Questioning motives

Early in Jesus' public ministry in Galilee, a leper come to him and begs for healing and this exchange between them takes place;

"If You are willing, You can make me clean." Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." (Mark 1:40-41)

This sick, poor, outcast man is unafraid to reach out and ask. He longs for healing, and to be restored to society. 

Later when Jesus is on pilgrimage in Jerusalem he sees a paralysed man who has been longing for a cure most of his life. (John 5:1-8) He lies alone near a pool reputed for its healing power, without help to benefit from the opportunity of a miracle when it arises. He's not going anywhere, just stuck there despairing, not asking anyone for anything. Jesus approaches him and asks; "Do you want to be well again?" The man makes an excuse for himself, but Jesus orders him; "Get up, pick up your sleeping mat and walk." 

Not for the first time Jesus says this to someone, a man obeys and is cured. (Mark 2:11). The other instance is in Galilee, where the paralysed man has help from his friends to reach Jesus. Immediately the contrast is evident between life with disability in a great urban centre of piety, and in a rural village.

John 5:8-16 reports that the action of Jesus, whether in healing him or in telling him to walk away carrying his bed, is regarded as contentious because it occurs on the Sabbath, as this breaches Sabbath observance rules. The Gospels report seven instances when Jesus heals on the Sabbath, and in three this provokes the same argument. His action is given as one of the reasons why the religious authorities set out to destroy Jesus and his reputation as a teacher and healer. Jesus made it clear that the edicts of the law could not be set aside, yet in this matter the healing imperative took precedence over established pious practise. Later in the day, Jesus sought him out and said to him;

"See you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." (John 5:14)

Although it might appear superficially to be the case, Jesus would not have associated his physical disability with sin. It was paralysis of mind and spirit that caused him needless suffering, led him to abandon hope and stop asking others for help. He he been asking in a way that invited rejection? In writing about prayer, St James reminds us;

'When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.' (James 4:3)

This is as true in asking of others, as it is in asking God's help. Examining and purifying our motives is essential in the search for wholeness and healing. If asked, God will help us to deepen our self understanding on this journey.

'Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.' (Psalm 26:2)

'Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.' (Ps 139:23)

Signs and belief

Over the next two weeks, the weekday Eucharist Gospel readings are taken from St John's account of events leading to the passion and death of Jesus. As a  unique eyewitness to these events his testimony is important. The Gospels show how very close to Jesus John was. The story he tells gives original insight into the meaning of all that happened.

Today's passage from John 4:43-54, tells of an official whose son is mortally ill. Friends ask Jesus on his behalf to cure the boy. He probes their motives for asking when he says to them; "You will not believe unless you see signs and wonders!" His healing ministry is not intended to be a display of power to convince people to believe. Faith is an act of trust in what is ultimately unknown to us at the outset.

When the official urges him to act before it is too late, Jesus sends him away with the promise that his son will live. The man trusts him and returns home to discover that his son began to recover at the time Jesus spoke to him. His willingness to believe the promise of Jesus is as significant as the healing itself, which takes place at a distance. John speaks of it as a 'Sign' given by Jesus, something which points beyond itself to another thing or reality. 

As Jesus states to another desperate parent who comes to him in search of healing for a child in Mark 9:23, "Everything is possible for one who believes." Jesus believes that the Father will respond to his prayer, and to the faith expressed by those in deep need. This is not magic, however. The journey to healing may be long and tortuous, with setbacks, and may fail our expectations. So often in our neediness we fail to see with perspective, and it is impossible to see things as God sees them, unless God reveals them to us what is truly possible and how this may be achieved.

'"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" says the Lord.'
(Isaiah 55:8)

Prayer requires us to shed our illusions about God and ourselves. Although we are free to be creative and imaginative, expressing ourselves in prayer and worship, the less we rely on this and the more we empty ourselves and presume nothing, the more open to the reality of our Maker we can be. Reliance on the power of God's love and mercy to guide us in this 'agnostic' endeavour is all that matters.

'For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.' (Psalm 62:5)