Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Intention: For all who are standing up for justice, especially those who are being opposed or persecuted, that God will continue to strengthen them and that their courage may inspire greater integrity in all people.
Today’s Gospel | John 5:1-16
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 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 anymore, 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.
A Lenten Reflection
The Gospel account of Jesus’ healing of the man at Bethesda is a strange miracle story. Jesus approaches a man who is so incapacitated that he cannot even lower himself into a pool of water for relief. Why would Jesus ask someone who is so clearly in misery, “Do you want to be well?” What possibly could be the purpose of such a question?
In the Church’s understanding, Jesus’ healing miracles are moments in which the power of God’s Kingdom breaks dramatically and intensely into the human condition. In the Kingdom, what is wrong is set right and what is broken is made whole. This is the character of redemption. And if redemption is a restoration of our wholeness, then how redemption takes place must acknowledge and respect human dignity, which includes our freedom to choose and to act for ourselves. By setting before us a choice and then entrusting us with the ability to make our own decision, God invites us to be cooperators in his grace, experiencing the gift of salvation not as helpless victims, but as empowered participants.
And so, at Bethesda, Jesus asked, “Do you want to be well?” In other words, will you accept the challenge of enabling your own return to fullness? Will you allow me into your brokenness by saying yes to me? During Lent, we should reflect on what is our own answer might be because, whether we realize it or not, the question is being asked of us all the time. Are we humble enough to admit to our need for God’s help? In the midst of our infirmities, will we have the faith that will enable us to rise up and walk?
Prayer
Eternal Father, you sent your Son to teach us the way to eternal life, to help us overcome our trials and our weaknesses. In this holy time of Lent, help us to be strong and face whatever challenges the future might bring. When we are tired, may we find strength. When we are discouraged, may we find hope. Whenever life pushes us to our limits, may we rise to its challenges and continue to confidently proclaim your Good News. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.