and friends, B even brothers, cast them aside for that reason, and likewise neighbors cast aside neighbors, and the pauper is utterly rejected and is without any support, unless he has God who pities the poor. Therefore, God hears them quickly, as the prophet says somewhere: *The Lord hears the poor quickly, and he will not despise his prisoners* (Ps. 68.34). If you have bread, or something else, that comforts his poverty, give it to the poor. But if you do not have it, heal him with a word, sympathize with him, offer a prayer for him, so that if he did not find rest with you, he might find it with another. Whoever does not have any gift to give, but favors the poor with kind words, earns a greater reward than the one who gives. Besides, it is said elsewhere: *Great is the benefit of almsgiving.* No other accomplishment is able to wipe away sins forever. Let us pursue this, beloved, so that we may attain the eternal goods in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. C
A Sermon on the Paralytic, on the Day of Mid-Pentecost, and on the Text, "Do Not Judge According to Appearances" (John 7.24).
As the bright moon, whitening the dark of night, and providing light for sailors and travelers on land and on sea, makes the journey unimpeded for everyone; D similarly, on the sabbath, the Lord was saying to the paralytic: *Arise, take up your bed, and go into your house* (John 5.8). And for this reason, he said to the Jews: *My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me, the Father* (John 7.16). And that it was because of the willful healing of the paralytic that the Lord said these things to the Jews, take the proof from what has just been read. For from this, the Lord revealed more clearly the unchangeableness of himself with the Father. For if the Lord had said, "My teaching is not the Father's, but mine is," he would have separated himself from the Father, he would have made that of his substance alien, that of his economy foreign; but having said, *My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me, the Father*, he showed the unchangeableness of the substance, and that there is one teaching of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For the Word, the Son of the Father, is one; and the Spirit of the Father is the Holy Spirit. How would the Word teach other things? And how would the Holy Spirit catechize other things? This is not so, this is not so, according to the blessed Paul who says: *For who knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man that dwells within him? So also, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God that is within him* (1 Cor. 2.11). And that it was because of the willful healing of the paralytic, as I said before, that the Lord allowed these words, you heard just now the Lord saying: *I did one work, and you all marvel. For this reason Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers, and on the sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath, that the law of Moses might not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man whole on the sabbath? Do not judge according to appearances, but judge the righteous judgment* (John 7.21-24). But that it was because of the healing of the paralytic that the Lord allowed these words, showing them to be transgressors of the law, he says to them as you heard. *If*, he says, *a man receives circumcision on the sabbath*, and on the sabbath you circumcise an infant, so that the eight-day law might not be annulled, by a law overturning a law—you are overturning the law; and, *Are you angry at me because I made a whole man whole on the sabbath*, not having sweated, but having worked a miracle? Is one to do nothing on the sabbath, but be idle in all things? For what reason then, among you, Jews, does a woman give birth on the sabbath, and the midwife is troubled, and swaddling clothes are shaken, and nature is cleansed, and the breast is prepared for suckling? A woman gives birth, and nature gets the better of the law, and God is not working a miracle? Tell me, *If a man is circumcised on the sabbath, that the law might not be broken, are you angry with me that I made a whole man whole on the sabbath? Do not judge according to appearances, but judge the righteous judgment.* I agree to be judged by you, the enemies, so that in whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged. Who breaks the sabbath? You who circumcise on the sabbath, and sharpen a sword, and inflict an injury, and cut off a member, and prepare the place to bleed, or I who said by word, *Arise, take up your bed, and go into your house?