Two amazing accounts. Peter, as Acts records,
doing exactly what Jesus said he would do. These
things in greater works you will do. And the
Lord raising up this man who had been paralyzed.
Draw your attention to the fresco at the back,
the south side. You will see The account there
painted, Bethesda, five porches. Of course, it
looks very solemn and dignified, but you can
imagine the terrible suffering, the kingdom of
sorrow that that little place was at the time.
I want to follow up on the theme from last week,
that is Christian activity based on faithfulness.
Christian activity inspired by the Holy Spirit
working within us. Christian activity which shows
a change that has come over us as we are Christians.
This gospel represents many, many things. One
is the radical change of life that that man experienced
from 38 years as a paralyzed man there, begging
for food. And then getting up and walking. That
kind of change. That's what we have to think
about in our own life. Some other time, we will
speak about some of the other themes in this
gospel, the inevitable resistance that hits us
once we start to walk with Christ in a serious
way. The resistance within ourselves and without
ourselves that happens when we truly define ourselves,
orientate ourselves, identify ourselves, and
act with and according to Christ. This is what
Christians do. This is not news for you. I'm
just reviewing this. You know this. So let's
now focus on how we might meet Christ today in
this gospel. Love for our neighbor is so important.
This man begged for 38 years alone. Christ unites
us together. We become one family. It's very
frightening to live. We read reports. This terrible
shooting in Buffalo. The war in Ukraine and other
places in our world. For love of God and our
neighbor. Let's think about that today as we
ponder this gospel. You know, there's a good
and it's fairly good dramatization of this account
from John chapter 5 by the TV show The Chosen,
by the way. You might want to check that out
as you open your Bible to read about it at the
same time. Have we all opened our Bible this
week? Now, Jesus did not just heal this man and
leave him alone. He first asked, do you want
to be healed? This is not a sarcastic question.
It's not a pointless question. The hearer of
the gospel must be the one who wants to be changed.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that's always the
case with myself. Often, we hear what we want
to hear. Make the gospel fit whatever preconceived
ideology we might have. Many people in a political
way, on the right hand or on the left hand. But
if we seek human things when we come to church,
even if it's fellowship, even if it's the wonderful
singing, even if it's the icons, even if it's
love for one another, if we only seek the human
things, that's what we're going to find. We won't
find God. We won't see him. We have to seek God
in all of this. The more we open our hearts to
God and lay aside all earthly cares and agendas,
the more we receive Christ. Don't take upon yourselves,
says Elder Thaddeus in that wonderful book, Our
Thoughts Determine Our Lives. Don't take upon
yourselves the cares, the worries of the world
so much. but preserve peace of heart and live
with Christ. The gospel message is first and
foremost about Jesus Christ, the invitation,
yes, to lay down our sickness. And not pick up
our bed, but pick up our cross and follow Christ.
Otherwise, if we don't come for that reason,
if we come for other reasons, you can expect
problems, confusions, disappointments with me
and with the parish. It's painful for me to say
this, but that's what happened during COVID.
So many places. Do we want to be healed? Let's...
really answer that in the affirmative. Jesus
asked that perceptive and razor -sharp question
about wanting to be healed, after which he did
not say to the paralyzed man, Brother, you're
healed. I know it's been a long time. You must
be exhausted by your ordeal. Just sit back. Rest
for a little while before you begin to walk about.
No, he did not say that to the man. He said,
rise, pick up your bed, and walk. Immediately,
Jesus called this man to begin acting in faith.
Immediately. So very interesting, isn't it? Also,
that it is the Sabbath day, as Jesus' opponents
pointed out, the day of rest. And the man is
told, to carry his bed. On that Sabbath, carrying
his bed was not carrying a burden, but it was
proof, a sign, that he had entered into the Lord's
rest. The rest of the Lord, God's rest, as Hebrews,
the epistle tells us, is not sitting around and
doing nothing. It's God's peace in our heart
which rules the kingdom of God within us and
God's holy work. which he calls us to do. Isn't
it also interesting that the man is carrying
his bed and someone says to him, you're carrying
your bed, it's the Sabbath. The man said, well,
the man who healed me, he didn't know who he
was, Jesus came to him. The man who healed me
told me to pick up my bed and walk. I didn't
ask any more questions, I just did it. And you
know what the response was? It wasn't, Who healed
you? It was, who told you to pick up your bed?
Isn't that ridiculous? That kind of legalism,
which misses the point of the glory of God. If
you want to know, if you want to come to know
more, Jesus, the Word, as he is now, as he was
there at the pool of Bethesda, for he is the
healer and physician of our souls. If you want
to know Jesus in the baptismal font, or the divine
liturgy, or in many different ways in ministry,
if you want to experience that godly rest, laying
down your burdens and paralysis of sin and ignorance
of God, to be where Christ is, to encounter Christ,
to be transformed by him, to work with him, to
be his disciple. There is a place where that
is happening right now. Ground zero, as Father
Stephen B. Young said in a recent podcast, are
the church services. We didn't build this magnificent
place with extravagant expenses on everything
here you see so we could use it 3 % of the time
of the week. That's insane. We built it so we
could glorify God. As it says in Acts, the faithful
were in the temple continually praising God.
Ground zero is the church service, the liturgy,
confession, holy communion, the scriptures, the
Bible. This is base camp. But take up your bed
and walk. act, be a disciple indeed. This gospel
is given to us in Pascha time about water, of
course, therefore reminding us about baptism
and the transformation that will take place within
us by the Holy Spirit. But like the paralyzed
man, we have to do something. And this is where
I'm following up from last week, to be an active
disciple of Christ. We have to think about where
Christ is. We have proof. I can give you proof.
You can follow me around when I go to the hospital
or a nursing home. That Christ, as the prayer
of St. Basil says, is the help of the helpless.
The hope of the hopeless. The physician of the
sick. That he is all things to all of us, as
the liturgy reminds us. This is what Christ is
doing right now. He is the Savior of the world
100 % of the time. Where Christ is now, he is
with the helpless. He is with those who feel
hopeless, who are sick, who are alienated, who
are suffering, who are lonely, who are alone.
That's where the scriptures tell us he is. Have
you forgotten the lesson of... Judgment Sunday,
Matthew 25, the least of these my servants. We
can go to those people. We must go to those people.
We will be asked if we went to those people.
And we will see that we will encounter Christ
there. And sometimes we will be Christ for someone
else. We live Matthew 25. Very powerful change
will take place in our heart and in our mind.
Christ gives us hope when we are there. Help
when we feel helpless. The action, this action
of faithfulness is not a burden. Is the liturgy
a burden? Is saying your prayers every day a
burden? Is coming to church during the week a
burden? Is reading the scripture a burden? Is
doing the commandments of Christ a burden? No,
he says, come unto me, all you that are heavy
laden. I will give you rest. And if a man, he
says, a person keeps my commandments, my father
will love him and we will come and abide in him.
This is what we want, to be the dwelling place
of Christ. the Father, and the Spirit. In the
days of our Lord's walking upon earth, the sheep's
pool, which you can see now in ruins there in
Jerusalem in the Moslem Quarter, next to the
Church of St. Anne, it's been called a kingdom
of sorrow. Find that kingdom of sorrow wherever
you are and visit it. And bring Christ to someone.
And meet Christ in someone. To our Lord be glory
now and ever. To ages of ages. Christ is risen.