Healed for Purpose
Easter 6
May 22, 2022
Fr. Tim Nunez
This Graduation Sunday morning we are blessed to have a Gospel passage about another graduation of sorts.
There are two primary issues afoot in this Gospel passage. First is the witness we see to restoration. This man has been laid up for some unspecified reason for 38 years. We must assume that over that time his limbs, especially his legs, must have atrophied. John is not specific as to how long he had been at the pool of Beth-zatha, or you may know it as Bethesda, but it appears Jesus picked him out from among the many who had gathered there to seek some healing effects from the waters, perhaps water aerobics although there is no mention of pool noodles, or perhaps aid from the crowds coming to the pool.
Surely someone had brought him to the pool, but when and why we don’t know. Maybe he was just there to beg. In any event, whoever brought him didn’t help him into the water. The point is that this man does not have capacity to help himself and no one is helping him. There is no mention of him asking Jesus for help, either. Jesus chooses him and asks him, “Do you want to be healed?”
That’s an important question. It seems obvious, but maybe he despairs of ever seeing change and by asking him Jesus generates a spark of hope that leads to faith. Then, without touching him and without further discussion, with a word of direction the man is restored. No physical therapy, no occupational therapy, he’s up and moving.
This presents several challenges to us. First, we must try and recognize what Jesus intends to restore in us and be willing to receive his blessing. What aspects of our being have been lying there, inert and atrophying? We know that if we don’t exercise our bodies and minds we lose strength in them – the same is true with our spirit, with our faith. If we are just here for a good word that’s like going over to the YMCA and watching others work out. There’s an element of desire that is necessary.
Think about that with regard to our graduates. Most of them were raised in this church and have been to our children’s and youth programs. Many have been to Camp Wingmann and the Care Center’s Stay at Home Work Camps, and they’ve heard or at least been in the room for many sermons. Hopefully over time their faith has matured.
But here’s the thing: You don’t stop learning when you finish school. Whether you are graduating from high school or college or finishing an advanced degree, whatever your next steps will be, you have to keep learning, gaining experience and honing your skills in whatever you plan to do. And you have to want it.
Once upon a time you sat in a Sunday school class and got basic descriptions about Jesus and other Biblical figures and their stories which were age appropriate. But you aren’t 9 anymore. Don’t expect to go through your lives with a 4th grade understanding any more than you do anything with a 4th grade understanding. While it is on one level as simple as Jesus loves me, your faith is also deep and rich, many of the greatest minds in the history of the world spent their lives plumbing its depths. There are many hard issues, many hard questions that require study and contemplation and prayer. Too often people run into challenges and say, “Oh well, what I learned in Sunday school isn’t holding up to this, so it must not be true.”
That’s too common but it’s silly. What else won’t hold up to a 4th grade understanding? We can make a list pretty quickly. Electricity is one. How about driving? Money. Marriage. Parenting. Music. Baseball. Trust. Pain. It would be easier to make a list of what does hold up, and that list will most likely be mostly basic character issues like sharing and caring that are rooted in faith. It’s not that what you knew as a child is wrong, stuff is just deeper and more complicated. Your faith meets all of that head on, so work at it.
And as you grow in your knowledge and love of Christ you gain in your capacity to be and agent of that sort of healing grace with people around you. May you could help someone get down into that pool to start building their strength or, by a word of encouragement, help them get up and walk.
Another issue that lingers here is potential.
Graduates, a brief confession: I see the goodness in each of you and I marvel at you. Sometimes when I say such things your parents protest a bit. So, yes, I have an idealized view of each of you. I don’t know what trouble there may have been, the arguments with your parents, mistakes, struggles, period of difficulty etc. But that is part of growing up and we cannot separate you from you. I see the best of your hearts and your abilities.
It’s like watching Amelia sprint across the courtyard. Yeah, she’s late, but she’s here and she’s serious about serving, she really cares about not letting us down. Or Landon, who at several points has given me the impression that he’s just over it – whatever “it” may be. But then I watched how he dealt with customers at the theater and how his manager told me, “He’s a great kid.” Emma, your mom has only given us your highlight reel on Instagram, but whatever the ups and down have been, you’ve managed to handle a move in the middle of high school and a pandemic with apparent grace and achievement.
And to talk about potential, I turn to Mitchell: Mitchell is a fine student and he has played football and became a champion at weight lifting. So, Mitchell, compare today to 9th grade. You are not the same guy today that you were then. You are smarter, bigger, faster, and a bit wiser. All of what you are today was there in 9th grade Mitchell, but only as potential. It had to be brought forth. in a lot of ways, studying, conversations with friends and family, a lot of sweat and strain in the gym, especially when you weren’t feeling like it. There was a good deal of physical pain, some losses and disappointments, injuries, coaches pushing you past what you thought you could do. All of who you are today was exercised and built over time.
But there is more to it than that the incremental effort. Some of that is just biological maturation. A lot of our genetic code is latent potential that doesn’t emerge unless and until circumstances really require it, provoke it, push it – like stress, strain, studying a hard subject, grief and so on cause those latent genes to get busy. Then it’s like we level-up like in a video game: for what?
Jesus did not heal this man to impress a small crowd. He healed him to live. We don’t hear the rest of this man’s story, but he clearly stepped into a new life. Suddenly he has a full range of opportunities to actually do things. Maybe it’s hard to fully appreciate that unless you’ve been in such a condition that you can’t. But this guy can now work, he can accomplish things. He’s of some use and good to others. We focus on the fact that he can walk but what does this open up for his mind and his spirit? This opening of new life demonstrates the Kingdom of God as that time and place where all of God’s people are restored.
And Jesus has brought you to this point in part to set you up for purposes that will challenge and grow you for the Kingdom.
AMEN!