* If the word had not acted, I would have broken the sabbath by speaking in vain; but if the work ran ahead of the word, why do you defend the sabbath and set aside the Creator? Have you not had enough, O children of the Jews, of seeing for thirty-eight years the paralytic nailed to his bed, and the bed laboring, and the paralytic bearing his burden day and night? You were not indignant, you did not sympathize; and because for one hour the paralytic bears a bed and provides recompense, you are indignant? Did he not also have to cry out, "You have seen my bed in my sickness?" I know, Pharisees, for what reason you are indignant: not that you are torn apart because the paralytic was healed, but because you were not able to hide the bed and steal the miracle. For this reason, knowing your intention, I ordered him to carry the bed; so that even if you kept silent, the bed might shout the miracle. Why do you hesitate, O Pharisees? The paralytic is not an interloper, he is not a supposititious child, he is not of short duration; you all know him, for thirty-eight years he loitered at the pool among you. You cannot say, as in the case of the man blind from birth: "This is he," "He is like him," "It is not he." If the blind man did not convince you, even this one you would have seized and dragged to the judgment seat, so that you might be filled with shame in all things; *Do not judge according to appearances, but judge the righteous judgment.* And, if it seems good, let us run briefly over this very account of the paralytic, because the Lord also remembered the paralytic. For if the Lord remembered him, how shall we forget him? Then one wonders that he recounts the miracles of the Lord. For the present middle feast also belongs to the Lord; the Lord is the mediator; the feast is also the middle; and the middle is always secured by the extremes. Therefore the present middle feast also possesses the double grace of the resurrection
A itself offers itself to the languishing. For since He is the Sun of Righteousness, He spreads His rays over all who stand in need of kindness. Now there was at Jerusalem by the sheep pool, called in Hebrew Bethesda, five porches: there lay a great multitude of the infirm, blind, lame, and withered. This was a symbol of the Jewish infirmity; and the five porches were filled with the infirm. For indeed, the Jewish people are infirm in their five senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. Through all these the Jews were infirm: they did not have a pure eye, seeing miracles yet despising them; they did not have a pleasant taste, eating manna yet seeking cucumbers; they did not have a pure sense of smell, preferring the diabolical stench to the Lord’s unguent; they did not have a pure sense of hearing, consulting the hissings of a dragon rather than the prophetic sounds; they did not have a faculty of touch that worked well, holding idols for gods and despising the living God. B Yet, the Lord Christ being present in the flesh, the creator of the senses and the framer of creatures, cured the same manifestations of bodily diseases and the correction of voluntary lapses. For this paralytic of whom we speak was scourged in a double manner: his body was being dissolved by disease, and his soul was wounded by sins. Therefore the Lord, the physician of both diseases, both firms up the body and illuminates the spirit; and He commanded the body to carry the bed, but commanded the soul to bear virtue. What then? The Lord, seeing this paralytic lying there, said to him, as you all know: Do you want to become whole? But here the Jews immediately reprove the Lord, saying: If Christ were God, why would He ask the paralytic, "Do you want to become whole?" He was detained by disease, he had thirty-eight years in infirmity, he waited at the pool so he might put down his disease, and He asks him, "Do you want to become whole?" Who is that God who asks? Listen, you who contradict: the Lord asks not as one ignorant, but as one wishing to bestow a cure altogether. If it had been only a bodily infirmity, the Lord would not have said to the paralytic, "Do you want to become whole?" knowing that he wished it entirely; but because the soul was also laboring under diseases, for this reason He asks the paralytic, "Do you want to become whole?" that is, "Beware lest you sin further." "Do you want to become whole? Give your consent, and receive the cure, because I accept nothing by necessity. For I am He who many years ago cried out through the prophet: 'If you will and hear me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you will not and will not hear, the sword shall devour you' (Isa. 1. 19-20). The paralytic was dissolved in soul, therefore the Lord, lest He provide the cure to him without merit, asks him, saying: 'I seek consent, do you want to become whole?' The Lord does not ask regarding bodily diseases, 'Do you want to become whole?' just as He did not ask the woman with the issue of blood, nor the leper, nor the two blind men; but where He sees the disease of the soul, He asks immediately, that He might receive consent; unless He receives it, He does not bring the cure. Someone might ask: What then? Did the two blind men also have the mark of sins, because the Lord asked them too, 'What do you want me to do for you?' (Matt. 20. 