{"id":6041,"date":"2020-04-01T23:11:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T13:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6041"},"modified":"2020-04-02T17:31:53","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T07:31:53","slug":"6041-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/6041-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ is Our Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Christ is Our Man<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

John 5:1-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that\nhe already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, \u201cDo you want\nto be made well<\/em>?\u201d (John 5:6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ stood there\nobserving the paralytic man. He observed his helplessness, his condition, his\nloneliness. Therefore, He approaches him and says, \u201cDo you want to be made well?\u201d<\/em> This is one of the healing miracles\nin the gospel of John where Christ takes the initiative. He doesn\u2019t wait to be\nasked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man responds, \u201cI have no man to put me in the water.\u201d<\/em>\nSt John Chrysostom contemplates on this says, \u201cWhat can be more pitiable than these words? What more sad than these\ncircumstances? Do you see a heart crushed through long sickness? Do you see all\nviolence subdued?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This paralytic man has\nno one. He doesn\u2019t have a single person to help him; no friends or family. He\nstands on the edge of the pool knowing that if he enters when the angel stirs\nthe pool, he will be made well. We don\u2019t know how long he was by the pool but\nwe know that he had been a paralytic for 38 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was surrounded by a\nmultitude of people, many that could have been touching him, yet he had no one.\nHe belonged to no one. It was likely his own family abandoned him, otherwise\nthey would have waited beside him and took him down to the water. If he was\nparalytic for 38 years, it was probably a congenital disease and thus, rejected\nfrom a young age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truly when he says, \u201cI\nhave no man,\u201d it was a reflection of the 38 years he spent alone. Fr. Alexander\nSchmemann contemplates saying;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis truly is the cry of someone who has come to know the terrible power of human selfishness, narcissism. Every man for himself. Looking out for number one. All of them, all that great multitude of blind, sick, paralyzed, are all \u201cwaiting for the troubling of the waters,\u201d in other words, waiting for help, concern, healing, comfort. But\u2026each waits by himself, for himself. And when the waters are troubled, each throws himself forward and forgets about the others\u2026 From the gospel’s point of view, this pool is of course an image of the world, an image of human society, a symbol of the very organization of human consciousness. <\/em><\/p>

But even when someone has apparently overcome personal selfishness, he is still held prisoner by the category \u201chis.\u201d He may have overcome bondage to himself as an individual, but then it is \u201chis\u201d family, and for \u201chis\u201d family, since \u201ccharity begins at home.\u201d If not family, then \u201chis\u201d ethnic group or country. If not this, then \u201chis\u201d social class, \u201chis\u201d political party. His, always his! And this \u201chis\u201d is invariably opposed to someone else’s, which by definition becomes alien and hostile. We’re told that this is how the world works, what can you do? But is this really true, is this really the ultimate, objective, and scientific truth about the person and human life?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listening to these\nwords, \u201cI have no man,\u201d is a cry of a feeling of everyone looking to\nthemselves, or their own family, or their own friends. One thing I have noticed\nabout this current crisis is that people look to themselves. People are\nconcerned over amenities and supplies for themselves or their own home, family,\nbusinesses. People are hoarding and barricading themselves, creating borders\nbetween them and everyone else. Even nations are looking out for only their\nown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In almost every phone call, every confession, every thought, the focus is on ourselves and our own. This is understandable because the nature of this disease is contact, we want to avoid touching others. We are fearful to protect our own. This is also a challenge for us, a chance to understand the words, \u201cI have no man.\u201d For each of us is concerned for our own – our own family, our own friends, and not anyone else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cries out, \u201cI have no man,\u201d and yet Christ saw him. We read, \u201cHe observed him\u201d \u2013 He thought about him, He wondered about him. For 38 years no one saw him, and maybe just as remarkable; \u201cI have no man.\u201d In Greek, \u201cI have no Anthropos,\u201d which translates, \u201cI have no human being.\u201d No one around him acted as a human being. Each looked to themselves or their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These words are the\nexact same words Pontius Pilate when he presents Jesus before the people. He\nputs Christ before them and says, \u201cBehold, the man;\u201d \u201cthe Anthropos.\u201d Christ is\nthe One True Human Being. He is the One that sees beyond Himself. He is the One\nMan that sees beyond His own. None of us \u2013 just as no one around the paralytic\nwas a human being \u2013 each of us sees ourselves or at best, our own. But Christ\nis that Man that sees beyond Himself. He sees him, and He is the Man for the\nparalytic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says to him, \u201cI am your Man, I live, I breath, I move and have become flesh for you. You are my people, you are my concern. You have no one and yet you have Me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ enters his suffering and bears his suffering. He not only sees him but He is present with him. As followers of Christ \u2013 Christians \u2013 we are called to become human beings to the world that cries out, \u201cI have no man.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Dionyius, bishop of Alexandria in 250-260 AD, wrote of an epidemic that decimated the population after the war. 60 years before this there was outbreak of a disease that was most likely small pox that killed one third of the population. He writes of the pagans;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treating unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

He contrasts, \u201cMost of our brother-Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of the danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation, so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The focus was not on\nhow unfair this epidemic was, no on the lost family, or lost business. Their\nfocus was the chance to give themselves to those around them. Like Christ, we\nobserve and see others. Like Christ, we are there for those that are not our\nown, especially for those that cry out, \u201cI have no man.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One historian\ncontemplates on this event and infers that this was the reason that many Romans\nbecame Christian; not because of miracles, preaching or political influence,\nbut the response of the Christians to those in need. The irresistible love for\nthe world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is very hard for\nus all, especially when caring for others may mean that we contract the\ndisease. While we should not be reckless concerning these things, our eyes\nshould always be on others. When shopping, who are we buying food for? Why not\nour elderly neighbour? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As things become\nworse, we don\u2019t further barricade ourselves. We become more radical in caring\nfor others. St Anthony the Great says, \u201cOur\nlife and our death is with our neighbour. If we gain our brother, we have\ngained God, but if we scandalise our brother, we have sinned against Christ.\u201d<\/em>\nHow we treat our neighbours is our life and death. This discerns Christians\nfrom non-Christians. Our concern, our care and love for those that are not our\nown. Let us look beyond ourselves, our own cares, our own families, our own\nchurches even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us be Christ to\nthose that say, \u201cI have no man,\u201d see them, love them, just as Christ did. Even\nin the depths of our suffering, Christ is that Man and we should likewise be\nthat man for others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christ is Our Man Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous John 5:1-18 \u201cWhen Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, \u201cDo you want to be made well?\u201d (John 5:6) Christ stood there observing the paralytic man. He observed his … Continue reading “Christ is Our Man”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24,204],"class_list":["post-6041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-christ","tag-coronavirus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6052,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041\/revisions\/6052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}