Sunday of the Paralytic 2025

Christ is risen. It's a joy to greet you with

that timeless phrase, that timeless confession

of faith, that timeless cry of victory. On Pascha,

of course we celebrated, we heard about, and

we sang about the resurrection over and over

and over again. Then that whole bright week that

was very much in our hearts and minds and in

our celebrations here at church. We get to St.

Thomas Sunday, and we heard Fresco up there to

remind you. We heard about Thomas and the apostles,

Thomas not being there, Thomas coming to faith.

Again, the church is giving us models, models

of belief. Models of celebration. And then last

week, we celebrated the holy Myrrh -bearing women

who came to the tomb at deep dawn. We remember

Joseph and Nicodemus who took care of Christ.

But this week, the church turns our focus away

from those events around the resurrection. John

highlights events that took place before the

resurrection from the Gospel of John in order

to teach us what it means to be in Christ, to

have been baptized, to be members of the Church.

If I were a Protestant, I'd say, what it means

to be saved. But of course, we have salvation

in three tenses. Christ has saved us by becoming

man. Dying on the cross and rising. Ascending

into heaven. Sending the Holy Spirit to us. We

are being saved because we live the life of the

resurrection. We receive communion. We receive

the Holy Spirit. And we will be saved on the

last day when we are raised up again and healed

and there is no more death. We've started that.

And now that's what these Gospels The paralytic.

There's the fresco back there, right by St. Vladimir

and Olga. You see the five porches and the pool

and the man carrying his bed. You see Christ.

And then next week is going to be the woman at

the well, the Samaritan woman. Guess what that

well looks like? Baptismal font. Week after that,

over here by Constantine and Helen. The man born

blind. And that crazy and insane conversation

that ensues with the Pharisees and the man who

ends up confessing Christ and worshiping him.

So these are scenes that happen. These are events

that happen before the resurrection. But they

tell us what baptism means. They tell us who

Jesus is. Both readings today, that of Acts and

that from the Gospel of John. Again, we're reading

Acts and John. all through this time until we

get to Pentecost. The readings are about being

raised from paralysis. What kind of paralysis

is very important? They are about being given

grace, about power, about faith, and the miracle

to walk in faith. The man took up his bed and

walked. Aeneas got up. Jesus said, and make your

bed. And walked. The woman, Tabitha, and I want

to greet especially today the nun Tabitha, Mother

Tabitha, on this occasion of this great miracle

which took place there in Lydda. And congratulate

her and ask God to bless her. So we hear in this

gospel that Jesus had come to his disciples,

with his disciples to Jerusalem to celebrate

the feast day. The gospel doesn't tell us what

feast day, but St. John Chrysostom, so you will

understand, says it's probably Pentecost. And

Jesus and his disciples are there. When we read

that, to me, one thing that tells us is that

demonstrates to all of us how important it is,

the Lord models it, to celebrate the feast days.

To participate in the feast days. These are our

patrimony. This is the gift from the thousands

of years of the church and before that the Jewish

covenant with God. The glory of the feast days.

Each one has its own grace, its own power to

heal. As the paralytic would discover, you don't

know what might happen. Stick around as... My

friend John Galuli tells me, Father Stefan Mahalik

says, stick around for the miracle. As Jesus

and his disciples are walking toward the temple,

they pass what our translators have called a

pool of water. You can see it there in that fresco.

I've been to Jerusalem, where that pool is supposed

to have been. This word in a form of ancient

Greek means a cleansing and healing bath, like

a warm mineral spring. We look at that fresco

and we read this gospel to see what this healing

is all about. Number one, when Jesus meets this

paralyzed man, he meets him in Jerusalem, in

the old covenant. Mount Zion, the holy temple,

established by God by his command. That was the

only place to meet God. That's where God chosen

people would gather to worship. And worship is

what? The offering of sacrifice there in the

temple. Every day. Every day. The morning sacrifice,

the evening incense. That's why we have vespers.

Right? The incense. The gladsome light, we light

the candle in the evening as the world is getting

dark. And here, in this place, in this temple,

this paralyzed man, having been there for 38

years, he represents all of us, doesn't he? All

of humanity. All the broken, the dying, the suffering,

the paralyzed. Not because of circumstances in

this case, but because of sins. All of us are

sick. All of us need healing. We all die. We're

cut off from life. Wasn't that the meaning of

death before Jesus Christ? Being cut off from

life. In the grave, says the psalm, who can say

alleluia? Will physicians come to raise you up?

