“SEIZE THE MOMENT”

JOHN 5: 1-9

 

5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.

3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed waiting for the moving of the water;

4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred the water: whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. Top of FormBottom of Form

5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath.

 

Something about the man made him stand out from the multitude of blind, lame and paralyzed people crowded near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem that day. There were hundreds of people gathered there near the large pool described as being the size of field 100 yards long. And the people were all unhealthy, feeble and weak; some were deformed and others were maimed.

 

So this man in this story would have easily blended in with the crowd. His legs were crippled. He has been lying thirty-eight years on a grass mat next to the pool called Bethesda meaning House of Mercy. Think of it, thirty eight years, a life time in the ancient world. Each day he patiently waited, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. 

 

Now, Jesus on his way to Jerusalem walks through the masses who have gathered at the large pool. As Jesus walks among the sick he sees a man. And, there is something about the man that touches Jesus. The scripture tells us that the Lord knew the man had been there by the pool for a long time. As he makes his way among the multitude and approaches him, Jesus says  “Do you want to be healed.” 

 

It seems an odd question to ask considering the man is lying next to the very pool full of water rumored to have healing qualities. The man has heard the story of the mystery of the pool that every once in a while an angel of the Lord comes down and stirs up the waters with it’s wings, and whoever steps in first while the water is still moving will be made well.

           

So, of course he wants to be healed, and he tells Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”  In others words, Yes, I want to be cured but I can’t do it myself because when the waters are stirred everyone pushes and shoves to get there first, competing for the chanced to be healed.

But, his answer also makes me wonder what kind of person this man was that he had no family or friends, no one to care for him. Was he mean, was vicious, was he ornery, or was he just plain nasty?

            

Yet in a spontaneous and impulsive act of love and compassion Jesus says to the man, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk,” Just like that. Even this man, this outcast, this person with no family, no friends, a no body, was worthy of God’s healing love. He, like all of us, a beloved child of God. And so the man stood, took up his mat and walked away. After waiting thirty eight years for a miracle, he picked up his mat and walked away.

 

What is interesting to note is how unlike other miracles stories this one is.  In this miracle Jesus was a complete stranger to the man. He did not know who Jesus was or had any knowledge of his healing powers.  And, because he was so overwhelmed by his own healing, he doesn’t even stop to say thank you. He doesn’t fall to his knees or turn back to Jesus to tell him how grateful he was; he simply walks away.

           

I have to admit I can relate to this man. I know I have forgotten to thank the Lord for miracles I have experienced in my life such as the time I first held my baby daughter, Bethany, in my arms. As a new mother I was so overwhelmed and in awe of the miracle of her life, I completely forgot to thank God for the blessing. 

                       

            But I don’t think God waits to be thanked. I think God’s love is impulsive and spontaneous. Instead, I believe God wants us to act on God’s behalf.                       

            This reminds of a scene I witnessed recently.

           

Two Wednesdays ago as my friend Charlie and I were driving to the People’s Baptist Church in Boston on a field trip for school. We were heading down Tremont Street when we came to a stop light at a busy intersection. As we were waiting for the red light to change, we saw a woman in a wheel chair. I don’t know if you remember what that Wednesday was like but it was windy, cold and it was spitting rain. When we first noticed the woman she was trying to make her way across the intersection under her own power. As she tried to push the wheels on her chair with her hands to move herself diagonally across the street, the wind kept pushing her back.

           

In the meantime the lights kept changing and people in their cars were trying to get around her as she struggled against the wind. Then, suddenly a young man ran out to her. By that time she was in the middle of the intersection. We saw him ask if she needed help, she nodded yes, and then he pushed her to a cross walk and together they went to the other side of the street.

           

As we watched this scene from the car I said to Charlie, “Do you think that was a miracle? I think we just witnessed a miracle.”  He said, “If that's a miracle than we are all in trouble. If that is what we settle for as a miracle, something that we should all just do.”  But upon reflection I thought how much like the story of the healing at the pool it was. Like Jesus’ action in our scripture reading, this young man stepped out from the crowd as a stranger to help the woman in the wheel chair. The young man was moved by the same impulse of compassion that motivated Jesus and he reached out to help another human being.

           

Is it possible that miracles are about someone knowing when it is their moment to act?

           

So I began think about other ways people have known it was their time to act, their time to seize the moment. And I thought about Rosa Parks. It occurred in Alabama. She was just 42-year-old when she boarded the Montgomery City bus to go home from work on December 1, 1955.

           

She sat near the middle of the bus, just behind the 10 seats reserved for whites. Soon all of the seats in the bus were filled. When a white man entered the bus, the driver insisted that all four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the man could sit down.  An active member of the local NAACP, Rosa quietly refused to give up her seat.

           

Although she was influenced by previous civil rights involvement and a strong sense of justice, her action was spontaneous. "When I made that decision," she said later, “I knew that I had the strength of my ancestors with me.”

           

On that day she was arrested and convicted of violating the laws of segregation.  She appealed her conviction and challenged the legality of the Jim Crow laws. On that day, Rosa Parks seized her moment and because of her desire for justice she responded to what I call the impulse or her nudge from God. Her response helped to usher in a new era of freedom and equality for African Americans.

           

And, like Jesus, Rosa Parks, was not afraid to challenge authority. On the day Jesus healed the man, his act was seen as a challenge to temple authority. By acting on his impulse of compassion then performing a miracle, Jesus was perceived as breaking the rules of the Sabbath which leaded to his death on the cross.           

           

Sometimes I think we hesitate to act on our impulses for compassion and justice, doing God’s work in the world, because sometimes we are nudged to challenge the status quo and we are afraid how our action will be perceived and judged.

           

Jesus, Rosa Parks and the young man at the intersection in Boston responded to their impulse for compassion and justice, the same nudges that everyone one of us has felt at some moment in our lives. Perhaps it is God’s nudges that are our invitations to miracles. So, my challenge for all of us today is to seize the moment, respond in action to God’s nudges, for they may be our moments to be part of a miracle.

 

Katherine E. Pinkham

Sunday, May 9, 2010