A lone poppy caught my eye as I wandered among the ruins of the Pools of Bethesda some years ago. All around me lay remnants of what had been a place of healing and hope in first century Palestine. There was no sign of either now, apart from this bright red poppy which had managed to find sufficient nourishment to reach maturity and fling its colour into the greyness of the surroundings.
This location in Jerusalem was the site of one of Jesus' healing miracles. The Gospel of John, chapter 5 opens with the story of an unnamed man who had been paralysed for thirty eight years. He was one of many who hoped that they would be cured when the water was 'stirred up'... but, as he will soon describe to Jesus, he had no-one to help him reach the water in time. His life was severely limited and frustrating.
Into this place Jesus wanders. He learns of the man's longstanding disability and asks him what seems a pretty obvious question: 'Do you want to get well?'
The man is taken aback. He doesn't answer Jesus directly; he can't turn his mind to what is being offered. Instead he looks backwards at what he thinks has been hindering his healing: the lack of aid from others.
It's an intriguing response isn't it? This relating back to what has been; this seeing others as bearing responsibility for one's predicament; this slowness to take a life-changing opportunity.
Would I, would you respond any differently?
Well, we have a chance to see.
As we endure days or even weeks of frustration and limitations on our freedom because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have the chance to take a look at how we've been living - individually, in kinship groups, as a nation, as a world.
We have a chance to consider our inner lives and motivation - for example, do we habitually look for someone to blame whenever things turn to custard?
We have the chance to reassess priorities as we are confronted by both the disproportionate impact of this pandemic on the poor and disadvantaged AND the fragility and preciousness of all life, including our own.
We have the chance to slow down, to spend time with those closest to us, to dream up little acts of kindness, to recover the pastimes that used to give us joy, to play and be creative in all sorts of ways, to look at what it really means to be made in the image of God.
Some would say they just want to 'get back to normal', but there are others who are saying that maybe it's time to examine our 'normal' and see how we might better live our lives for the good of the whole planet.
What had been 'normal' for the paralysed man, certainly wasn't the life that Jesus opened up before him. Jesus offered him and offers each one of us a new way of being ourselves. We might even call this new way 'resurrection', 'being born again', even 'repentance' - turning towards Jesus so we can grasp the healing and new life being offered and be guided by his Spirit in the pathway ahead as it unfolds.
Take a moment to imagine Jesus standing in front of you, as he did with the paralytic at the Pools of Bethesda. He looks at you with deep compassion:
'Do you want to get well?'
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