No. The psalm is telling us it's the end of the

relationships. It's over. The paralytic was there

for 38 years. Remember what Jesus says, which

might sound interesting to us. This sentence,

he comes up to him and says, do you want to be

healed? Does a man say yes? Lord, please. No.

He plays the victim. At least that's my opinion

and some other interpreters. Lord, I don't have

anyone. To put me into the water. Angel comes

to his water. I can just sit here. 38 years this

is going on. Someone's feeding him. Or else he'd

be dead. Someone's taking care of him. Just hoping

that someday this is going to happen. But the

question rings out to us too. Do we want to be

healed? Or we just want a little bit of what

the church has to offer us? Or are we willing

to go? all the way in the walk with Jesus. This

38, well, this number is significant. St. John

in his gospel gives us numbers all the time.

It means something. He's not just throwing out

a number, you know, to remember it. No, we know

that the number 40 is a holy number. 40 years

in the wilderness, right? Jesus fasted for 40

days. Jesus, after his resurrection, was with

the apostles for 40 days. We have lent for 40

days. 40 is his time of preparation for a fulfillment,

for another time, for another gift, for something

else for us to be ready for and to do. 40 days.

But this man is two numbers short. 38 was the

number of years that Israel spent wandering in

the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt. Do

you remember why they were wandering? Because

of their faithlessness, because of their complaining,

because of their sin, constantly. So 38 tells

us that number is the rebellion against God.

I learned this recently. The number 38 is associated

with the Egyptian jackal -headed god of death,

Anubis. So 38 signifies not only rebellion against

God, but death. And what was Adam's sin in the

garden? Rebellion against God. And what was the

result of that sin? Not God saying, I'm going

to kill you. But when you... disengage from life,

you die. Because God is the only life giver.

This man's trial can't be completed without those

other two. He can't even be healed without the

two. And what are those two? Theanthropos. God

-man. Jesus Christ. Perfect God and perfect man.

And Jesus comes to the pool. Look at that fresco

again. Read that gospel when you get home. It

starts with these words. Jesus sees. He beholds

this man. He's looking for us all the time. This

is not about man's search for God. That man is

stuck at the pool for 38 years. He can't do a

thing. Jesus is searching. God is searching far

more for us than we can ever search for him.

He is always there. We began to believe in Jesus

Christ. Speaking of the newly baptized. We saw

something in him. We saw there was a way of life

that was different than the world around us.

We began to believe, not in an idea, but in a

person. Not a philosophy, which got us nowhere.

except into lots of arguments, but in Christ.

And we gained the eyes of faith. And then we

were healed in the pool of baptism. We were sanctified.

We were given the opportunity, everything we

need to be transformed, to have a change of life

as radical as that man, from 38 years to getting

up and walking. And then we live with the eyes

of faith. Brothers and sisters, what happened

to the paralytic after he was healed? He was

questioned. He was hounded. He was persecuted.

He was belittled and tempted not to trust Jesus

Christ, the same Christ who just healed him,

that he had experience of. Isn't that what the

fallen world is always doing to us? The prince

of this fallen world, the evil one, always giving

us these... Logis me these thoughts. Like Adam

and Eve, we just relive it over and over again.

Oh no, this is good. God is not telling you everything.

God is not fair. The church is backward. The

church is wrong. Don't put your trust in Jesus.

Don't believe what the church says. We're behind

the times. We're phobic about these people and

these people. Don't be confused, dear brothers

and sisters. Don't be derailed. It's a deep sorrow

to me when someone who is in the church feels

Christ is not enough. Christ and what the church

teaches and the wisdom that has made saints of

men, women, and children. For over 2 ,000 years,

it's not enough. It's a deep sorrow. Don't be

derailed. Don't be tempted by such voices. St.

Paul says, let God be true. And every man a liar.

Don't rely on the men of this world, the wisdom

of this world, of this age, to guide you, to

help you, to lift you, to heal you, to save you.

It won't. As Solomon says, trust in the Lord

with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding,

your thoughts. Don't believe everything you think.

In all your ways, submit that to him, and he

will make your path straight, and you will walk

upright with the Spirit of God. To our Lord,

who is risen from the dead, be glory and honor

now and ever to ages of ages. Christ is risen.