20080518 Do You want to be Healed?

20080518 "Do you want to be healed?"- A homily on the Sunday of the Paralytic


Acts of the Apostles: 9:32-42
Gospel of St. John: 5: 1-15

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

Today we hear once again of Christ’s desire and ability to heal the infirm, and how this desire and ability has been passed on to His Church. The central message of this Gospel - indeed of the entire Gospel - is that Christ loves us and desires that we be made whole.

Do you want to be healed? What is your answer? If you do, then believe in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, accept his care. But do not stop there - remember that Christ commands the man He healed to “Sin no more;” that is, to change his life. If you do this, blessings will follow in your life and the world around you will be changed.

Are we interested in Church Growth? Then learn from the Scriptures. Listen to what they are saying and then apply it here. When Christ heals people, either himself or through His Apostles, it is not just the patients that are affected. Look at the last words of today’s reading from Acts; after Aeneas is healed, “all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord”. After Tabitha is healed “it became known throughout all Jopa, and many believed.” When Christ heals, others see it and believe. Why did the early Church grow? Because people saw how Christ changed peoples lives. How He healed them and made them whole.

How will others know you have been healed? It is obvious when someone whose physical ailments have been healed: Auneas walks, Tabitha lives, and the paralyzed man took up his bed. But even then, it is only when the miracle of the healing is linked to its source - Jesus Christ - that the full power of the event is unleashed. The paralytic confessed who healed Him so that others would know, believe, and themselves be healed. If we ourselves do not witness of Christ’s healing work in our lives - how can this happen for those around us? All of us who have been healed and saved by Christ are witnesses to His love and power - but only if we acknowledge Him for it. Share how Christ has healed and comforted you in illness - was it a doctor that did it? Thank the Lord for working through her hands.

Of course, not all healings are as obvious as those described in the Gospel. At least until the General Resurrection, the Great Physician is more interested in healing our souls than anything else. He seemed to have healed the sick as much to teach as to actually heal: His main goal was to show us the Truth, to get us to believe in Him as the Son of God (so that we might be saved). Christ has reached out to everyone in this temple, to comfort them in grief, and to save you from your depravity and pain. If you have accepted Him as Savior and turned your life over his loving care, then let people know. First, let them see the changes in your life that Christ has made, how you now live a life of charity, humility, and service dedicated to Him and doing His will in your life.

If you tell me that you cannot do this because Christ has not actually healed you, then first, I applaud your courage, then second I ask you with the words of Christ Himself “Do you want to be healed?” Seriously. “Do you want to be healed?” Perhaps you are comfortable in your sins. Perhaps you are lazy and fear doing the kind of hard work that people who have been made whole are called to do. Perhaps the siren call of this fallen world has convinced you that you have no sins to confess, that your way of life causes no harm to yourself and those around you. Only those who recognize they are sick can come and be healed. If you are not living a perfect life in Christ, then you are sick in sin. And this sin is poison to you and poison to those around you.

God loves all of you. He desires that you live life in abundance. He desires this for you here and now, and for all eternity. But you must want to be healed.

The Physician is in, and He will see you now. Will you come to Him?