Christ is Risen!

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When we are ill it is normal to seek healing, and healing will often involve getting help from other people. If the illness is not serious, for example a cough or a cold we might go to bed, get some rest and let the illness take its course. We might drink herbal tea. We might get some medicines from a pharmacist which ease the symptoms or speed up recovery. Sometimes we will need to speak to a doctor or nurse. Prayer is also important as we recognise that the true source of all healing is God himself.

The paralysed man in today’s Gospel reading believes he has no one to help him. His hope for healing lies in getting into the pool of Beth-za’tha while the water of the pool is disturbed, but his state of health means he can’t move quickly enough and others block his way. He has relied on his own efforts without result. Jesus simply asks him “Do you want to be healed?” The answer the man gives tells us that he does want to be healed, but that by his own efforts he recognises this is impossible. Once he stops relying on himself and puts his trust in Jesus he receives healing.

The paralysed man’s healing is not just physical but also spiritual. After he is healed he encounters Jesus as second time when Jesus tells him “See you have been made well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befalls you”.

We are all in need of spiritual healing. We commit sins and this leads to spiritual sickness. To receive healing we have to recognise our sickness, to understanding that the way we live does not lead to spiritual health, that we need to repent of our sins and to seek forgiveness from God, from our brothers and sisters and from the whole of creation. We approach Holy Communion “for the forgiveness of sins”, so we need to repent and ask for forgiveness from God before we approach the chalice and we need to be reconciled to our brothers and sisters (Matthew 5:23-24). This is why before we receive communion we make the sign of the cross recalling that Christ died on the cross for us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) and bow towards the altar, the throne of God asking for forgiveness and then bow towards the congregation asking for their forgiveness.

Communion is not a reward for the perfect, but medicine for the sick; we draw near to Christ, not because we are deserving of a place near to him but because like the woman with the haemorrhage (Luke 8:43-48) we need to be close to him because we need healing. Sometimes we need to examine our spiritual aliments in confession and receive advice and encouragement from our spiritual father. It is sometimes easier to recognise our errors than it is to accept that we have been forgiven. Sometimes if we have been sick for a long time, it’s hard to readjust to a healthy life. This lies that behind Jesus’ question “do you want to be healed?” The paralysed man must undoubtedly had a hard life and being crippled for thirty eight years, it must have been hard for him to even imagine what life would be like if he was healed, yet when he was offered healing, he didn’t hesitate.

We are not alone in our spiritual sickness, even though we may feel that we are, and we do not need to rely on our own efforts. We should instead be open to help from whatever source God may send; encouragement in prayer, Bible reading, the lives and prayers of saints, other members of our community, the sacraments, glimpses of the Kingdom of God in our daily life and struggles. In this way instead of being like the paralysed man before he met Christ, unable to do anything to help ourselves we will be open to receive healing from God, to get up from our sick bed and make a new start, filled with love of God and for one another.

Amen

Given by Subdeacon Jacob