Do You Want Coronavirus to Go Away?
Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily
John 5:1-18
Take a moment to think about this question – do you want coronavirus to go away? You may be thinking, “what a silly question, of course we want it to go away. Isn’t it obvious?”
We witness a scene of devastation in the gospel reading of the paralytic man; similar to what we see in the world today. St John describes it as, “a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed” (Jonh 5:3). They’re all lying there by a pool which is situated next to the gate.
The gate was the sheep gate where the sheep would enter on the way to be slaughtered for the Passover. By the gate was a pool so that they could be washed before they were taken to the Temple for slaughter. Because there was a direct link between the pool and the Temple, it was considered to be holy water.
The people thought they would be healed when it was stirred and given power.
We have a scene set around a multitude of sick people but then the story hones in on one person, a man paralysed for 38 years. He was probably in the worst state, all the more reason for Christ to focus on him.
Christ approaches him, a man that had been paralysed for 38 years, and asks him a question; “do you want to be made well?”
What a silly question, of course he wants to be made well. Why ask a question like that?
The gospels are not just historical stories or events, the gospel is for our lives. Our own personal encounters with Christ. The gospel takes these stories and puts them in the midst of our lives. So the question we can take from this is – do you want coronavirus to go away? This is the question that Christ asks the paralytic man.
We know that Christ would not ask a silly question. Everything He did had a profound purpose. Why did Christ ask this question?
When I was ordained a priest, I had to go to Egypt for my ordination. When I arrived in Egypt, I met Anba Bakhomious just before the liturgy began for the ordination and he looked me in eyes and asked, “are you prepared to be a priest?”
I replied, “Yes, Your Grace, by your prayers.”
He raised his voice and asked again, “are you prepared to be a priest?”
Again I said, “umm yes, by your prayers.”
Then he became visibly angry and he shouted, “Are you prepared to be a priest? Yes or no?”
So I said, “yes.”
And he replied, “good.”
It seemed like an obvious question. I’ve resigned, I’m here, I travelled from Australia to Egypt, so I was prepared. But he was asking in the sense of – Do you realise the consequence of what you are entering?
Do you realise what will be required of you?
Do you realise the sacrifices necessary?
Do you realise that you will lay down your life to others?
Do you realise what you are embarking on?
Are you ready?
It is for that reason that Christ asks the question, “do you want to be made well?”
Are you ready to be made well? No longer will you lie here. No longer will you rely on others to feed you. Are you ready to stand, to walk to carry your bed, to work? Are you ready for the consequences and responsibilities of healing?
The climax is when Christ finds him again and says, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
We see the link that Christ puts between disease and sin. It’s not clear whether this man’s sin led to his disease or if it were the other way around. What is clear is that there was a link between disease and sin and part of his physical healing was to sin no more, and restore his spiritual health.
“For since for the most part when the soul is diseased we feel no pain, if the body receive though but a little hurt, we use every exertion to free it from infirmity, because we are sensible of the infirmity, therefore God oftentimes punishes the body for the transgressions of the soul, so that by means of the scourging of the inferior part, the better part also may receive some healing.”
St John Chrysostom
Christ after healing the paralytic finds him again so that he can complete the healing, the spiritual healing. In the NKJV, we read, “see you have been made well.” In the other translations, it reads, “see you have been made whole.”
You are now complete, physically and spiritually whole. We see the ultimate responsibility of healing – repentance.
Do you want coronavirus to go away? There are many ways that the world is responding to coronavirus; social distancing, closures, lockdowns, self-isolation, closing borders. They’re all good measures.
Other measures include prayer. Even the prime minister said his prayer knees were getting a good workout. There is another measure beyond this that some people are putting in place. I believe this is the most effective measure. The measure of repentance. Do you want to be made well? Do you want coronavirus to go away? Let us repent. Let us sin no more. If God sees us all repenting what would He do?
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
We implore God’s mercy to heal our land, to heal our world by giving Him our repentance.
The scariest thing about corona is that our actions affect everybody else. If we are infected and we don’t self-isolate, it effects everyone around us through the ripple effect. Our actions affect others. If a virus can do that, repentance can do the same, more even. My repentance has a ripple effect on the world and on God’s heart.