Friday, May 23, 2025

Today's Scripture
John 5:1–9

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. (NRSV)

Reflection

Water holds a beautiful metaphorical place in our spiritual journey and a mystical space in our secular world.

As a little boy I was afraid of the water; as a young Christian I was terrified — Louisiana baptisms were always in ponds or rivers, the ones with dark green water. And as an adult I was intimidated by water in my efforts to accomplish open water swimming (N.B., use of past tense).

We began with water, Genesis 1:2. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 41:18, “God promises to open rivers and fountains, making the wilderness a pool of water.” And in the New Testament, John 4, Jesus promises a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And let’s never forget Amos:

5:24 — “But let justice roll down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.” Is not water the lubricant of our Faith?

In our secular world water holds power and mystery. In Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring (a favorite), there is a scene where the rider gallantly carries the wounded Frodo, the holder of the ring, across the Ford of Bruinen — the river pauses for her safe passage after which she invokes sorcery to engulf the approaching galloping horses — it is epic, and it is water that makes it magical.

Water cleanses, soothes, comforts. Water is essential and is 60 percent of our bodies — yes, we are many varied vessels of water roaming around Fourth Church.

Imagine, waiting at the pool’s edge for that ethereal celestial disturbance, a pinnacle of energy and the panacea for all ills, only to miss the moment of immersion time and time again. Perhaps just a toe in the water and there would be equanimity? That is the plight of this “certain man” with a nearly forty-year infirmity.

But is it not our plight too? Sorcery and mysticism, i.e., random events and/or luck, vs. Faith. The juxtaposition might seem implausible, but where do we turn first in times of trouble? Financial, work, family, politics? How often do we feel powerless, resigned to the force of others, hoping that just maybe something good will happen? Hope of this ilk is tantamount to being perched on a porch and picking a number around the pool of Bethesda; hope for such magic is Vegas — it’s gambling with life.

It is Faith by which we are restored, uplifted, eased. It is Faith that takes the capriciousness out of the equation and offers certainty. It is Faith that makes us whole no matter our circumstances. It is heeding Jesus’ words; it is rising, squaring the shoulders, and moving forward. It is Faith — knowing that God will open the rivers.

Prayer
John 4:13–14

“Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Amen.

Reflection written by Clyde Yancy, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church