“Now that day was a Sabbath.”
The Bible lures our eyes and ears to that last phrase, like a candle on top of a birthday cake. Up to the point that we hear what day this is, this seems to simply be a nice story about Jesus’ ability to heal. But, once the mention of the Sabbath day is thrown in, it causes us to do a double take and look at the story again, because the second time around, the story seems to be more than just a healing story. The story may actually have some importance to our own lives as we walk with Jesus Christ.
Now, before we delve into the story yet another time, I want to tell you about the first time that I remember hearing this story in church. My childhood pastor read this story out of an old picture Bible, explaining the story as he went along. He talked about how these five porticos, these five porches with columns, were filled with crippled, hurt, and ill people in the same way that his hometown, downtown, Chicago church housed the crippled, hurt, and ill under their marble columned porch.
He also talked about the tragedy of the sick man who, for thirty-eight years, was never able to reach the waters in time to be healed. You see, as the legend goes, an angel would descend on the waters, stirring up the waters, and the first person to set foot in these stirred waters would find their healing.
But, tragically, this man was unable to walk well, and others were always able to get to the waters first. Day after day, he would see others find their healing. Day after day, he would not be able to reach the healing waters in time. Day after day others would simply step over him and receive what he desperately wanted. Day after day, he failed to gain a turn at divine mercy.
I think that the telling of the story was probably the first time that I ever cried in church. As an early elementary student, I knew what it was to not be the fastest kid in the class, not by a long shot. I knew intimately what it meant to always be behind everyone else, and to never get the prize. And, the fact that no one seemed to care about this poor soul touched me deeply.
But, to hear that there was one person who noticed, one person who cared, one person who healed the man even though he was not the fastest or best also touched me beyond what words can describe. But, if I were to try and describe it, it would probably be something like “hope.” How many impossible standards do we put on ourselves as kids to be the fastest and the smartest and the bravest, and the what-ever-est? How many of us dreamed of the blue ribbon that we were never able to get?
Years later, I was shocked to find out that the guy who got all the blue ribbons, who seemed to be the fastest and strongest, the guy who quarterbacked our football team in High School, that he too always felt little and weak You see, he was never able to deliver the team to a championship. And, the moans from the crowds at his mistakes reinforced just how small he felt.
But here is this story where all of us who have ever felt “less-than” can clearly see that less-than, disabled guy, who would never be able to be the fastest and best, somehow got Jesus’ undivided attention. He just got it. No championships required.
“Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.”
The story is simply beautiful. Jesus, the shepherd by the “Sheep Gate” as the Bible locates this story in Jerusalem, is the shepherd who never forgets his sheep. Even the invalids, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed are not ever lost from Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep.
Now, I would like to point out one thing in the story that is so obvious that we probably do not even stop to think about it. The man tragically tells Jesus that he has no one to put him into the pool when the water is stirred up. He is utterly alone. He is utterly unable to heal himself. He cannot be healed the way he had hoped. He cannot be healed the way he had always believed that it needed to be done.
How many times do we seek to heal ourselves in the wrong ways? How many times to we stare at magical pools when we should be staring at Jesus Christ? How many of us are lured by the healing we think we will find in substances, or comfort food, or any other path that seems to always lead to our destruction? How many of us strive to find healing in the wrong things?
Notice that Jesus does not stop, pick up the man, and bring him down into the waters. Again, this is so obvious that we probably do not even notice, but it is not in the waters where the man finds his healing and his wholeness. It is not the pool of water that he stared at for thirty-eight years which brought him healing. He had been staring at the wrong thing and had put his hope in the wrong thing for thirty-eight years.
Thank be to God that even when we stare at the wrong thing, Jesus still stares at us. It is not the stirred water that heals the man, it is Jesus.
And, it was done on the Sabbath.
Again, this statement looms over everything that is happening in the story. All of this healing happens on the Sabbath. Jesus shows up to heal on the Sabbath. Maybe, just maybe, the Bible is trying to impress upon the followers of Jesus Christ that there is something very essential to our lives of faith that needs to be happening on the Sabbath?
Remembering those who are invalid, and blind, and lame, and paralyzed, and ill, and unable to move forward in life seems to be an essential part of what the Sabbath is to be about. Jesus remembers those in need on the Sabbath. Jesus comes to them on the Sabbath. And, Jesus heals on the Sabbath.
If I were made Pope of the entire church on earth, which would likely be a big mistake on the part of the entire church on earth, but if I were, there are two things that I definitely would make a part of the essential rituals to be done of the Sabbath. The first would be to have a meal together that feeds anyone and everyone who seeks to be fed and gives drink to anyone and everyone who seeks to have a nourishing taste of clean, clear water. After-all, clearly in the scriptures, Jesus feeds the five thousand and Jesus provides the water that allows us to thirst no more. That is my first act as Pope.
But, the second essential ritual that I would enact would be the ritual inspired by this story from the Holy Scriptures: Remembering the ill, the differently-abled, and the forgotten; visiting them, praying for them, seeking healing from Jesus for them, and supporting them in any way possible. Because, there is just something about this story of being remembered and healed that can bring a tear to the eye of even a small child.
It was on a Sabbath day that Jesus brought healing, after-all. And, today is a Sabbath day for us Christians. And, I do not need to be a Pope to preach this gift of Jesus to the world. So, I ask you: who will you remember today? Who will get a visit from you and Jesus? Who will finally be remembered and loved? Who will be made well because they saw Jesus and his people?
And, then they will say: “Now that day was a Sabbath!”
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