Christ is risen!
In ancient days Jacob rolled away a stone to water the flocks, and during these days of Pascha, we contemplate how, the stone rolled away, living water flows from the tomb of Christ to water the flock of the faithful. Today, near the Sheep Gate, the paralytic waits for someone to lift him into the pool when the water is stirred, but instead the living Water stirs himself up and comes to the paralytic; Christ himself takes the initiative to rescue and heal this paralyzed man, this lame and lonely lamb.
But we notice that Christ’s healing consists precisely in loosing the man’s paralysis, so that now the former paralytic can walk on his own. Christ does not leave this man helpless, but grants him the ability he once lacked. Likewise, when we are baptized into Christ – and each time we turn again (or rather, he turns us again) to repentance and renewal of our baptism through confession of sins – we are not left helpless, either. Instead, we are imbued anew with the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we can walk, as it were, on our own two legs, doing the works God desires us to do. “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn. 8:36).