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Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
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March 29, 2022"POOL OF BETHESDA"
Today’s passage from John’s gospel (5:1-16) takes place in Jerusalem at the Pool of Bethesda near the Sheep Gate. The sick and the disabled would gather here apparently because it was believed that when the water of the pool was disturbed (a spring below? an angel of the Lord?), curative powers were available to the first person to immerse him/herself in the water.
Jesus meets a crippled man who has been here for 38 years and has not been able to move quickly enough to get into the water and be healed. Jesus encounters him, asks if he wants to be healed, and of course, the man says yes. With that, Jesus tells him,
“Pick up your mat and walk!”
PERIOD. FULL STOP (as we would say today). END OF STORY. How WONDERFUL. Right??
John tells us that the first people this man runs into say to him,
“It is the sabbath, and you are not allowed to carry that mat around.”
Human nature strikes again?
As I continue to get on with my life, I become increasingly convinced (correctly or incorrectly) that the message Jesus came to communicate to us is, in its essence, very simple—
LOVE GOD. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.
One concrete way of living this out for Jesus Himself was to sit down with ANYONE and break bread with that person(s). No requirements nor restrictions. This no longer is the case at the meal we continue to celebrate in His memory and in His honor.
Did Jesus undergo a change of mind or heart about who was welcome at His table and meal???
The next time we see a random example and manifestation of God’s goodness playing itself out before our very eyes, let us not be the ones to respond with—
“Yes, but……..”
