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<table class="gmail-m_-6255264822592016296layout gmail-m_-6255264822592016296layout-table gmail-m_-6255264822592016296root-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_-6255264822592016296layout-row-margin36411" 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_-6255264822592016296layout-row36411" class="gmail-m_-6255264822592016296layout gmail-m_-6255264822592016296layout-row gmail-m_-6255264822592016296widget gmail-m_-6255264822592016296_widget_text gmail-m_-6255264822592016296style36411" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-6255264822592016296layout-row-padding36411" style="padding:10px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-6255264822592016296text_div35874" class="gmail-m_-6255264822592016296td_text gmail-m_-6255264822592016296td_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:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style: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"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;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. Jesus sees the man lying on his
mat, next to a pool, and asks, "Do you want to be well?" The man answers
him, and Jesus replies, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."
Immediately, the man is healed.</b></span></span><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><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><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><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">One
would expect that everyone around the cured man would rejoice, but just
the contrary:<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> 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."</b></span></span><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><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 <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the ways of God.</span> We find<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> them</span> troubling and threatening.</b> </span>Why?
<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Because<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> they undermine</span> the games of oppression and exclusion that we
rely upon in order to boost our own egos.</b></span></span><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><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 <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">our ways</span>, and that there is one even greater than the Sabbatíh.</b></span></span></b><br></span></b></b><br>
<span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)"><b>Reflect: God created the Sabbath for a particular purpose. What was that purpose and how is the Sabbath honored and kept today? </b></span><br></span></b></div>
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