32)? C Were they also in sins? Listen, you who contradict: those two blind men also, mentioned in the Gospels, were blind in bodily eyes and in the vision of the soul. They did not see clearly concerning the Lord; they did not have complete knowledge; they doubted concerning the confession; therefore the Lord withholds the cure, that He might strengthen their faith. But you might say in opposition: Why do you call them blind? They were faithful men. When they heard the Lord passing by, did they not cry out saying, 'Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David?' How then were they sinners who cried out with such a voice? Listen, you who contradict: on account of this voice, which they first uttered, the Lord brought a delay to the cure: because, begging, they were saying, 'Have mercy on us, O Son of David.' Who is the son of David who shows so much power, and brings forth such miracles? Absalom was beautiful, but a parricide; Amnon was desirable, but he violated his own sister; Solomon was wise, but in the end he fell. Therefore, because they approached as to a son of David, and did not think Him to be God Almighty; to the blind men crying out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David,' He, a skilled physician, not a glorious God, did not answer them, that He might take care that their faith be increased. Therefore through that delay the blind were illuminated in mind. And a little later, when the Lord saw them illuminated in mind, having received the luminaries of faith, He asks them, saying: 'Do you believe that I can do this?' (Matt. 9. 28). What then, the blind? Progressing, they say, 'Yes, Lord.' They no longer said, 'Yes, Son of David,' but, 'Yes, Lord.' They recalled to mind the delay; therefore they immediately send forth the confession saying, 'Yes, Lord, we believe that You can do this.' Then, that the Lord might show that they had progressed in faith, He answered, 'Let it be done to you according to your faith.' And so, if they had not progressed in faith, they would not have received sight. Therefore, because the paralytic was more sick in the soul with sins, the Lord asks him saying, 'Do you want to become whole?' that is, 'If you receive the cure, do not fall into the same things again.' 'Do you want to become whole?' The paralytic, indeed, not knowing who it was who was speaking, answered the Lord, 'I want to become whole.' 'You asked well whether I want; for I no longer want.' While I wanted much, I achieved nothing. What then? I want that which I do not accept; I want to become whole. I lie in a bed, I am a talking sepulcher, I am a living dead man; I expect nothing new after death; everyone takes me for an oath; for thirty-eight years I have lived my life near the pool, and no one has pity on me. That gift is sold; the Pharisees traffic in it; one is cleansed annually; and when it would be fitting for the first to be preferred, the one who is more wealthy is preferred. The pool does not distinguish; these things are unjust; or will there ever be a just inspection, so that they may not traffic in the gift, but it may be bestowed upon all in abundance? Then the Lord to the paralytic: 'Why do you attempt to join those things which are in one place with reason? Or do you speak to Me as if I were ignorant? I am the master of the pool, and do I not know what is done? I know the negotiation of the Jews: therefore I have arrived, so that I might change the pool. Now abrogate that one, and I open the pool of baptism: in this one, one placed is cleansed; in that one, countless numbers are regenerated daily; into this one, I sent an angel; into that one, I, the Creator of the angels, descended. Therefore answer to the thing asked, "Do you want to become whole?" that is, "Do you believe me, who am speaking to you, that I can do this?"' The paralytic, indeed, having erected himself a little, and recognizing the power of the Lord, still detained by custom, answered saying those things which you know: 'Yes, Lord, but I have no man, when the water has been troubled, to cast me into the pool: but while I am coming, another descends before me.' Then the Lord to the paralytic: 'What do you take upon yourself, O paralytic? It suffices for you to acknowledge Me as Lord. D Do not imagine many things; do not regard the troubled water of the pool. Things Jewish are troubled; have the number eight. I know what you ask: even if you do not have a man, God incarnate is present with you. Therefore listen, "Arising, take up your bed, and walk into your house." Exasperate the Jews, strike the demons, reduce the contradictors to smoke, make certain those who run up, solve the rest of the Sabbath, contradict, guard the bed.' Having heard these things, the paralytic, his disease immediately put aside by the word of the Lord, fulfilled what was commanded, and carried the bed; and as for the Jews wishing to restrain him on account of the Sabbath and saying, 'It is not lawful for you to carry your bed, because it is the Sabbath' (John 5. 10), he refuted them, fulfilling the command of Him who commanded, saying to them: 'He who made me whole, He commanded me, "Take up your bed, and walk."' But as the iniquitous Jews were questioning and asking who had made him whole, who had commanded him to carry the bed, and were barking against the physician like dogs; he who had been healed was contending like a martyr against those bloodthirsty men. The Lord found him again afterward, and says to him: 'Behold, you have been made whole: sin no more, lest something worse happen to you' (Id. v. 14). Do you see, beloved, that on account of his sins he was detained in infirmity for so long? Let us therefore be converted, and that we may be delivered from temporary punishment, and may flee eternal gehenna, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire for ages of ages. Amen.