Shifting the Focus

AM Psalm 72 • PM Psalm 119:73-96
Jer. 3:6-18 • Rom. 1:28-2:11 • John 5:1-18

“Do you want to be made well?” The words of Jesus in today’s gospel are striking. Why ask such a thing of a paralytic who has waited for thirty-eight years to be cured from their paralysis, but cannot make it themselves? That is a question that cannot be answered, because we simply do not know.

Interpretations of this passage abound, placing the paralyzed man within mutually exclusive possibilities: He is seen as the epitome of patience in the face of suffering, or he is seen as the face of sloth and hopelessness who will not help himself. I am uncomfortable with the certainty of these proclamations, because the human experience is often weighed with more depth that these pithy visions of spirituality can offer for the sake of a sermon illustration.

This means I am left with more questions than answers. Why does Jesus ask the question if he wants to be made well? Why was the paralytic there, just out of reach of the curative waters that could help him for so long? Why would no one help him – and did the paralytic even ask for help? The scriptures are silent on this.

Where I am hesitant to speak authoritatively on the paralytic, I think it is easier to do so with what Christ does in this moment. When Christ performs the miracle upon the paralytic, he says that you are healed, and to sin no more.

Written by Nathan John Haydon

Nathan earned his PhD in English studying medieval literature and languages from the University of Arkansas. He’s an Episcopal priest, adjunct professor, Benedictine oblate, and a lover of cats and coffee. In 2021 he moved from Fayetteville, Arkansas to St Louis with his super smart scientist wife, Kathryn.