Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  One God!  Amen.

In today’s Gospel reading we hear the story of The Paralytic, a man who had been afflicted for thirty eight years with paralysis, waiting by the sheep’s gate of the pool called Bethesda for the stirring of the waters by the Angel of the Lord.  We do not know how old this man was, nor do we know the cause of his affliction, but whatever the cause of his condition, some fathers have considered it to be the result of some sin he had committed in his life.  This is further affirmed by the command that Christ had given him when he later found him in the temple after he healed him of his infirmity.:

“See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Christ gave one other person a similar command, the women taken in adultery and condemned to stoning, wherein he told her likewise, after no one was left to condemn her, “go, and sin no more.”

It is a simple command that should be heeded by all of us, but not so simple to carry out, as I am sure many of us have learned with great difficulty, and an often unexpected humility,  during the Lenten season that is now behind us. Yet, sin is an illness, a spiritual illness, afflicting us all till the end of life, and we can no more fault one another for our own affliction than we could a cancer patient dying of their disease.  The difference comes in how we respond to it.  What manner of life do we choose to live? How do we present ourselves to the world and before God?  For the command has been given, and it only requires a simple obedience.  Consider that the paralytic man likely did not know who Christ was, did not know that He was the son of God, or even able to perform such a miracle; but, by his obedience to the simple command of Christ, quickly found that he could walk once again.  By his faith in what he was told to be true, he found he was healed of his infirmity and made whole once again. 

Like the paralytic, we are also expected to go into the world, and sin no more.  We have been given a far greater deposit of faith, of Tradition, found in the Church; of Love, found in obedience to the commandments of Christ, once given, and always echoing in our ears, in the scriptures, in our liturgies and services: Go, and sin no more, for anyone who loves Christ will keep his commandments, in faith, and in simple obedience to His word.  For, obedience is the natural fruit of faith, and is born of humility, the mother of all virtue.

In the words of Thomas Hopko of blessed memory:

In the Orthodox spiritual tradition, obedience is a basic virtue: obedience to the Lord, to the Gospel, to the Church, to the leaders of the Church to one’s parents and elders, to “every ordinance of man”, “to one another out of reverence for Christ.” There is no spiritual life without obedience, no freedom or liberation from sinful passions and lusts. To submit to God’s discipline in all of its human forms, is the only way to obtain “the glorious liberty of the children of God,” disciplines us as His children out of His great love for us. “He disciplines us for our good, that we might share His holiness.”. Our obedience to God’s commandments and discipline is the exclusive sign of our love for Him and His Son.

It is within the Church that is found the fullness of this deposit of faith: The Gospels; her liturgies and prayers; her praxis of faith and liturgical rhythm of life; an Orthodox prescription of life found in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; and the Holy Sacraments from which we are given and provided the means or our healing from the clutches of this illness, of which the symptom is sin. For, the Church is after all a hospital for our souls, but more than that, it is the pillar and foundation of Truth, established upon the foundation of the teachings of the Prophets and the apostles, with Christ as the cornerstone, of which we are all living stones. It is within the Church that we find our eternal remedy and food in the body of blood of Christ, the prescriptions of life for our own eternal life and edification, but so many of us find ourselves in the same condition as the paralytic, unable to move because of our own spiritual infirmity; unable to act upon what we know is right because of the weight of our own sin. Yet, Christ bids us all, get up and sin no more.

Life is a choice.  Death is a choice. We are not punished so much as we are recipients of the fruits of our decisions.  Whoever sincerely desires their own salvation does everything for the sake of their salvation. Whoever truly desires their salvation will distance themselves from everything that hinders them in the work of their salvation.  For while our salvation is a gift freely given to us, a clenched fist, or a hand grasping something else receives nothing. For if we are not obedient in all things to the best of our ability, then we are at risk of receiving nothing, and losing all things.

In the words of Saint Anthony the Great:

The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view, he disciplines his soul, and whatever he may encounter in the course of his life, he gives thanks to God for the compass and depth of His providential ordering of all things.

For it is absurd to be grateful to doctors who give us bitter and unpleasant medicines to cure our bodies, and yet to be ungrateful to God for what appears to us to be harsh, not grasping that all we encounter is for our benefit and in accordance with His providence. For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul.” 

Do you want to be healed?  It is the question Christ asked of the paralytic.  But, it is a question that should be asked of all of us. Do we really want to be healed?  Through the Church we have been given the tools, the means, and the prescriptions of an authentic spiritual practice to find such a thing.  The Church awakens in us those spiritual gifts God has given to all of us through its sacraments, prayers, liturgies, and Tradition.  Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, has come to set us free from the illness of sin, but it is our choice alone to follow the prescriptions we have been given.  It is of our own free will that we receive that gift we have been given.

Do we partake of all that has been given us? Do we foster within us a genuine desire to become better men and women then what we are by nature? Do we try to observe and maintain our purity of life not only in our own conscience, but in the eyes of God?  Do we live vigorously to fight against the passions of the flesh, but also against the vices of this world without concessions to the vagaries of this world? Do we turn to God for help and assistance when trouble finds us, and do we use those means we have been given for our own salvation rightly and as prescribed?  Are we zealous about reading the word of God with introspection, to see and identify those things we need to correct when we examine ourselves in the mirror of Truth? Do we confess ourselves before God that we might be absolved of our many transgressions? Do we imitate those Saints that have gone before us, and have we developed a relationship with the one who’s name we bear? Do we help our fellow men, and rejoice when we find the opportunity to do s

We must strive so that our earthly life resembles that heavenly life we all strive towards.  We must compare all things earthly to those things heavenly, and not the other way around as so many are wont to do.  We must see that which is invisible and eternal in favor over that which is visible and temporal. Be ready to give up anything and consider everything as dung so that no earthly thing may stand between us and Christ.  Our thoughts should be given to eternity.  Our desires should be the perfection of virtue.  Our greatest pleasures should be our reflection, consideration and conversations about the blessedness of those who have gone before us, and our greatest sorrow should be when we feel no spiritual draw nor attraction to heavenly things.  We are not troubled by this life, but only the next, and the concerns of not only our own salvation, but those of our brothers and sisters around us. Our life should be a visible expression, image, and preparation for that better life in the age to come. Our prayer life, and our life within this world, should be equal and parallel expressions of the same faith we seek to live day by day.

So, as we move forward in this Paschal season with the joyous exclamation, Christ is Risen! Let us also rise with Him.  Let us rise from our sins.  Let us rise with the strength He has given us to overcome them.  Let us rise, no more shackled by fear of this world, or fear for the sake of our failures, but move forward, day by day, into the eternal Joy of the Kingdom of God.  So let us all take up our own beds, and sin no more, that me we might walk together in the joy of eternal life.

He is Risen!  He is Risen!  He is Risen!

By the prayers of thy most pure mother, the Holy and God bearing Fathers, all the saints, the martyrs and the angels, have mercy on us and save us.

Amen.