The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect
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HOU art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity …..(Habakkuk 1:13a)
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ND he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. 2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. 3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? 5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? 6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 7 And he arose, and departed to his house. 8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. (Matt 9:1-8)
There may appear a seeming impasse for imperfect children of God in this prayer, but it is only apparent and not real. How can those imperfect professors of Christ please God in their imperfections when God cannot look upon the slightest sin and wickedness, especially in view of this fact: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) If we had continued reading in Romans 3, we would have read that it is righteousness by Faith in Jesus Christ by which we are all justified. God the Father views us in light of the imputed righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ! It is our faith, dictated by God’s elective grace, that brings us into that covering of Grace for all our sins.
O GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee So, apart from Christ, there can be no salvation. Without Christ, there is no reconciliation of the sinner to the terms of justification and salvation to God. We must have that nature and mind that was in Christ imparted to our own natures and minds. Even the will to do good cannot exist in a heart that does not belong to God. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin. (Proverbs 21:4) Though our pride and vanity are our ancient stumbling blocks to keep us from righteousness, even the small things of life that seem good are not so with God. Now, I am sure you will agree, the plowing of a field seems to be commendable labor. It certainly is so in the eyes of men, but to God, even that seeming good thing is sin when performed by those who are not of the household of God and who harbor wickedness in their hearts.
Doubt not! All who are depending upon their own righteousness are wicked. Every heart born into the world needs a purifying and cleansing purge. That purge is Christ and His shed blood! So the Collect opens with a profound truth upon which the petition that follows in good order is contingent – we are not good without the goodness of God. Our good works are not our own, but His who died for us and MADE us into the sons and daughters of God.
Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts Even our rudimentary petitions must start, not with our own worth, but MERCY – and that mercy is of God to us. The very services that we perform out of love to God and man are not ours, but result from that MERCY of God through the efficacious workings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Why is this so? Because even that love we demonstrate to others is borrowed and not our own – it comes from God in His Mercy. Remember those Tables of Law written in Stone? Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (2 Corinthians 3:3-5) This is, indeed, good news to the saved. We are not perfect in our ways, and we KNOW it! But God has imputed a love of righteousness in our hearts that causes us to obey His Law of Love. We know that our righteousness falls far short of God’s standard, but our love of God, and His Son Jesus, will bring us to obedience in the things of the law. Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. (Proverbs 10:12) How many sins will love cover? All sins!
Now you may smugly satisfy your ego that you have such an abundance of love that your sins are all covered, right? Wrong, it is not your own love that covers all of your sins, but the Love of Christ that has covered all sins – and He broadcasts that Love into the hearts of those who know Him as Lord and Savior. Does this truth make the Law of none effect? Not at all, but it makes it a greater joy to please and obey God out of our gift of Love than from the uncompromising restraint of Law written on Tables of Stone.
We see in the latter part of the petition of this Collect an acknowledgment that our obedience and goodness are not native to the human heart, but directed by the Holy Spirit that rules in every heart born of God.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Were our petitions of imputed righteousness based on any name other than that of the One who paid our sin-debt, our prayer would fall on the bleak ground of our own helplessness. It was Christ who bought us, and it is in Christ’s name by which we ask the blessing. Are you good? “There is none good but God!”
The Gospel for the day echoes the grace represented in our Sunday Collects. The man afflicted with the palsy was unable to come to Christ just as many in the dark and far-flung lands of wilderness countries are kept from coming by lack of knowledge and preaching. They must be brought by other caring souls to Him. Bringing others to Christ is not a private matter, but a function of the mission of the Church. Carrying a litter, as these men of today’s Gospel did, bearing a disabled friend, requires a coordinated effort. All who carry a litter must bear the equal weight of the four corners of the litter. If one relaxes his grip, the victim falls to the ground. Like so with the Church and her missions. One must prepare and train the missionary, another must share the burden of costs, and the other must do the travel. Many hands are involved in the delivery of the Gospel to those who sit in darkness on foreign shores.
Another cardinal point of today’s Gospel is the fact Jesus knows the innermost thoughts of our souls – sometimes even before WE know them. He has the authority to forgive sins, and He has power to heal the bodies that He has made for us. And when He commands any to arise, that person cannot resist that irresistible grace of His command and Voice. If you are a disciple of Christ, and Andrew must have brought you to Him at some point. Perhaps it was your parents, a friend, or a caring stranger. As it is written:
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10:13-15)
HOW?
