Rev. George Miller
Feb 8, 2026
John 5:1-9
Our Confirmation Class has been studying the
parables of Jesus, stories deceivingly complex, designed to make one think,
even if we never fully understand.
Jesus used Parables to be subversive in a
time when soldiers patrolled the streets and officials expected blind obedience.
Mark 4:26 has the seed that grows beyond
human control. Matthew 20 has a landowner
who pays each person the same regardless of what the timeclock says. Luke 15 has a son who gets angry that his Dad
hosted party for his brother.
But the Gospel of John features not a nab
Parable; not a single one. Jesus does a
lot of talking and teaching, but not once does he tell a story.
This fact is a bit of a mystery, but I began
to wonder- “What if John IS the parable?”
What if the entire Gospel of John is a subversive,
confusing parable designed to make us think and to feel discomfort, just as
Jesus did with his stories of women hiding yeast, foreigners being the hero,
and feasts where the homeless are invited as guests of honor?
What if the stories in John are not
necessarily real but instead true? What if the author is saying “Don’t pay so
much attention to the facts, but to the intent and implication.”?
With this mindset, we can look at today’s
reading, and realize something- it is another story in John that takes place
around water.
First, we had the wedding at Cana, then
Nicodemus at night being told about water and spirit, then the Woman from
Samaria at Jacob’s Well, having an extended dialogue with Jesus in broad
daylight.
Today we have an individual who’s experienced
a lifetime of illness, waiting for someone, anyone to place him in the pool.
All these stories appear in John and John
only. No parables in John, but lots of water.
Then, we realize- it’s only in John that Jesus
washes the disciple’s feet. It’s only in
John where Jesus’ side is pierced and water pours out. It’s only in John that Christ Resurrected appears
by the sea, asks for fish, and feeds the disciples breakfast.
Water water everywhere in the Gospel of
John. What could it mean? Why would this be?
The author of John is not here today to
tell us, but we can approach this as a parable knowing we’ll never get the full
facts, but we might leave with some truth.
For me, I think of how John starts- “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God...”
How that ties into Genesis 1- “When God
began to create…the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of
the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”
When John starts the Gospel stating “In
the beginning was the Word,” is the author expecting us to think of Genesis, the
waters of creation, and how God’s words made our world out of chaos?
If so, John may be playfully using this
water motif to make us pay attention, look, hear, remember.
Maybe John
has no parables because the whole Gospel is a parable.
Jesus is at a wedding. When chaos is sure to ensue because there’s
no more liquor, Jesus, turns water into wine, symbolizing the presence of
heaven.
Jesus is visited by a frightened religious
figure at night. They have a conversation
about wombs and water, and the man evolves into being incredibly brave.
At Jacob’s Well, Jesus and a Samaritan woman
discuss living water. In the process, the
legacy of the past meets the present, beginning reunification of two nations that
has been torn apart.
Today we have a man living with great pain,
who meets Jesus by the pool. Jesus says “Do
you want to be made well? Stand up, take
your mat, and walk.”
Do you want to be made well? Then pick up your mat and walk.
There’s a thread here.
Water is turned into wine, but it takes
many people to make that happen.
Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well willingly
engage Jesus in honesty and integrity and their lives are changed.
The person by the pool has been waiting
for someone to save him. Yet it is by
being willing to stand and pick up their mat, that they begin to enter a new
stage of life.
Water, water everywhere.
Water of creation. Water of heaven. Water of rebirth; new life. Water of healing.
We may never fully understand these stories;
perhaps we never will. Maybe that is the
point.
Perhaps John is one great big Parable
saying “Come, let’s gather by the water; let’s share some words; let’s discern
together who Jesus is and what an encounter with Christ is all about.”
Heaven here on earth? New understanding? Reclaimed legacy? Moving forward instead of being stuck in
place?
Creation, creation, creation.
May God continue to bless our imagination and
our time to discern together. Amen.
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