Christ is Risen!!!
This Sunday the Holy Church celebrates the healing of the paralytic by the Lord. Today, the Holy Gospel tells us how the Lord came to the sheep’s pool, the place where a multitude of the sick awaited the descent of the angel and the stirring of waters in order to be healed, being the first to enter the waters at the time of their moving.
Having come to the pool, the Lord sees there a man who lay there for thirty-eight years, being paralyzed and having no man to help him be first to enter the waters. Having asked him whether he desires to be whole, the Lord tells him to stand up, take his bed, go and sin no more.
It is imperative that we pay attention to the fact that the Lord, before healing him, asks the paralytic whether he wants, whether he desires to be healed, to be whole. From this is clearly seen that He will neither heal, nor save anyone against his will or – if you will permit – without his participation. All of the holy fathers teach us that the Lord, alone, without us, will not save us. They teach us that even if the great saints, even the most pure Mother of God herself, will pray for us, and yet we, in repentance, will not ask the Lord to save us, He will not. That is why we ourselves must learn, and teach our children, always to seek the kingdom of God, with our whole soul to thirst for righteousness and salvation.
The reply of the paralytic – Lord, I have no man to help me enter the waters and be healed – helps us fathom the meaning of the incarnation of God the Word much more profoundly. The Son of God, the pre-eternal God, becomes a Man and comes to the paralytic, He Himself becomes his Helper. How great is the love of the Lord toward mankind! How great is His humility! Unlike His angel, the Lord does not stir the waters, but revealing His divinity, heals the unfortunate man by His word.
Every one of us is in need of healing from the terrible paralysis: the paralysis of the soul. But alas, by far, not everyone desires such healing, and many altogether refuse to admit that they are sick in soul. At the same time, which one of us always loves to pray? Which one of us always prays with attention? Which one of us always loves his enemies and his neighbors as himself? Which one of us always loves the truth and always keeps the Lord’s commandments? …The answer is apparent: all of us are sick, all of us need healing!
Let us, therefore, brothers and sisters, desire true healing and salvation! Let us cry out to the Lord from the depths of our souls! May the Lord, Who for our sake became incarnate, suffered, and rose from the dead, come to us as He did to the paralytic, and by His word, save us. Amen!
Priest Viatcheslav Davidenko