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In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
We have heard today in the Gospel of a man who for thirty
eight years had laid paralysed. The only thing that separated him from healing
was the possibility to reach the waters, which the angel brought into motion
once a year. Thirty eight years had he attempted to move towards healing but
someone else has been quicker than he and stolen healing from him. How many are
there now in the world, how many have been and will be in this world of ours who
need healing, who are paralysed by fear, paralysed by all that prevents us from
moving with boldness and purpose towards fullness of life? How many? And who are
those who will take them and help them to receive healing instead of seeking it
for themselves? Let us look at ourselves, not at each other but ourselves. What
have we learnt from the Gospel?
Christ says that no-one has true love who is not prepared to
give his life for his neighbour, and the neighbour, as it is quite clear also
from the Gospel, is not the one whom we like, whom we love, who is close to us,
it is whoever needs us. Ask yourself this question. There are number of people
around you who would believe, who would gladly start a new life, who would bless
you and God for giving them courage to move not physical but spiritual limbs
that are tied. And let us ask ourselves, what do we do, what have we done, what
are we capable of doing to help them? The waters of Siloam are an image of God,
of His healing power. When God comes close, when we become aware that He is
there, near, do we look around to see who needs Him more than we do? No. We rush
forward, we want to be those who will sit at His feet, we are those who wish to
touch the hem of His garment and be healed, we are those - and this is even
worse, - we are those who wish to be seen as His disciples and companions so
that people may look at us and wonder, admire us, at times almost worship us,
the companions of Jesus, the friends of God become man. Who of us is prepared to
step aside, to become inconspicuous, or rather to help another to step forward
instead of us when we know that we will be the loosers in a way, - in a way only
because if we do this, we will have lost what is thought we coveted but we will
have become disciples of Christ who gave His life that others may live.
Let us reflect on the story. It is not simply an old story
about things that happened about two thousand years ago, it is something that is
happening every day and we are those who rush forward and prevent others from
merging themselves into the healing waters of Siloam. Let us listen to St. John
the Divine, the teacher of true love, let us be ready to sacrifice all we long
for, all we desire for someone else to have it, to be given it by God, let us be
prepared to pay the price of other people’s finding freedom, life on all levels,
even on the simplest level of food and shelter and the warmth of an attentive
gaze or a loving, sober word. Let us become free of selves, and then how many
will be saved, saved from hunger, from homelessness, saved from the dominion of
others, saved from all that is fetters and imprisonment of life. Let us become
what Christ was - the One that sets free in the name of truth and of life. Amen.
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