In paralyticum

A discourse of our father among the saints John Chrysostom on the paralytic: bless, father. Wherever I direct my gaze in the meadows of the Gospels, springs of manifold wonders immediately meet me, and I see the streams of the Lord’s philanthropy surging. A rich variety of wonders springs forth; for not only are ailments of bodies driven out, but sick souls also obtain healing; unseen diseases are expelled by visible wonders. For this reason Lazarus is called back from the tomb to life; for this reason a blind man regained sight contrary to nature, so that the Jews, put to shame, might look up to the wonder-worker. For this reason a paralytic, imitating the tomb by the duration of his affliction, unexpectedly danced healthy with his bed. And the sufferer’s affliction was almost equal in length to his life. For the joints of his limbs were loosened, the tensions of his sinews relaxed, and they cast him prostrate, motionless, to keep him bound to his bed; he, oppressed by the indissoluble bonds of nature, remained in his affliction, ending his life. One dozen years did not suffice for the disease, nor was the affliction sated after consuming a twentieth year, but a third decade was also overcome; the sufferer reached old age, and the advancing affliction grew young. There was no hope of a cure, no expectation of release from the paralysis. And not even to this extent was the calamity for the sick man, but the healing of other invalids doubled his despondency.

A neighbor was the pool, open for healing to those who suffered only one day of the year, bearing its gift sparingly through the year, yielding its grace to only one of those who gathered, healing the first to rush in and sending the others away empty of hopes. And the greed concerning the healing slandered the benefaction; while the others, striving to snatch the one from the other, were all winged toward the movement of the water, but only one received the fruit from the pool. But this man, alone surpassing all these in his affliction, alone of all was cast out of healing, always sharp-sighted toward the movement of the water, yet bearing his perception blameless through weakness. And while hunting the time with desire for health, remaining in slowness, he became a herald of healing to others. And the sight of those being healed was an additional pain to him. For this reason, before all other sick, the Savior stood by the paralytic. And first he initiates a word about healing with him, first he tightens his hopes, which had been loosened, and then he fits together his limbs, which had been loosened. Do you wish to become healthy? He kindles the sufferer toward desire for health. What then did the paralytic? He was not harsh at the voice, he did not resent the question, he did not say bitterly: Do you see, man, the time of my illness being so long, and you ask about health? Are you mocking my suffering, laughing at what I desire? Do you laugh at my illness? Do I seek unseasonably with my will? The paralytic did not say these things, but immediately, as if accused of negligence, he defends himself before the present master.

Lord, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed." He pleads piteously with the Savior, perhaps thinking he has found a servant for his affliction, but not knowing that when a physician is present, he will have no need of pools for healing. What then does the Lord do? "Rise, take up your stretcher, and walk." A command went forth from the master, and the paralytic's affliction went forth with it. Give back, O paralytic, to the bed of your labor the grace you have received. Let the bed bear witness to the removal of the affliction by changing its place; rather, let it, borne aloft, proclaim the healing of the one who carries it, and let it, carried by you, become a herald of the miracle. Let the bed be joined to you again, so that by the sight of it you may have a reminder of the one who healed you. But the crowd of Jews saw the miracle that had taken place; they saw the miracle with the eyes of envy; they saw the healing as a punishment to themselves. At any rate, they saw the paralytic, with a strange miracle, dancing together with his stretcher. And what they ought to have done was to worship the one who performed it, but they instead put forward the observance of the Sabbath, saying, "Who is it that said to you, 'Rise, take up your stretcher, and walk'?" But observe the irreproachable rhetoric of the paralytic: "The one who made me healthy, that one told me, 'Take up your stretcher and walk.' I obeyed the one who commanded, to whom even my affliction obeyed. I saw the disease commanded and fleeing, and I, being commanded, obeyed. For how could I not have obeyed, when not even my affliction spoke against him?

Thus the healed man silenced the madness of the Jews. But let us see what the healer says when he is accused: "My father works until now, and I work." One word cut off both the envy of the Jews and the blasphemy of the heretics. He showed, then, that the Son works miracles together with the one who begot him. For if, he says, you hinder me from the works, set limits to the working Spirit: restrain his commands concerning creation on the Sabbath, stop the course of the sun on the Sabbath, halt the gleam of the moon that is not ashamed of the law, check the messages of the stars, prevent the turnings of the stars, stop the growth of fruits, hold back the rush of rivers, stop the activity of the elements. For all these are signs of God's commands. But if the master does that together with the law of creation, you recognize now that he is consubstantial with the one who begot him. Glory to him forever, amen.