3-24-2020 Daily Gospel
Reflection
There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
Now that day was a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,
“It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”
He answered them, “The man who made me well told me,
‘Take up your mat and walk.’“
They asked him,
“Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,
“Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you.”
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,
“It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”
He answered them, “The man who made me well told me,
‘Take up your mat and walk.’“
They asked him,
“Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,
“Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you.”
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.
Dear Friends,
In
today’s Gospel we read about a man, long suffering, and also clinging to the
belief that he can find healing at the Pool of Bethesda. For 38 years he has believed that one of
these days he will experience the healing waters and be transformed. Thirty
eight years is a long time to suffer, yet this man has a faith. Jesus arrives,
sees his great faith, sees his long suffering and does something that he knows
will cause concern among the Jews. Jesus
heals the man on the Sabbath. Jesus was
never afraid to do what was right, no matter what day of the week. Jesus realized he would be attacked and
suffer for the work he would do, yet he did the good, knowing there would be a
cost to be paid.
We
see this in a profound way today when men and women doing the good at great
personal risk to themselves. We see it
also in the businesses that voluntarily shutdown at great cost to themselves
and their workers, to maintain the health of the greater community. We see it when families self-quarantine and
make the best of close quarters to maintain the health and well being of the
vulnerable in their homes or community. Today
let us accept the challenge of doing the good and not consider the cost.
What
does that look like in our homes? Sometimes it looks like folding laundry for
our family, cleaning something that is dirty, picking up our rooms. Other times it is recognizing the fear, the
hurt, the sadness in someone in our home, and doing a small act of kindness to
brighten their day, giving a hug, reading a book aloud, playing a game, praying
together, or putting aside our screens and simply talking to one another. This
Lenten season especially, we are challenged to pray for others, fast for others
and give alms to those in need. How are we called to lift up our neighbor and
live like Christ today? Or maybe today, we are the man, waiting for Christ to
transform us, as we sit beside the pool in faith.
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