Loving God, we continue to look to you both for healing and for life.  By the power of your Spirit, lead us into the abundant life that only you provide, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            In the entire gospel of John, there are only three healing stories.  Today, we heard two of them, and we will hear the third story at the end of February.  The two stories that we heard today have many contrasts within them – including where they take place.

         In the first story, Jesus is back in Cana of Galilee – the place we visited a few weeks ago when Jesus turned water into wine.  You might recall that at the wedding in Cana, Jesus initially gave a bit of an odd response to his mother’s request for help (Jn. 2:4).  Well, the same happens here.  The man asks Jesus to heal his son, and Jesus’ response seems to be “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe” (Jn. 4:48).

         This man, however, obviously does believe, and repeats his request for Jesus to heal his little boy.  And Jesus simply says, “Go; your son will live” (Jn. 4:50) – and that’s all it takes to heal the boy.  Jesus speaks the word, and doesn’t even need to be in the same place as the sick child.  Jesus speaks, and life happens (workingpreacher.org).

         To return for just a moment to Jesus’ statement about signs and wonders, upon closer examination, it is intended for a much wider audience than just the royal official who is requesting healing.  For one thing, the statement uses plural forms of “you” that don’t show up in English.  The statement is, “Unless you (plural) see signs and wonders you (plural) will not believe.”  Signs and believing show up in other places in the gospel of John, as people follow Jesus around, not because they believe, but in the hopes of seeing “signs.”  

As it turns out, however, seeing signs and wonders does not necessarily lead to faith. The royal official and his entire household end up believing in Jesus after the miraculous healing of his son.  However, no such faith results in the second healing story, which is certainly no less miraculous.

In this case, we hear about a man who has been sick for 38 years.  We are not told exactly what his illness is, but from the details in the story, he is either lame or partially paralyzed.  When Jesus speaks with him, he is lying at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, which seems to be his only hope for healing.  In this case, it is Jesus who initiates the conversation and who asks the man if he wants to be healed.  The man’s response is to explain why he is still lying there after all these years.  Jesus, however, once again speaks, and life happens.  He says, “Stand up, take your mat and walk” (Jn. 5:8), and the man does so – as simple as that.

However, rather than leading to faith, this healing begins a Sabbath controversy with the religious leaders.  They ask the man, Who told him he could carry his mat on the sabbath, and the man doesn’t even know Jesus’ name.  Later, though, he meets Jesus in the temple and points him out to the religious leaders.  From this point on, we are told, they persecute Jesus and look for a way to put him to death.

For those of us who hear these stories now, we might be led to think of times when we have come to God for healing in the name of Jesus – either for ourselves, or for others.  Some of us might even have stories of miraculous healing – or, at the very least, of healing that is in answer to prayer.  However, many of us also have stories of when we have prayed for healing, and it has not happened – at least, not in the way that we would like.

The explanation for this – at least from some people – is that we obviously don’t have enough faith.  However, I don’t believe that this is true, or helpful.  The man who was lying by the pool does not seem to exhibit any sort of faith – and yet, Jesus heals him.  Perhaps Jesus was able to see both the fear and the isolation that this man had experienced.  He had nobody to help him get into the pool (or perhaps he was afraid to ask for help).  The other thing about this particular pool is that, although there were a few stairs in at least some locations, it was close to 100 feet deep.  Can you imagine going into water that deep if you are blind, lame, or paralyzed?  That, in itself, would be an act of faith.

In the end, it is not up to us to explain why some are healed, while others are not. Rather, we are invited to continue coming to the one who can speak life and healing into being – Jesus Christ our Saviour.  Amen.

Epiphany 5 (NL 4)                            John 4:46-54; 5:1-18

February 6, 2022

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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