Christ is risen. It's a joy to greet you with
that timeless phrase, that timeless confession
of faith, that timeless cry of victory. On Pascha,
of course we celebrated, we heard about, and
we sang about the resurrection over and over
and over again. Then that whole bright week that
was very much in our hearts and minds and in
our celebrations here at church. We get to St.
Thomas Sunday, and we heard Fresco up there to
remind you. We heard about Thomas and the apostles,
Thomas not being there, Thomas coming to faith.
Again, the church is giving us models, models
of belief. Models of celebration. And then last
week, we celebrated the holy Myrrh -bearing women
who came to the tomb at deep dawn. We remember
Joseph and Nicodemus who took care of Christ.
But this week, the church turns our focus away
from those events around the resurrection. John
highlights events that took place before the
resurrection from the Gospel of John in order
to teach us what it means to be in Christ, to
have been baptized, to be members of the Church.
If I were a Protestant, I'd say, what it means
to be saved. But of course, we have salvation
in three tenses. Christ has saved us by becoming
man. Dying on the cross and rising. Ascending
into heaven. Sending the Holy Spirit to us. We
are being saved because we live the life of the
resurrection. We receive communion. We receive
the Holy Spirit. And we will be saved on the
last day when we are raised up again and healed
and there is no more death. We've started that.
And now that's what these Gospels The paralytic.
There's the fresco back there, right by St. Vladimir
and Olga. You see the five porches and the pool
and the man carrying his bed. You see Christ.
And then next week is going to be the woman at
the well, the Samaritan woman. Guess what that
well looks like? Baptismal font. Week after that,
over here by Constantine and Helen. The man born
blind. And that crazy and insane conversation
that ensues with the Pharisees and the man who
ends up confessing Christ and worshiping him.
So these are scenes that happen. These are events
that happen before the resurrection. But they
tell us what baptism means. They tell us who
Jesus is. Both readings today, that of Acts and
that from the Gospel of John. Again, we're reading
Acts and John. all through this time until we
get to Pentecost. The readings are about being
raised from paralysis. What kind of paralysis
is very important? They are about being given
grace, about power, about faith, and the miracle
to walk in faith. The man took up his bed and
walked. Aeneas got up. Jesus said, and make your
bed. And walked. The woman, Tabitha, and I want
to greet especially today the nun Tabitha, Mother
Tabitha, on this occasion of this great miracle
which took place there in Lydda. And congratulate
her and ask God to bless her. So we hear in this
gospel that Jesus had come to his disciples,
with his disciples to Jerusalem to celebrate
the feast day. The gospel doesn't tell us what
feast day, but St. John Chrysostom, so you will
understand, says it's probably Pentecost. And
Jesus and his disciples are there. When we read
that, to me, one thing that tells us is that
demonstrates to all of us how important it is,
the Lord models it, to celebrate the feast days.
To participate in the feast days. These are our
patrimony. This is the gift from the thousands
of years of the church and before that the Jewish
covenant with God. The glory of the feast days.
Each one has its own grace, its own power to
heal. As the paralytic would discover, you don't
know what might happen. Stick around as... My
friend John Galuli tells me, Father Stefan Mahalik
says, stick around for the miracle. As Jesus
and his disciples are walking toward the temple,
they pass what our translators have called a
pool of water. You can see it there in that fresco.
I've been to Jerusalem, where that pool is supposed
to have been. This word in a form of ancient
Greek means a cleansing and healing bath, like
a warm mineral spring. We look at that fresco
and we read this gospel to see what this healing
is all about. Number one, when Jesus meets this
paralyzed man, he meets him in Jerusalem, in
the old covenant. Mount Zion, the holy temple,
established by God by his command. That was the
only place to meet God. That's where God chosen
people would gather to worship. And worship is
what? The offering of sacrifice there in the
temple. Every day. Every day. The morning sacrifice,
the evening incense. That's why we have vespers.
Right? The incense. The gladsome light, we light
the candle in the evening as the world is getting
dark. And here, in this place, in this temple,
this paralyzed man, having been there for 38
years, he represents all of us, doesn't he? All
of humanity. All the broken, the dying, the suffering,
the paralyzed. Not because of circumstances in
this case, but because of sins. All of us are
sick. All of us need healing. We all die. We're
cut off from life. Wasn't that the meaning of
death before Jesus Christ? Being cut off from
life. In the grave, says the psalm, who can say
alleluia? Will physicians come to raise you up?
