Today we hear how Christ greeted the paralytic with these challenging words: “do you want to be made well?”
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How can you tell someone wants to be made well? Here are some indicators:
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Do they admit that they have a problem, if so – do they diagnose it correctly? I am sure you know people who do not want treatment for the underlying cause of their illnesses, only for its more bothersome symptoms. This is very tempting for us – our egos are very strong (as is the fear that feeds them). But it is something that must be overcome. If we do not deal with the root cause of our problem, then we are just waving smoke away from the fire that is consuming us. The person who wants to be made well seeks for the true cause of their illness.
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Does the person seek out the care of experts to diagnose their illness and then set out a path to wellness? Many illnesses are cannot be self-diagnosed; even with the help of Google and the internet, we need someone who is both objective and informed to diagnose and treat us. Ideally, this person will be more than just an expert, but someone who is really committed to us and to our healing. It is hard to admit that we need someone else’s help; it may be just as hard to find someone we can trust. These two issues become entangled as we are tempted to use someone’s alleged lack of qualifications or compassion as an excuse to avoid accepting their treatment. The person who wants to be made well seeks out the guidance of a good physician.
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Once they have received a reliable path to wellness, do they follow it? This is where the rubber really meets the road: it is hard to take people seriously when they are sick and refuse to take the steps necessary to become well. But this happens all the time. The person who wants to be made well follows the treatment of their physician.
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The paralytic really wanted to be healed and he was healed. But there are two lessons Christ is giving us from these encounters with the paralytic.
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The first is that it is Christ’s plan to heal us all. We read this Gospel during the Paschal season to remind us of this fact: we will all be raised up in the last day. Our new “resurrection bodies”, will be improved versions of the ones we have now. Free of disease and breakdown. Christ has told us that he will do this and he has demonstrated his power to make it so. But the healing of our bodies is only part of what he is telling us today.
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The second part is that it is much easier to heal a body than it is to heal a soul, but that the soul is the thing in greater danger. This is why he ends his encounter with the former paralytic by saying ; “Sin no more, lest something worse befall thee.” [Note the seriousness of this warning – Christ knew the suffering involved with being bed-ridden for 38 years!]
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So when it comes to this far more dangerous illness, Christ asks us again whether we want to be made well. [As we learned last week] Christ is as much our Great Physician as he was for the paralytic. Even more (“more and greater things than this…” St. John 12:12 – a prophecy on the strength of the Church): our encounters with him are iterative. He is the head of the Church and it is the place of our healing. So let me go through the steps once again:
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Do we admit that we have a problem? Do we diagnose it properly? Do we prefer treating symptoms to treating the underlying disease? If our egos get in the way of physical sickness, they do so more for spiritual ones: in fact, Christ teaches us in no uncertain terms that the strength of the ego is a sign that the sickness has all but destroyed our souls!
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Example of person who only wanted to treat symptoms: marriage help. [gist is that he didn’t want to deal with the underlying problems in the marriage, but only wanted her to stop some behaviors he didn’t like]
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Do we seek out the care of experts to diagnose us and give us treatment? Christ is the Great Physician. He is clear in describing the first steps for healing are souls: give your life to him completely. Submit to his care. Admit your need for him and accept him as your physician and savior. Then [expound on these] 1) follow a prayer rule for daily private prayer. Start with the prayers he has written for us in our prayer books. 2) repent of our sins both in private (daily) and in public (i.e. before a priest) 3) train our bodies and quiet our minds so that we can ignore the distractions of our thoughts and emotions and live a life in selfless service to others. 4) Live a godly life in your family, your community and (especially) in the Church [describe how the parish – the fullness of the Church – is the context and mechanism of our salvation].
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- Far too many people are sick, but either reject the competency of Christ to treat them, or reject His diagnosis and cure. (example from “The Training of an Exorcist” – the basic idea is that people reject the Church’s treatment in favor of others that are less demanding and (sometimes) more exotic)
Christ is here. He knows us, he knows our pain, and he desires to heal us. This is His hospital. He has described our disease and he has prescribed the treatment. So now it is up to us. Which takes us back to the beginning of his conversation with the paralytic, only now he is asking it of us;
“Do you want to be made well?”
