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<table class="gmail-m_-4733177622594164143layout gmail-m_-4733177622594164143layout-table gmail-m_-4733177622594164143root-table" style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" width="650" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-4733177622594164143layout-row-margin21578" style="padding:5px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-4733177622594164143layout-row21578" class="gmail-m_-4733177622594164143layout gmail-m_-4733177622594164143layout-row gmail-m_-4733177622594164143widget gmail-m_-4733177622594164143_widget_text gmail-m_-4733177622594164143style21578" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-4733177622594164143layout-row-padding21578" style="padding:10px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="970" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" height="459"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-4733177622594164143text_div21137" class="gmail-m_-4733177622594164143td_text gmail-m_-4733177622594164143td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1.5;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" valign="top" align="left"><div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-size:18px;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends,
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> in today’s Gospel we find the beautiful healing of a paralyzed man who
had been ill for thirty-eight years. </b><b>Jesus sees the man lying on his
mat, next to a pool, and asks, "Do you want to
be well?" The man says yes, and Jesus replies, "Rise, take up your mat,
and walk." Immediately, the man is healed.</b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Now
at this point, the story really heats up. We notice something that is
frequently on display in the Gospels: the resistance to the creative
work of God, the attempt to find any excuse, however lame, to deny it,
to pretend it’s not there, to condemn it.</span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>One
would expect that everyone around the cured man would rejoice,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>but just
the contrary: <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">the Jewish leaders are infuriated and confounded. They
see the healed man and their first response is, "It is the Sabbath, and
it is not
lawful for you to carry your mat."</span></b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Why
are they so reactive? Why don’t they want this to be? <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>We sinners don’t
like </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the ways of God</b></span>. <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>We find them troubling and threatening. Why?
</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Because they undermine</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the games of oppression and exclusion that we
rely upon in order to boost our own egos.</b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Let this encounter remind us that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>God’s ways are not</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>our ways,</b></span> and that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>there is one even greater than the Sabbath.</b></span></span></b><br></span></b></div>
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