No. The psalm is telling us it's the end of the
relationships. It's over. The paralytic was there
for 38 years. Remember what Jesus says, which
might sound interesting to us. This sentence,
he comes up to him and says, do you want to be
healed? Does a man say yes? Lord, please. No.
He plays the victim. At least that's my opinion
and some other interpreters. Lord, I don't have
anyone. To put me into the water. Angel comes
to his water. I can just sit here. 38 years this
is going on. Someone's feeding him. Or else he'd
be dead. Someone's taking care of him. Just hoping
that someday this is going to happen. But the
question rings out to us too. Do we want to be
healed? Or we just want a little bit of what
the church has to offer us? Or are we willing
to go? all the way in the walk with Jesus. This
38, well, this number is significant. St. John
in his gospel gives us numbers all the time.
It means something. He's not just throwing out
a number, you know, to remember it. No, we know
that the number 40 is a holy number. 40 years
in the wilderness, right? Jesus fasted for 40
days. Jesus, after his resurrection, was with
the apostles for 40 days. We have lent for 40
days. 40 is his time of preparation for a fulfillment,
for another time, for another gift, for something
else for us to be ready for and to do. 40 days.
But this man is two numbers short. 38 was the
number of years that Israel spent wandering in
the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt. Do
you remember why they were wandering? Because
of their faithlessness, because of their complaining,
because of their sin, constantly. So 38 tells
us that number is the rebellion against God.
I learned this recently. The number 38 is associated
with the Egyptian jackal -headed god of death,
Anubis. So 38 signifies not only rebellion against
God, but death. And what was Adam's sin in the
garden? Rebellion against God. And what was the
result of that sin? Not God saying, I'm going
to kill you. But when you... disengage from life,
you die. Because God is the only life giver.
This man's trial can't be completed without those
other two. He can't even be healed without the
two. And what are those two? Theanthropos. God
-man. Jesus Christ. Perfect God and perfect man.
And Jesus comes to the pool. Look at that fresco
again. Read that gospel when you get home. It
starts with these words. Jesus sees. He beholds
this man. He's looking for us all the time. This
is not about man's search for God. That man is
stuck at the pool for 38 years. He can't do a
thing. Jesus is searching. God is searching far
more for us than we can ever search for him.
He is always there. We began to believe in Jesus
Christ. Speaking of the newly baptized. We saw
something in him. We saw there was a way of life
that was different than the world around us.
We began to believe, not in an idea, but in a
person. Not a philosophy, which got us nowhere.
except into lots of arguments, but in Christ.
And we gained the eyes of faith. And then we
were healed in the pool of baptism. We were sanctified.
We were given the opportunity, everything we
need to be transformed, to have a change of life
as radical as that man, from 38 years to getting
up and walking. And then we live with the eyes
of faith. Brothers and sisters, what happened
to the paralytic after he was healed? He was
questioned. He was hounded. He was persecuted.
He was belittled and tempted not to trust Jesus
Christ, the same Christ who just healed him,
that he had experience of. Isn't that what the
fallen world is always doing to us? The prince
of this fallen world, the evil one, always giving
us these... Logis me these thoughts. Like Adam
and Eve, we just relive it over and over again.
Oh no, this is good. God is not telling you everything.
God is not fair. The church is backward. The
church is wrong. Don't put your trust in Jesus.
Don't believe what the church says. We're behind
the times. We're phobic about these people and
these people. Don't be confused, dear brothers
and sisters. Don't be derailed. It's a deep sorrow
to me when someone who is in the church feels
Christ is not enough. Christ and what the church
teaches and the wisdom that has made saints of
men, women, and children. For over 2 ,000 years,
it's not enough. It's a deep sorrow. Don't be
derailed. Don't be tempted by such voices. St.
Paul says, let God be true. And every man a liar.
Don't rely on the men of this world, the wisdom
of this world, of this age, to guide you, to
help you, to lift you, to heal you, to save you.
It won't. As Solomon says, trust in the Lord
with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding,
your thoughts. Don't believe everything you think.
In all your ways, submit that to him, and he
will make your path straight, and you will walk
upright with the Spirit of God. To our Lord,
who is risen from the dead, be glory and honor
now and ever to ages of ages. Christ is risen.