4th Epiphany
John 5: 1-18
Some time later, there was a
Jewish feast, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem, near
the Sheep’s Gate, a pool, called Bethesda in Hebrew, which is surrounded by 5
covered porches. Here lay a great many invalids, the blind, the lame
[crippled], the weak [withered], waiting for the water to begin moving. For
from time to time a powerful angel of the Lord descended into the pool and
stirred up the waters. The first one in the pool after such a disturbance would
be cured of whatever ailment he had.
And there was a certain man there who had been an
invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and became aware that he
had been ill for so long, he asked him,
“Do you want [have the will] to become whole?”
The invalid answered him, “Lord [Sir], I have no
one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to
get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Rise up, take up your
pallet, and walk.” At once the man was healed
and picked up his pallet and walked.
However it was the Sabbath on that day. Therefore
the Jewish leaders said to the man who was healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law
forbids you to carry your pallet.”
But he replied, “The man who healed me said to me,
“take up you pallet and walk!”
And they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you
‘take it up and walk’?”
But the one who was healed had no idea who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, as there was a crowd in the place.
Later, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to
him, “Take to heart what I say: Behold, you have become whole. Sin no more,
lest your destiny bring you something worse.”
The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that
Jesus was the one who had healed him. That is why they persecuted Jesus and
sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.
Then he himself countered them with the words,
“Until now my Father has worked, and from now on I also work.”
Then they sought all the more to kill him, because
not only had he broken the Sabbath, but also because he had called God his own
Father and had set himself equal to God.
4th Epiphany
John 5: 1 -18
Often things happen without our knowing how. The movement or
change or transformation seems to happen behind a curtain. We only see the
result.
The will is such a mystery. In the broadest sense, it is
connected to movement. It is through our will that we stand up, walk, and work.
But the workings of this mysterious power are mostly hidden from us.
Today’s reading involves an invalid. (Interesting word—in-valid.)
His will, his ability to stand up, to walk, to work had been ‘invalidated’.
Christ asks him, ‘Is it your will to become whole, healthy? This question
suggests that the man needed to become more conscious of his will. What is it
that he wants? How devoted is he to achieving his goal? His answer: I have no
one to help me. I can’t do it alone. So Christ helps him. Christ infuses His
own healing, integrative will into the man’s weakened will (his ill will?), giving it strength.
In the Act of Consecration of Man we express our awareness
of our own weaknesses of will, our own need of healing. We come to the altar,
which is both a feast table and a worktable. We bring our humble offerings, the
selfless purity of our best and most hope-filled thoughts, our noblest
feelings, along with whatever amount of motive force we can muster. And Christ
adds His own healing will to them. This gives our offerings the upward thrust
and levity that allows them to rise up to the Father. Together the Father and
His Son transform our will offerings. They are returned to us as healing
medicine for our invalid souls, healing energy for a failing world.
So in the words of John O’Donohue:
May you find the wisdom to
listen to your illness:
Ask it why it came. Why it
chose your friendship.
Where it wants to take you. What
it wants you to know.
What quality of space it wants
to create in you.
What you need to learn to
become more fully yourself
That
your presence may shine in the world.[1]
www.thechristiancommunity.org
[1]
John O’Donohue, “A Blessing for a Friend on the
Arrival of Illness", in To Bless the Space between Us, p. 60
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