust the offer, so we come up with excuses.

We do this with generous friends, with doctors, and especially with God

Today we meet two men who are paralyzed

The first is at a particular pool in Jerusalem, a pool archaeologists have found

Many sick lay around the pool, for it was said that when the waters started to bubble or move, the first person in would get healed.

But our paralyzed man had been there for 38 years.

Jesus asks a simple question: Do you want to be healed?” The man does not know Jesus at all, but responds, not with questions (“Who are you?” or “Can you do that?”) but with an excuse: “I can never get to the water fast enough.”

Jesus simply asks him to do the impossible: “Rise, take up your pallet and walk.” He knew the will of the Father and so he called for a mustard seed’s worth of trust in him: will that first motion that you have not been able to do. The man feels strength as he wills and scrambles to his feet and goes off, not even pausing to thank Jesus.

Notice the steps: Jesus knows the will of God (he does not approach anyone else in that place), speaks a word that calls forth a minimal amount of trust, the man trusts the word enough to try and is healed.

The ensuing conversation with the Jews is about who Jesus could be that he could do this, especially on a Sabbath, but that is simply to set up the following discourse by Jesus.

The second paralyzed man is Aeneas.

Peter is avoiding Jerusalem and so visiting Christians on the coastal plane. He walks into Lydda and finds Aeneas, who may or may not have been a Christian, but who had been paralyzed 8 years.

Something inside tells Peter that God wants to physically heal Aeneas, so he announces that to Aeneas: “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” Notice that Aeneas has to do something, which is try to get up. And get up he does.

Notice also that there is a wider purpose for the event: the evangelization of Lydda and Sharon (whether it be a town or the coastal plane).

At his next stop, Peter does not spontaneously have an impulse, but gets silence so he can pray and then realizes God wants to raise Dorcas rather than wants Peter to hold his first funeral in the area.

What do we learn from this?

First, in any situation, even a seemingly impossible one, the first step is to listen to God and wait until God speaks, usually quietly, internally, an impulse. Do not assume you know what God wants or what is possible.

Second, divine healing, whether it be that that raises the sick or breaks through a habitual sin to make one holy, usually requires some tiny bit of trust on the part of the one who is healed. Will we accept God’s grace?

Third, divine healing, on whatever level, is often for a purpose: to bring about evangelism, to make a person able for some ministry, to reveal the nature and character of Jesus, to make one holy. And notice that learning to endure illness can also make one holy, which is why we need to listen to God.

God will heal the world at the restoration of all things and full heal us at the resurrection of the dead, but sometimes his good purposes are better served by healing people spiritually, emotionally, or physically now. Our job is to be attentive to his voice and submitted to his will so that if he says, OK, I want you to do this now, we simply say, “Yes.”

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Gregorian) 4-25-2021: Sunday of the Paralytic or Fourth Sunday of Pascha

EPISTLE

Acts 9:32–42

32 Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints that lived at Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed. 34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. 35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

36 Now there was at Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which means Dorcas or Gazelle. She was full of good works and acts of charity. 37 In those days she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him entreating him, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So Peter rose and went with them. And when he had come, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping, and showing coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them. 40 But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, rise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41 And he gave her his hand and lifted her up. Then calling the saints and widows he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

GOSPEL

John 5:1–15

5 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. 5 One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8  Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the sabbath. 10  So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14  Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Gregorian) 4-25-2021: Sunday of the Paralytic or Fourth Sunday of Pascha

SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 2021 | PENTECOSTARION

SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC OR FOURTH SUNDAY OF PASCHA

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