Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: March 12, 2024

Date: Tuesday of the 4th Week of Lent  

Scripture Text:  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.

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The gospel text for today, taken from John, recounts Jesus’ healing of an ill man at the pool of Bethesda on a Sabbath. Jesus’ compassion for the man’s suffering of 38 years is stirred. However, rather than exultation over this man’s cure, some were disturbed because the healing occurred on a Sabbath. Jesus, who knows the rules better than any, and who taught that Sabbath was created for humanity to ensure a good life (Mark 2:27), further teaches through this healing that there is no bad time to do good. Jesus follows up this miraculous encounter with a second encounter in which he advises/warns the healed man to sin no more, illuminating the path for him to wholeness and peace. We see in this text, also, the rise in hostilities toward Jesus that would ultimately lead to his crucifixion.  

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Do I believe that Jesus desires my wholeness, holiness and peace? Do I bring my needs to Jesus daily for help and healing?  Do I allow the opinions of others to rob me of the joy I find in my relationship with Jesus?

Praying:

LORD, Almighty Father, You sent your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to dwell among us as one of us, our brother, to reveal your limitless love for us and to reconcile ourselves to You when we no longer could find the way. He is “the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” Send your Spirit to stir within us the rightful desire to be His disciples, to deny ourselves and pick up our own crosses, and follow in His footsteps. Grant that we may let His words and actions tenderize our minds and hearts and make us better and more loving individuals, the daughters and sons You created us to be. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Spirit, one LORD, forever and ever. Amen.