Sixth Sunday of Easter

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

I am going to begin my sermon with our gospel story. We hear about the pool of Beth-zatha in Jerusalem. It was believed to have magical powers. According to legend, now and then an angel would stir the waters of the pool. Whoever would enter the water first after that stirring would be healed.

Not surprisingly, many sick people gathered around this pool. They would lie under the five porticoes mentioned in the gospel, where they were protected from rain and sun. And they would wait. And wait. And wait. Wait for the water to be stirred. When that happened, I imagine, there was a race to see who could get into the water first. I picture this as a very sad sight. All those sick and crippled and handicapped people, struggling against each other to get into the pool first.

Think about what this competition must have done to the community of the ill. Instead of supporting one another, they see each other as competition. Everyone hopes to see the water stir when nobody else is looking. Everybody is scheming a way to beat the others in the race to the pool. What a sad affair!

Along comes Jesus. He walks among the sick and spots this man and somehow knows immediately that he has been there for a long time. 38 years in fact! He lay there longer than I have been married. I can’t even imagine lying there all that time in the fragile hope of the water being stirred.

Jesus ends up healing this man. Why this man? He had no qualities that would make him a deserving candidate for Jesus’ healing grace. This man is not particularly faithful. He doesn’t mention God at all, doesn’t know who Jesus is, and doesn’t even ask to be healed. There is no plea for mercy here. This guy just lies there like any other day in the last 38 years when Jesus decides to help him.

The man doesn’t change much after the healing, either, aside from the fact that he can now walk. When you look at the verses following our reading, you find out that even after being healed he doesn’t know Jesus’ name. When he finds out about it later, he goes and betrays Jesus to the Jewish authorities, who then raise a fuss because Jesus had healed on the sabbath.

So neither before nor after the healing does this man have any qualities that would invite Jesus’ attention and mercy.

Why, then, does Jesus heal him? Pure grace. Nothing but pure grace. Jesus loves him and heals him and invites him into the kingdom of God out of pure grace.

The only thing this man needs to do is trust this grace and let it guide him and move him and change him. I think that’s what is behind the question Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be made well?” On the surface, that seems to be a stupid question. Who wouldn’t want to be made well? Wasn’t that the point of lying there for 38 years?

However, think about what all would change for this man once he was healed: he couldn’t rely on alms anymore and would have to find work, for the first time in 38 years; he couldn’t blame others anymore for never having made it to the healing waters and for still being sick; he would no longer be able to lie around whining and complaining, but would actually have to do something with his life; he would no longer have the safety of the portico and the dysfunctional, yet familiar community, and would have to venture out into the world.

Jesus is very perceptive when he asks this man if he really wants to be healed. Do you want to be well? Are you ready for the change it will take, and the change it will bring? Can you let go of your superstitions, your hope in fake remedies? Can you leave behind life as you know it? Can you live out of the pure grace of God and adjust your life accordingly and claim the kingdom life Jesus is offering?

The man is healed. He is touched by Jesus’ grace and love. How much that experience changed him is questionable. Read the following verses in the gospel story and find out how this man has not learned much about God, about Jesus, or about life in the kingdom. Did he want to be made well? The answer was probably, “Yes, but.” Heal me but don’t change anything else. Make me feel better, make my life better, but don’t ask me to change.

Sounds familiar?

So much of what is amiss in the sick man’s life is amiss in ours, as well. So much of what hindered him to see the grace of God hinders us, too.

The man waited for the water to stir because he thought that’s where healing would come from. What kind of superstitions do we hold? What ill-placed hopes keep us back? What latest diet fad or self-help regimen or magic crystal or wonder-pill is getting our attention and distracting us from where healing can actually come from.

The man was blaming everything and everybody but himself for not getting better: the water wasn’t stirred often enough, too many people wanted to get in, other people crowded him out. It’s not his fault he is sick. He can’t do anything about it.

What do we blame for our being unwell? We feel the pressure of bills piling up, but do we make adjustments in spending and house-size and vacation plans that could ease that pressure? We are exhausted from running the kids to sports and band practice, yet we hesitate to opt out of that rat-race. We bemoan high gas prices and scary changes in our environment, but we are not adjusting our driving habits accordingly. I complain about gaining weight but still have chocolate in my desk drawer and enjoy my glass of wine in the evening.

Please, God, make our lives better, but don’t ask us to change. Yep, that’s us.

Jesus is asking us the same question he asks the man by the pool of Beth-zatha, “Do you want to be made well?” I can show you the way towards being well. Are you willing to make the changes it will take to get there? Are you willing to adjust your attitudes and life patterns in order to live a more wholesome, joyful life? Are you able to trust grace enough to try something new?

Hold that thought while we take a look at our reading from the Book of Revelation. John the Seer describes the heavenly Jerusalem. What a wonderful place that is! Here are some of the blessings John describes: God’s glory will fill the city with such bright light that sun and moon are no longer needed; God will be the light and Jesus will be the lamp and all nations will walk in that light together and in peace. The gates of the city will never need to be shut for there are no threats. All danger is gone. People no longer need to be afraid.

The river of the water of life flows through the city. At its banks grows the tree of life, producing fruit each month and offering its leaves for the healing of the nations. God and the lamb will sit on their thrones and all people will see them and bask in their glory and find healing and peace.

What a great vision indeed! Who wouldn’t want to live in such a city?

The common understanding of the vision of the city of God is that it is in heaven and that we go there after we die. However, that is not what John is describing in our Bible text. He actually sees the opposite movement. It’s not us going up to heaven, but it’s God’s city coming down to humans. Healing and peace, salvation and the presence of God are coming down to us. The light of the lamb shines upon us here. God’s kingdom city with its light and hope, healing and peace, safety and salvation is coming to earth. It is here now.

Jesus invites the man at the pool of Beth-zatha into that city of God. Through accepting and trusting Jesus’ grace, this man is given the tools to walk out of his old life into the life of shalom in God’s kingdom city. He is given the guidance and power to drop old patterns and attitudes and instead embrace the healing and peace offered him by Jesus Christ.

Jesus is making the same offer to us. Do we want to be made well? Will we embrace the grace of Christ and let it change us, so we can in turn change the world around us?

The man believed that the resources of healing were limited and that all the people around him were his competition, when actually Jesus’ healing grace has no limits. How would our lives be different if we could let go of thinking in terms of scarcity and instead trust the abundance God is promising? How would that affect our generosity, our attitude towards foreigners or the poor, our tax laws, our coherence as a community?

The man thought magically stirred water would heal him, when healing actually came to him through Jesus’ grace. How would our life, our church, and our community be different if we kept our focus on God’s grace; if we made grace the source of healing, the source for courage and energy to change, the vision that moves us ever closer towards the city of God.

We followers of Christ are gathered around water that truly heals: the water of baptism. We are gathered in a supportive community where we don’t compete for healing grace but share it freely and joyfully. We have responded to Jesus’ question, “Do you want to be made well?” with a resounding “Yes!!!” By the grace of the risen Christ, we are on the way toward healing and life in the city of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.