Today is the fifth Sunday in the Great Lent and is known as The Lame Man Sunday with a meaning crippled or paralyzed. The Gospel reading is from the Gospel according to St John (5: 1-18).

The Holy Gospel in this section narrates for us the meeting between Our Lord and the sick man near Bethesda pool who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years.

Our Lord Jesus Christ saw and knew all about the desperate man, singled him out from the large crowd, and asked him, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6). May be some will wonder why did Our Lord ask this question. The man has been sick for thirty–eight years.  What was the purpose of that question?

The reason for Our Lord asking this question might have been three-fold:

1.   Some sick people get so much attention and sympathy that they do not really want to be healed. They like to receive alms from people for being sick and have no ability to do any type of work.
2.   Some sick people get to be sick because of their sin and they refuse to leave the sin because they enjoy it although they know that the sin was the cause of their sickness.
3.   Some sick people do not face up to their helplessness and hopelessness and do not look outside of themselves for solutions to their problems. They remain stubbornly proud and independent.  They refuse any healing in order to be away from any obligation.

It seems that the sick man of Bethesda Lake was of the second type whose sickness was due to his sinful acts.  This is confirmed by Our Lord when He saw him in the temple after being healed and told him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” (John 5:14)

This matter gives us an idea that sin does not harm the soul only but also the body.  How numerous are the diseases that result from sins!

Our Lord was compassionate to the lame man and said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk. And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.” (John 5: 8,9)

This action denotes the Divinity of Christ who has the power to heal the sickness by His word.  As was said by the centurion to Our Lord, “But say the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Luke 7:7). By Our Lord’s word everything is accomplished immediately and without any delay because Christ Our Lord is God in flesh, “Great is the mystery of Godliness, God was manifested in the flesh” (1Timothy 3:16)

Anyone of us who has a sickness needs to lift up his heart to God and say, “My Lord, you have allowed for this sickness, and I do not object but I say to You say one word and my body and soul will be healed, or provide me with the power of endurance, or decrease my pain, or do not allow the pain of my sickness be beyond my ability.”

Our Lord fulfilled the healing of the lame man because of His goodness and mercifulness.  He is compassionate on us and He says to every soul that blesses Him, “Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies.” (Psalms 103: 3,4)

We hear about many healing miracles fulfilled by Our Lord Jesus Christ through the intercession of His Saints.  The saints who departed from our earthly world, we believe that they are living with their souls and Our Lord said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:32).  Through the intercession of the saints for us, they fulfill the will of God the merciful and compassionate.

What is astonishing after Our Lord healed the lame man, the Jews who were against Our
Lord objected because it was Sabbath, “It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” This objection is due to many reasons:

1.   Their souls were sick and needs repentance.
2.   Their pride made their hearts blind in accepting the Word of God.
3.   Hypocrisy overshadowed all their deeds.
4.   They did not pay attention to the Glory of our Lord but they were looking for their own glory.
5.   Their wrong understanding of the law in general and to this law in particular “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”.
6.   Their distrust in the mission of Our Lord, His Divinity, and His service.

Because of all these reasons, Our Lord wanted to correct the Jews in their understanding of keeping Sabbath Holy.  He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27).

Because of that Our Lord fulfilled many miracles on Sabbath.  Within the four Gospels, there are seven recorded healings that Our Lord performed on the Jewish Sabbath Day:
* Casting the unclean spirit (Mark 1: 21-27)
* Healing Simon’s wife mother from fever (Mark 1: 29-31; Luke 4:38,
39)
* Healing the withered hand man ( Matthew 12: 10-13; Mark 3: 1-6; Luke 6:6-10)

* Healing the woman with infirmity for eighteen years (Luke 13: 10- 17)
* Healing the man with dropsy  (Luke 14: 1-6)
* Healing the lame man (John 5:1-18)
* Creating eyes for the blind born man (John 9:1-23)

These miracles are fulfilled on Sabbath in order to confirm to the Jews that merciful deeds can be done during Sabbath.  We also see Our Lord defending his righteous disciples when they went through the grainfields on the Sabbath and began to pluck heads
of grain and eat. He said to the Pharisees, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with
him, but only for the priests?” (Matthew 12:1-8)

Our Lord said to the Pharisees another parable to explain and confirm to them that one can do mercy on Sabbath by saying, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12: 11-12)

The Jews rose up against Our Lord because He tried to correct their wrong interpretation of the law.  Our Lord faced humiliation, insults, and plots to kill Him, but He never retreated from the principle of His teachings.  This teaches us a lesson in guidance. A Sheppard should not be affected by any resistance from a person or a multitude because of his firmness in the principles of Christianity, or church doctrine, or church teachings, laws, and traditions. If a Sheppard faced any resistance, he should take Our Lord as an Example to follow even if that will lead him to humiliation and pains because his crown is reserved for him in heaven.

With regards to the Christian relation to Sabbath, we say that the glory of Sunday surpassed the glory of Sabbath and hence the glory of Sabbath was exchanged by the glory of Sunday.

The word Sabbath is Hebrew which means rest.  In order to apply the meaning of rest in Christ spiritually, we say: the true rest was through the fulfillment of redemption on the cross, death of Christ, burial and remaining in the tomb for three days and His resurrection from death on Sunday.

Sunday became the day of the Lord since the resurrection of Christ.  It is known in Greek as “Kiryaki” which means “for the Lord”.  In  Coptic it is known as “Beowai” which means the first as it is said in the Holy Gospel, “Now when the Sabbath was past, …. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.” (Mark 16: 1, 2)

Sunday is the day that was referred to by St John in the book of Revelation, when he said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day…” (Revelation 1:10)

The Jews persecuted Our Lord and sought to kill Him, because He had healed the lame man on the Sabbath.  Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

Here Our Lord provides for us a basic principle in service which is – in the midst of problems we should look after positive work.
*   A positive work is a means for diluting problems
*   A positive work is the best means for keeping away the people from the atmosphere of problems.
*   A positive work is the style of a spiritual servant.
Our work is not to remove the tares but to grow the wheat.  Exactly like the continuous work of the Father and the Son regardless of the presence of evil in the world.

Our Lord for Him is the Glory was walking doing good works and giving His blessings and love to all without differentiation.  Even the sinners He looked after them and returned them back.  It is said in the Holy Gospel about Our Lord, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3: 16, 17)

Our Lord provided for us the redemption through His precious blood and provided us to taste eternal life while we are here on earth by receiving His Holy Body and Precious Blood through Holy Communion.  He is still working in us through the presence of His Holy Spirit in us and through the exercise of the Church Sacraments.

O Lord, Jesus Christ we thank you and glorify Your Holy Name and ask You to enlighten our minds to perceive Your Praise, purify our thoughts to perceive Your Glory.  Your Love, O Lord brought you down to our level and Your Grace lifted us to Your level. Your Compassionate deeds persuaded You to Your incarnation. 

Show in the souls of your servants the glory of Your living sacraments.  For you is the Glory with Your Holy Father and the Holy Spirit now and forever and unto the ages of ages, Amen.