So we are surrounded, all of us, by people who are in
the situation of this paralytic man. If we think of ourselves we will see that
many of us are paralysed, incapable of fulfilling all their aspirations;
incapable of being what they longed for, incapable of serving others the way
their heart speaks; incapable of doing anything they longed for because fear,
brokenness has come into them.
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
How tragic today’s story of the life of Christ is. A
man had been paralysed for years. He had lain at a short distance from healing,
but he himself had no strength to merge into the waters of ablution. And no one
– no one in the course of all these years – had had compassion on him.
The ones rushed to be the first in order to be healed.
Others who were attached to them by love, by friendship, helped them to be
healed. But no one cast a glance at this man, who for years had longed for
healing and was not in himself able to find strength to become whole.
If only one person had been there, if only one heart
had responded with compassion, this man might have been whole years and years
earlier. As no one, not one person, had compassion on him, all that was left to
him – and I say all that was left to him with a sense of horror – was the
direct intervention of God.
We are surrounded by people who are in need. It is not
only people who are physically paralysed who need help.
There are so many people who are paralysed in
themselves, and need to meet someone
Paralysed in themselves are those who are terrified of
life, because life has been an object of terror for them since they were born:
insensitive parents, heartless, brutal surroundings. How many are those who
hoped, when they were still small, that there would be something for them in
life. But no. There wasn’t. There was no compassion.
There was no friendliness.
There was nothing. And when they tried to receive comfort and support, they did
not receive it. Whenever they thought they could do something they were told,
‘Don’t try. Don’t you understand that you are incapable of this?’ And they felt
lower and lower.
How many were unable to fulfil their lives because
they were physically ill, and not sufficiently strong… But did they find
someone to give them a supporting hand? Did they find anyone who felt so deeply
for them and about them that they went out of their way to help? And how many
those who are terrified of life, lived in circumstances of fear, of violence,
of brutality… But all this could not have taken them if there had been someone
who have stood by them and not abandoned them.
So we are surrounded, all of us, by people who are in
the situation of this paralytic man. If we think of ourselves we will see that
many of us are paralysed, incapable of fulfilling all their aspirations;
incapable of being what they longed for, incapable of serving others the way
their heart speaks; incapable of doing anything they longed for because fear,
brokenness has come into them.
And all of us, all of us were responsible for each of
them. We are responsible, mutually, for one another; because when we look right
and left at the people who stand by us, what do we know about them? Do we know
how broken they are? How much pain there is in their hearts? How much agony
there has been in their lives?
How many broken hopes, how much fear and
rejection and contempt that has made them contemptuous of themselves and unable
even to respect themselves – not to speak of having the courage of making a
move towards wholeness, that wholeness of which the Gospel speaks in this
passage and in so many other places?
Let us reflect on this. Let us look at each other and
ask ourselves, ‘How much frailty is there in him or her? How much pain has
accumulated in his or her heart? How much fear of life – but life expressed by
my neighbour, the people whom I should be able to count for life – has come in
to my existence?
Let us look at one another with understanding, with
attention. Christ is there. He can heal; yes. But we will be answerable for
each other, because there are so many ways in which we should be the eyes of
Christ who sees the needs, the ears of Christ who hears the cry, the hands of
Christ who supports and heals or makes it possible for the person to be healed.
Let us look at this parable of the paralytic with new
eyes; not thinking of this poor man two thousand years ago who was so lucky
that Christ happened to be near him and in the end did what every neighbour
should have done. Let us look at each other and have compassion, active
compassion; insight; love if we can.
And then this parable will not have been spoken or
this event will not have been related to us in vain. Amen.
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