The Wounded Man Who Got Up and Walked
(Posted May 22, 2025)
In some ways, we can say it’s fortunate that Memorial Day is one of those holidays whose original connection to loss and mourning has been greatly softened, if not entirely forgotten for many of us. Since the last physical war that impacted people in America was a few years back, we hopefully still recall the valor and sacrifice of so many to gain us the freedoms we take so much for granted.
In the grand tradition of having an old fashioned American good time, we mark this holiday event with auto races, cookouts and discounts on mattresses and mayonnaise. But let’s not fool ourselves. Deep within ourselves, we have places in need of healing we don’t talk about very often. Broken spots that the wounds of conflict have never fully fleshed over.
A Wounded Identity
In general, it’s a healthy sign when someone actively strives to get better than they are. But the wounds that hatred, violence and prejudice leave inside can be found open-- not by accident, but by choice. There are people who identify so much with their prejudice that they don’t WANT to see it change. It’s so familiar that it’s comforting to detest people they haven’t even met.
In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus is at the Pool of Bethesda, a significant pool known for its “magical” healing qualities for the first person to enter it whenever the wings of an angel have ruffled its surface. But ONLY the first person. The wounded remainder are still queued up and broken at the edge.
No Longer Identified as 'Wounded'
Jesus meets a man on the banks of the pool. He tells Jesus he’s been lying on his mat there for 38 years, but somehow everyone beats him to the waters. Thirty-eight YEARS?? Jesus looks at him and says, “Stand UP, take up your mat, and WALK.” Just like that, the man did, under his own power. He no longer identifies as the wounded man, but as the one who got up and walked.
In many ways our cultural wounds are like that. We may love them so much that we don’t recognize that we have the power to move forward, even if it’s inch by inch, to the point where we recognize and respect the integrity of all God’s children.
This weekend, let us remember our honored fallen heroes by burying deeply the sins we hold against one another, to bestow God’s love on everyone we meet.