Sermon
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FTER this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. 11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. (John 5:1-16)
Jesus has gone up to Jerusalem at the feast of the Jews. This feast is considered, by most traditional Bible scholars, to have been the Passover. I concur in the view of these. That feast must surely have been the Passover. It is very appropriate that He be present at EVERY Passover, for He has become our Great Passover and the Lamb Without Blemish slain on the Eve of His last Passover on earth. The sheep market was just outside the gate of the Sheep Gate referred to in Nehemiah 3:1. It is altogether appropriate that Christ should come to that Gate on the eastern walls of Jerusalem for He is our Lamb of Sacrifice and the Sun of righteousness which shall arise (from the East) with “Healing in His wings.” (Malachi 4:2) Moreover, it is a lovely place to which He has come (the Pool of Bethesda) which, interpreted, means House of Mercy. Christ, thanks be to God, is our Bethesda – our House and Ark of Mercy. When we come to this pool for the healing of our souls, the moment of our visitation and healing is altogether dependent on the discretion of Heaven and not our own. We patiently await the movement of God in the things we need for His timing will always be the perfect moment to answer our prayers.
“After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” Christ “went up to Jerusalem” to this Passover. If we will go up to the Passover of our souls, we must arise from our common labors and be about – not our own devices and pleasures – but the work of our Father in Heaven. The direction to the Narrow Gate is always upward.
“Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.” The Lamb of God comes to this sheep market place. You and I were these sheep without a shepherd until that Lamb came to us, knowing our hurts and needs as One like unto us, and became the Great Shepherd of His sheep. We waited alone in the market place, being bought and sold by men, until Christ came and laid claim to His sheep. There at the Sheep Gate, though a place of barter of souls, yet there is also a House of Mercy (Bethesda) into which we may run as shelter from having our souls sold out by the world. But we enter that House on the terms of God and not on those of our own making. “…whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.” Do you not find great consolation in the term “whosoever.?” We know immediately that ‘whosoever’ can mean you and me as well. All we need do is come to the House of Mercy and wait upon the provision of God to heal all our wounds.
Now comes another term different from ‘whosoever’ for it points to a definite identity: the word here that I love is ‘certain.’ “And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.” This is no ‘certain man’ by accident, but a certain man whom Christ has come to visit by His own choice – just like you and me who have been blessed to encounter Christ as His ‘certain men and women, boys and girls.’ We laid our souls by the House of Mercy and at our Time of visitation, He came to us. Now, to know this beautiful truth beautiful truth fills my heart with a burning love and gratitude to that Dispenser of Pure Grace called My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Though our souls feel to be at the very center of the Wilderness as was poor Hagar, the Lord sees us. She called the Fountain where the Angel of the Lord found her, The Well Of The Living One Who Sees Me (Beerlahairoi). (Gen 16:13-14) What beautiful strokes of vivid color does the Master paint upon the canvas of our lives? “When Jesus saw him lie” yes, and not just at this moment, but for all the years of the man’s misery!
“When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?” Is this not a very simple question, and does it need an answer? Yes, even though it is the greatest desire of the afflicted man, he MUST answer this question just as you and I must answer it for the healing of our souls. Being made whole is much more than a healing of our physical ailments, but a wholeness in body, soul, and spirit. Our most grievous affliction is our sin before God. It is this affliction that will bring not only physical death, but eternal death without the Grace and Mercy of God.
Of course, the man desires to be made whole, but there is no help forthcoming from any other than Christ. The healing of the leprosy of sin cannot be healed by man. “The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” Many times even the disciples tried to step in between Christ and those wanting mercy, but Christ would not allow it. He suffered the little children to come unto Him, the blind Bartemeus, and the woman from the coast of Tyre and Sidon over the objections of those closest to Him. No man can prevent our access to Christ!
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. Why wallow in our misery while Christ is near? Why slumber on the water’s edge when the Water of Life stands at the ready to lift us in? It is not a request that we rise up and walk, but a command! If we possess the sure mercies of David, why linger fasting in the Wilderness. We should not only walk where we were unable in times past, but carry our beds as well in doing good and serving others. And to what result? “And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath.” Don’t we see that this poor man, though carrying his bed, had complete rest on this Sabbath Day? His Eternal Sabbath was realized in Christ!
Guess who is watching and burning in wrath and malice? “The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.” These men were more concerned about prying particulars than they were about life and healing and truth – as always. This man answers that he cares not about the violation of one of their onerous mandates, but he does care that the Lord has healed him.
“Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.” Jesus may not choose to reveal Himself to us in the crowds, but in a place apart. It is not the influence of the multitudes that bring us to Christ, but Christ Himself. “Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” After finding our wounded persons on the Road to Jericho, and healing us to wholeness, the Lord next finds us in His holy Temple which is the heart in which He resides. He will most often reveal Himself to us behind those closed chambers of our hearts. His counsel to the man to “sin no more” is ample evidence that the man was forgiven his sins as well as healed physically.
The man now understands the depth of his healing because he has come to know the greatness of his Redeemer. “The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.” Please note that it was the crippled man who carried his bed on the Sabbath – not Christ. It is for the goodness of His healing the desperate cripple alone that prompted these murderous vultures to desire to kill Christ.
My friend, if you have been found by the wayside of the traffic of life by the loving Savior, have you heard His voice and responded to His invitation. “Wilt thou be made whole?” If so, why linger beside the pool at Bethesda without getting up? Why not take up your former prison (bed), and walk as a new creature in Him who has made you whole? Do so today!
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