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Acts 16 – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁹ During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

¹¹ We therefore set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, ¹² and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. ¹³ On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where according to the custom there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵ When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.

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John 5 – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹ 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. ³ In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. ⁵ One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ 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?” ⁷ The ill 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.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

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This week Pat was visiting our friend Yvonne at Parker Ridge in Blue Hill. There were a couple of young children visiting with a neighbor down the hall. Eventually the young ones began to explore their surroundings, clomping up and down the hall in their rain boots. Pat peeked out the door to have a look and the mother began to apologize for the noise. Pat assured her it was a wonderful sight and sound to have them all visiting, saying that the children were good medicine. One of the two children, upon hearing this, came back down the hall, stood right in front of Pat and flung open their arms and puckered up their little lips. Their Mom said, “They are always doing things like that!” Pat received the gift that was offered; the child skipped away down the hall. 

I pray that they continue to be guided by the Spirit. And continue to follow where the Spirit leads them.

This week in our scripture from the Acts of the Apostles it is Paul heeding the vision he had during the night, setting sail on a course that would eventually get them to Macedonia, to those pleading for help in his dream. 

Even with Jesus “gone” the apostles are being led by his Spirit. They were learning, as perhaps we have learned, that when one is gone from this world that they are made available in a whole new way to help us navigate here.

In our passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus meets someone that has been suffering with physical ailment for 38 years. Pause a moment to let that sink in. Considering the life expectancy at the time, this was likely the entirety of his life. 

What I noticed in this healing parable is what did not happen. The man that Jesus spoke to did not affirm that he wanted to be made well. Not with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ words. His affirmation was in his presence. Showing up at the pool every day, waiting for someone to notice him, waiting for someone to help him. Yes, he wanted to be made well. Jesus knew that intuitively. Jesus did not make the man beg. He simply tended to the man’s needs in the best way he knew. 

What else did not happen? Jesus did not help the man into the water. Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” We may recall that earlier in John’s gospel Jesus offers “living water” to the Samaritan woman at the well, so that she would no longer thirst. In this encounter, Jesus again presents himself as the “living water” that cleanses and heals the man that had been suffering for so very long. 

How do we follow in Jesus’ footsteps when considering this parable? We, who are also children of God and are empowered to live as Jesus lived, how do we respond to the needs of others? 

Some take time out of their day to protest war atrocities. Some by calling their representatives, by donating to organizations working for peace, by speaking out for justice, by calling out injustice. Bless them.

Some dedicate their careers to caregiving. Bless them.

Some spend their leisure time volunteering for organizations like Hospice of Hancock County, offering companionship to those who are ill, respite to family caregivers, grief counseling when loss feels overwhelming. Bless them. 

Some listen for the Spirit and follow the nudge. We are continually led by the Spirit in ways known and unknown. Often we do not recognize what is happening to us and around us. Seeing the woman sitting alone on the park bench, do we heed the impulse to go buy her flowers? No? Opportunity lost. If yes, when we present them to her, we may hear the astonished words, “How did you know it was my birthday? And, “How did you know that these are my favorite?” We are both blessed and a blessing. I have no doubt that these little moments, taken or passed by, add up to change the course of history. 

Bless us all for the ways that we show up. In the known and the unknown. 

Back to John’s gospel: Jerusalem was a walled city. The Sheep Gate in this passage is likely quite simply the gate of the city that was close to where the sheep were penned prior to sacrifice. The Sheep Gate would have been the entrance used by shepherds bringing their sheep to the Temple market.  

Let’s move to what did happen at the pool by the Sheep Gate. 

This parable at the healing pool is another instance of Jesus pushing boundaries. Jesus not only heals the man but heals him on the day of Sabbath.

When Jesus healed the man who had waited by the pool for 38 long years, all were astonished. Some praised Jesus for his compassion. Some openly wondered if this miraculous healing was a sign that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.  And some religious authorities took issue with Jesus for healing the man on the Sabbath. Some of those same religious authorities also took issue with Jesus saying that God was his Father, that he was God’s son. They attacked the very means by which Jesus was able to do these things. 

There will always be naysayers. A prayer attributed to Mother Teresa comes to mind… “Do It Anyway.”

   People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway. 

   If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. 

   If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.  

   If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.  

   What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. 

   If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.  

   The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.  

   Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.  

   In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. 

I say to those of you that are tired, frustrated, depressed; do not give up. Whatever it is that you can do, even if it feels futile, do it anyway. There is power in numbers. You are not alone. 

In our scripture from Acts, Lydia was open to hearing the message that Paul and Silas brought. She in turn used her status to bring others into the sheep fold. We can do the same. 

There is hope. There is precedent. Paul had a vision of a man pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Paul’s vision directed him where to take the Word of God. Paul. Remember his history? Prior to his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, Paul (then Saul) was openly hostile toward those following Jesus’ Way – prosecuting and persecuting them even unto death. Again I say… There is hope. There is precedent. People can and do change. 

We cannot discount the importance of compassion. We cannot over emphasize the importance of working for justice. Together we will muster the strength to help those under attack by the authorities. Each relying on the best ways we know how, using the gifts we are given. 

I noticed something curious this week when studying this scripture from John. My Bible skipped from verse 3 to verse 5. The footnote explains that after ³ In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people  “Other ancient authorities add, wholly or in part, ⁴ waiting for the stirring of the water, for an angel of the Lord went down from time to time into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well from whatever disease that person had.”

Let us strive to be angels for others, stirring up the water, stirring up good trouble, helping to make well  whatever diseases and illnesses beset all of God’s beloved, in this country and in this world. 

Let us learn from the children, and when given the chance, skip down that hallway and offer your heart to another. 

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – May 25, 2025