Sunday of the Paralytic Man 2023

Peter H. Davids

Byzantine Catholic Homilies • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Our three narratives show that healing is mostly for evangelism, sometimes rejected, and always for the glory of God. That should guide us in our approach to healing in our day, as should the Apostle James, who grew up with Jesus.

Notes

Transcript

The Holy Apostle James, Brother of John the Theologian

Ambon Prayer 69

After Dismissal: priest "Christ is risen" faithful: "Indeed, he is risen" 3x, then Paschal Troparion DL 170 1x by priest and 2x by faithful

Title

Healing is for the Glory of God

Outline

All our readings are about healing today

Healing is a much discussed issue today

There are the discussions about whether healing should be natural or medical, whether it should be spiritual or simply physical, and the proper techniques for all of these.

But one issue which seems to drive all discussion is that healing is for me, whether it is the patient and their family and their desires or the physician and their reputation and their desires.

That is what these passages dispute

John describes Jesus healing at the pool of Bethzatha

The pool has been found in the proper quarter of Jerusalem

We are not told why Jesus was there, but he only addresses one man, a paralytic who had lain helpless for 38 years.

Jesus asks a diagnostic question: “Do you want to be healed?” The paralyzed man never answers it but rather gives excuses why he had not taken advantage of healing events in that pool.

Jesus does not stir up the water again but simply says, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” This makes it clear that he was doing the healing.

It is after this that we seem to get the purpose for the healing: the Jewish authorities find themselves in conflict between their interpretation of the Sabbath and the evident divine power that healed an incurable problem. And then healed man finds himself in tension between the wishes of the Jewish authorities to know who did this and Jesus’ cryptic “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” We are never told what sins Jesus was referring to, but it seems clear that reporting his name to the Jewish authorities was a new sin.

In other words, the healing was done to raise the issue of the authority under which Jesus functioned. This healing was to reveal the glory of God.

Now Peter is involved in two healings

The first, in Lydda, was of another hopeless case of paralysis, a man who may well have been Christian but perhaps was not. He does not ask for healing, but when Peter encounters him Peter says, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” The effect of the healing is mass conversion (in contrast to the man Jesus healed). It is the glory of God, in this case received.

A bit later Peter is called to Joppa where a saintly woman, Dorcas, has died. Usually Jews buried the dead within a day. But Christian Jews had never had a funeral before. They called for Peter to come. He comes, sees evidence of Dorcas’ saintliness, and then prays alone before the corpse - perhaps he needed divine direction as to what to do. Does one call a saint back from the presence of God? What would give glory to God in a way God wanted? Only then does he say, “Tabitha, rise.” She is suitably shocked and then acts modestly before Peter. We do not know what the believers thought, but we learn God was glorified: “many believed in the Lord.”

So what do we learn from these texts

Most healings in the New Testament are in evangelistic settings in which the reality of God’s power through a person or group and of the reality of his love are made known to people who are not yet believers. Healings authorize or endorse Jesus or his agents. Healings call people to faith. Of course they also set issues and therefore solidify some people’s rejection of the faith. They are for the glory of God.

Healings of believers require discernment. The person might glorify God by enduring suffering, they might be better off in the very presence of God, or they might be an evangelistic witness. As in James chapter 5 there is a need for prayer that gains the direction of God and therefore is prayed in faith and there is the need for the sacramental presence of Jesus through the means Jesus used: oil and apostles in James. God knows what will most glorify him, so do what he tells you.

Healing, then is complex, but the key throughout the Bible is that healing’s goal is to reveal God and get his purposes accomplished. If we keep that focus, we will not go wrong. It is not about me, it is about Him.

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 5-7-2023: Sunday of the Paralytic or Fourth Sunday of Pascha

EPISTLE

Acts 9:32–42

32 Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints that lived at Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed. 34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. 35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

36 Now there was at Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which means Dorcas or Gazelle. She was full of good works and acts of charity. 37 In those days she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him entreating him, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So Peter rose and went with them. And when he had come, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping, and showing coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them. 40 But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, rise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41 And he gave her his hand and lifted her up. Then calling the saints and widows he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 5-7-2023: Sunday of the Paralytic or Fourth Sunday of Pascha

GOSPEL

John 5:1–15

5 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. 5 One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk.’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) (4-30-2023: Sunday of the Paralytic or Fourth Sunday of Pascha)

SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 2023 | PENTECOSTARION

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 5-7-2023: Sunday of the Paralytic or Fourth Sunday of Pascha

SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC OR FOURTH SUNDAY OF PASCHA

Bright Vestments

Matins Gospel Luke 24:13–35

Epistle Acts 9:32–42

Gospel John 5:1–15

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