The Pulpit Speaks: November 10, 1962

An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.

“For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water; whoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.” — John 5:4

The month of November is always one of mixed emotions for me. I always associate it with the passing of one of the greatest figures I have ever known. I was a freshman teacher at Bishop College when Dr. Joseph J. Rhodes, then president, passed. In 12 months of working with him. I had learned to appreciate him as a man of stature. Few men of any generation have ever been able to rise to his stature in my thinking. Never did he content himself to do only that which was popular. The people of Texas, and specifically of Marshall, still now benefit from his labors. Like that angel of years ago, he was an angel who troubled the waters that others might be healed.

In spite of the fact that he was smarting under physical handicaps, he went all out that others might live through the sacrifices he was making. The spirit he exhibited is the kind each of us should strive to show. In this day of self-concern, we need people of his heart.

If one goes back a few verses, we will see that this main had lain at the pool for 38 years. Each time the angel came down and troubled the water, someone else would beat this sick man into the water. We live in a day when people are lying at pools throughout our society, waiting for someone to disturb the water. People in all walks of life are encountering some type of sickness. They are waiting for some agency to come to their aid that relief might be wrought.

It is at this point that we Christians take on a new significance. We must be so fortified ourselves that we will be able to withstand the temptations of being successful. We must be in a position to render a real service to our day and time that men of the fibre of Livingstone, Pasteur, Schweitzer and the like must become more numerous within our society. Today we must think in terms of the good we can do rather than the goods we can received. As we trouble the waters and make it possible for someone else to be healed, we must lose self in the rewards that only God can give.

Life is a matter of mission. All of us here are but missionaries, striving through our talents to enrich the lives of all of those with whom we come in contact.

STIR THE WATER

The spirit of the angel coming down to trouble the water must become the spirit of each of us. Today, each of us must start thinking in terms of what good we can do to benefit each of us. We cannot forfeit our mission here by inactivity. We must fight the good fight in the interest of all those about us. We must stir the water about us and make it possible for the people to become a part of the abundant life.

Today we stand on the brink of social, moral and spiritual decay. People have lost the real meaning of these things as they have affected society today. We have become lost in a sense of conformity. This conformity has made for the decay in our day and time. We must rid ourselves of this idea and dare to be different to the point that we can make our contribution to a day that will stand us in good stead with our God and our fellow man.

The world today stands at a point where we must trouble the water and provide full growth for those about us. Our every effort must be made toward the betterment of society as it is designed by God. Contrary to the thinking of many of us, we must be of that fibre that will enable us to make a worthwhile contribution to a day that is weighed on the scales and found wanting. Our day is wanting and will be so until we rise up to the demands placed upon us by the broken hearts about us.

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