May 13, 2007 Tree of Grace

John 5:1-9

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed. 5One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6When 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?’ 7The 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.’ 8Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ 9At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. 10So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ 11But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.” ’ 12They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’ 13Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. 14Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. 17But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ 18For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

This week we talked about grace. The kind of grace that God extends to humankind without thinking of who is deserving, who is grateful, or even who is faithful. In this story, the sick man does not ask for grace, does not recognize Christ for who he is, and does not even thank Jesus for healing him. The man even ratted Jesus out to the fellows at the Temple. However, grace is given. But how are we to do likewise? One small thing is to extend grace where it has not been extended. This piece, along with a few letters, will be sent to the Cho family, who are left heart-broken by the loss of a son and the actions of that son. God grant us thy grace, that we may grant it to others.

By the way, as we gathered the letters, we made sure that people write something only if they were comfortable with it. By no means is something as controversial as this for everyone, which is why it is good that there are so many different people in the world.