A few weeks ago, a man who I’ll call “John” came by the church looking for some money. Now this church helps lots of people with legitimate problems. But we also get lots of what you and I might consider bums, looking for a hand out. John is a bum. He makes his living by going around asking people for money. All the churches in the area know him, and I bet some of you have probably seen him around town. He’s a big man, looks strong and healthy, but he always has some kind of hard luck tale to justify why he needs one more handout. One time, his car died and he needed money to get it fixed. Another time, he hurt his foot and couldn’t work. And the last two times he came by, he was wearing a bandage over his head and had one of those id bracelets they put on you in the hospital. He always wants the same thing, $20 or $30, and he never has a bill or anything to show that the need is legitimate.
Now John is a regular. I have seen him many times. And before I came, Father Charles had seen him many times. We both have given money to John over the years. But the last time he came, I didn’t help him. Maybe I was in a bad mood, or maybe it was because he didn’t even try to come up with a new story. But mostly, it was because I didn’t think that he had done anything to deserve it.
In today’s Gospel, we find Jesus at the pool of Beth-zatha in Jerusalem. Lots of people went there, because legend had it that when the bubbles stirred up in the water, it had healing powers. So people who were blind, or who couldn’t walk, or who were paralyzed would go there to be healed. Of course, in order to get into the water, they needed someone, a friend or family member, to help them.
Jesus meets a man who had been there for 38 years. And when he asks him if he wanted to be well, the man says that he didn’t have anyone to help him get into the pool. Every time the water started bubbling up, folks would rush into the pool and he would be knocked down. So Jesus tells him to pick up his mat and walk. And miraculously, the man picks up the mat and he walks.
The interesting thing about this story is what the man did before Jesus healed him – absolutely nothing. He didn’t get down on his knees and beg Jesus to heal him. In fact, if we read a few more verses, we find that he didn’t even know who Jesus was. He didn’t get into the water. He made no demonstration of his faith. He didn’t even say “thank you” after he’s healed. The man just sat there, just as he had been doing for thirty-eight years. In other words, the man did absolutely nothing to justify Jesus helping him, and yet he healed him anyway. Why?
It couldn’t have been because of who the man was – he was a nobody. After all, in order to survive all that time, he had to be a beggar, someone who was pretty “street-smart”, mooching off of the kindness of the people who came to the pool for healing. He was someone you and I would probably call a bum. Still, Jesus healed him. Why?
It’s only natural, when we think about helping someone, to consider what kind of person we’re helping. After all, nobody wants to be taken advantage of. We want to know that the person we’re helping is worthy of our help. That’s only natural, whether we’re in a church, or our government. Lately there’s been a lot of talk by candidates about how the unemployment rolls are bloated with people who really don’t need it. We’ll hear things like, “people need a hand up, not a hand out.” Or how illegal immigrants are running rampant, and causing all sorts of social problems; high crime, unemployment. What have they done to deserve our help? Absolutely nothing.
But Jesus didn’t think like that. He never considered whether people deserved his help. He never looked at who the person was before he healed. Jesus healed because of who he was, himself. He loved tax collectors and sinners, and all kinds of bums. He would eat supper with the lowest of the low in society. Jesus was a friend to these people, not because of who they were, not because they deserved it, but because of who he was: Jesus was a friend of everyone.
It is surely possible, even likely, that there are folks getting unemployment who could work, and that some of the immigrants in this country are criminals. There isn’t any doubt that some people don’t deserve the aid that they receive. At the same time, it is surely possible, even likely, that Jesus thought that the man who sat at the pool for 38 years could have been a bum, someone who did absolutely nothing to deserve his blessing that day.
But the wonderful thing is that none of us have ever done anything to deserve the grace of God. We receive Christ’s forgiveness and blessing in spite of the fact that we haven’t done anything to deserve it. He blesses us not because of who we are, not because we deserve it, but because of who he is. Through him, God enters our lives and heals our brokenness. He forgives us all our pettiness and all our empty talk. He calls us to pick up our mats and walk back into a right relationship with God and with each other, regardless of how many years we have been sitting there, waiting.
We are invited to help the least of society regardless of what they may have done, not because of who they are, but because of who we are: followers of Christ. We are a community built on forgiveness and love. We are invited to forgive because we are continually forgiven. Invited to serve others because he served us all. Invited to love even the lowest, because Christ loved us enough to die for us. As Easter people, we are continually forgiven for all of the times we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. God forgives us and heals us, even though we have done absolutely nothing to deserve it.
I regret not helping John that day. I know that Christ would have done something more for him. Christ heals the brokenness of our lives. By his perpetual forgiveness and eternal love, we are called to take up our mats and share that love and forgiveness with everyone we meet – even those who have done absolutely nothing to deserve it.
Thanks be to God.
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