Practice Getting Up

May 17, 2009

Psalm 1 and John 5:1-9

Some stories are so good the preacher has to tell them (whether or not they fit the scripture, though I think this one does).

Carson is a seminary professor. He is also a father. And by virtue of his fatherhood, and no other qualification, he is a soccer coach for a team of six year old boys and girls. Games are played on Saturday mornings. Scores are not kept, except by the children, which means both teams usually win by a large margin.

Practices are held on Tuesday evenings. They start with a few drills from a pamphlet Carson received when no one else volunteered to be coach. After a brief pep-talk, practice ends with a loose scrimmage.

One of the most spirited players on the team is a boy named Nathan. He speaks English well, but it obviously is not his first language. His mother always brings him to practice, nods a greeting to Carson, then stands alone in the far corner of the field, observing what happens.

During the pep-talk, Nathan has been known to hug another player spontaneously and burst out in a grin. During the drills and scrimmage, his uniform is always the first to get dirty.

You see, Nathan loves to fall. He will let out a yelp, flail his arms, spin in midair, land on his back, and roll more times than his slender body requires. Then he remains motionless on the ground. Staring at the sky. Smiling.

One Tuesday evening, it happened. Coach Carson had seen enough. In a loud voice, he bellowed, “Nathan! From now on, whenever you fall, and for any reason that you fall, I want you to practice … getting … up!”

Nathan did just that, throwing himself back into the joyous confusion of the scrimmage.

A moment later, something else happened. From the corner of his eye, coach Carson saw Nathan’s mother walking toward him. She was not smiling.

Drawing near, she said in a strong accent: “It is perfectly clear for the seeing … that you are not a coach for soccer. And you are not here for the rules of soccer. But it is perfectly clear … that you are here for teaching the children to practice getting up. And for my ‘Na’tan’ … if he can learn this and help the others learn this … it will be enough.”

She did not wait for an answer. She just turned and walked away down the field to stand by herself once again.

“It is perfectly clear that you are here for teaching the children to practice getting up.*

Some stories are so good a preacher has to tell them.

* *

Other stories are so good the Gospel has to include them.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of John is a lot like Carson’s experience at coaching. It has to do with the practice of getting up.

A man who was “down” for 38 years – down on his luck, down in the dumps, down on a straw mat that was the typical bed of the poor – is invited by Jesus to “stand up, take your mat, and walk.”

The first thing I want to say about that, is: this may be a good miracle. But it is lousy medicine.

• Don R. - Would you ever write a prescription for someone to sit by a pool of water for 38 years? (If so, I want you as my doctor!)

• Theresa M. - Do your med school textbooks teach you to ask paralyzed patients, “Do you want to be made well”?

• Lauren R. - Do you insist that your patients, “Stand up and walk” the first time you ever see them? (Probably so. I’ve heard stories about how tough physical therapists are!)

• All of us - Are we satisfied with a health care delivery system (not so different from what existed back then) that lets one person be pushed aside while another receives care? (Maybe the story isn’t about one man, but a medical system out of whack.)

Nonetheless, healing is given. And it is given in multiple dimensions. The man’s whole body is cured – his legs, to walk … his back, to bend … and his arms, to lift the mat.

Spiritual healing comes too. The story doesn’t say so, but we know it. After all …

• The healing occurs during a religious festival, and it occurs in the holy city of Jerusalem, and it occurs on the sabbath. That is to say, it happens at a place and time when the veil between earth and heaven is particularly thin. At a time and a place where the Holy can easily seep through.

• And, it happens by means of grace that no one else had shown the man in more years than Jesus had been alive – and almost as long as Israel wandered in the desert. 38 years.

Spiritual healing comes to the man in the form of massive … unprovoked … unmerited, and long-awaited grace.

Last, but not least, there is for this man liberating healing. Though it was the sabbath, and though Hebrew law specifically forbade carrying one’s mat on the sabbath, Jesus set the man free from shackles to his body, spirit, and actions … in order to show the grace and goodness of God.

In the span of just a few words to that one man, Jesus not only calls him, but calls the whole Church to practice getting up. Jesus calls the Church to a new way of living … calls us to practice getting up – out of illness, fear, frustration, victimization, death and defeat … and into daring and liberating LIFE.

Now pay attention, because this miracle/healing depends almost exclusively on a single word – a resurrection verb. The same word that will be used for Jesus at Easter is used here by Jesus to lift the man to his feet. The Greek word is “egeiro,” which doesn’t just mean, “to stand up,” but “to rise.”

You see, for the early church, resurrection and baptism were inextricably linked. Water and Christ’s rising were almost inseparable. One related to the other.

I’m not saying that water played a direct part in the man’s healing. Strictly speaking, the water in that pool does nothing to save the paralyzed man. Nor does this water save Molly. That is God’s work, through Christ. Not the water.

But the water in the pool (and in the font) reminds us that God’s grace is never too far away. Even if we wait 28 … 38 … even 48 years for it to be fully revealed, it is always close at hand. And this grace does what it must.

It may not bring physical healing every time. But God’s grace never fails to restore shattered lives and make us whole in God’s sight … in the ways that we need.

Like tree planted by streams of water (in Psalm 1), so our lives are ever near to God’s grace.

Some stories are so good that you and I have to tell them. Some stories are so good that the Gospel must include them. .

* *

And some stories are so good that God’s people continue to live them.

That is what really matters. If all we have is a story or two, so what?

But the truth is, God’s people have “practiced getting up” for 2000 years worth of Sundays. In times of Roman persecution … during the Protestant upheaval in medieval Europe … in Maoist China after the Cultural Revolution. In Dark Ages of repression and Enlightenment learning that re-ordered the solar system, and rocked long-accepted foundations of knowledge and truth. In times of economic ease, certainly … but also amid wars and storms and economic crisis.

Any time and any place that God’s people get knocked flat, someone has been there in the name of Christ and the Body of the Church to call God’s children to practice getting up once again.

No matter when or where or how we live, we are called to arise. Called to rise out of self-pity to renewed purpose. Out of legalism to liberation. Out of personal defeat to triumphant grace. And out of death … to everlasting life.

* *

Nathan’s mother said it well: “It is perfectly clear for the seeing that you … are here … for teaching the children [God’s children] how to practice getting up. And if he can learn this … And if Molly can learn this … And ifthe rest of us can learn this] … and help others to learn … it will be enough.”

Though the heavens give way and the mountains tumble into the sea, and God’s children fall down in dismay, there is always that Voice calling us to practice … getting up.

To the glory of God.

*Story originally told by E. Carson Brisson, “Extremely Clear for the Seeing,” Focus, Winter 2008-09 (Union Theological Seminary in Virginia), pages 22-23.