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?” 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.”
In North America it is very hard to understand helpless and I would even go so far as to say that we deny it. We are a technocratic-can-do society. This is a double-edged sword. We have been blessed to have the resources to accomplish audacious goals such as walk on the moon. This is due to the Providential hand we have been dealt inasmuch as in comparison to most of the world we rarely suffer from drought, civil war, external aggression or widespread disease. We have "disposable" income, most do not live hand to mouth. This has led, in a large part, to a distancing from God and our dependence upon Him. There are few houses in which this can be read on a computer that cry out to God to send rain, stop fire, keep the tribal wars from reaching our huts, or heal the sore on a leg.
Our sense of independence seems most prevalent in our health care. There is little that science has not attempted to manipulate, alleviate or replace. This past week we saw in the States the first full-face transplant. We use pig parts in our hearts, harvest organs from donors and grow our own cells in other species. I do not bring this up to discuss ethics. I mention this to show the degree we can and do go in North America to alleviate the helplessness and dependence on anyone one or anything but ourselves.
How many can say "I have no one to help into the pool?" Few I would argue. We have hidden the fact of our dependence behind our creativity and intelligence. We have been endowed with powerful tools, but they only work if the Creative Force (God) who designed the system we are trying to manipulate allows it. Yes? In our readings today God points out our inability to stop being faithless to Him and our helplessness in even trying. Jeremiah calls us out for our unfaithfulness to God even when we watch others in the act. We prostitute ourselves to ourselves. John gives us the clearest picture of our state. Jesus brings the healing here for two reasons; He points the nameless man and the Temple leaders to the degree He has power and say over Natural Law and the Law of Moses. He is Master of Heaven and Earth. He also gives us a vivid picture that we are like toys without batteries apart from Him. We cannot get into the pool of healing unless someone comes along and carries us.
Do you really think you put yourself in the pool? Do you really think you are the one who keeps yourself afloat?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment