Fourth Sunday after Pascha – Sunday of the Paralytic; The Holy Apostle James, Brother of Saint John the Theologian (c. 44) Polyeleos Feast.
Acts 9:32-42; Acts 12:1-11; John 5:1-15; Luke 5:1-11.
Read John 5:1-15
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
“Does Jesus really see me? There are 8 billion people and so much is going on – does He really want to be involved in what I am going through?”
At the Beth-za′tha pool in Jerusalem there lay “a multitude of invalids” waiting interminable stretches of time in discomfort only for a moment of sudden competition to be the one healed. But “one man was there;” “Jesus saw him and knew.” Jesus didn’t need to ask the man if he needed help. Instead, He asked the man the far more penetrating question of what he wanted. The man’s answer made it clear that he would never get it without help.
Jesus’s response, emphasized in the conversation afterward, is reminiscent of the healing of the paralytic in Matthew: “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he then said to the paralytic – “Rise, take up your bed and go home.” From the verses following our reading, Jesus clearly intended this event to reveal Himself as both Lord of the Sabbath and the forgiver of sins, thereby setting up the showdown with the Pharisees that would lead to His crucifixion.
Jesus is always asking us, in our heart of hearts, what do you really want? He reveals Himself as the risen and ascended Lord. His gaze cuts through every crowd and sees each person, all day, every day. He wants to intersect for His purposes with what we want. We have only to answer His question, “Do you want to be healed?”