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Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12

Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

J ohn 5:1-16 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. (2) Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-za'tha, which has five porticoes. (3) In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. (5) One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. (6) When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" (7) The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me." (8) Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk." (9) And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. (10) So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet." (11) But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, `Take up your pallet, and walk.'" (12) They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, `Take up your pallet, and walk'?" (13) Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. (14) Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you." (15) The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. (16) And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the Sabbath.

Meditation by Don Schwager

Do you want to grow in holiness and be like Christ? Ezekiel prophesies that a “river of life” will flow from God’s throne in the Temple. This water will transform everything it touches, bringing life, healing, and restoration. Jesus offers himself as the source of this living water which he will pour out upon his disciples in the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The signs and miracles which Jesus performed manifest the power and presence of God’s kingdom and they demonstrate the love and mercy God has for his people. In the pool at Bethzatha we see an individual’s helplessness overcome by God’s mercy and power. On this occasion Jesus singles out an incurable invalid, helpless and hopeless for almost forty years.  He awakens hope when he puts a probing question to the man, “Do you really want to be healed?” And he then orders him to “get up and walk!”

God wants to free us from the power of sin and make us whole. But he will not force our hand against our will. The first essential step towards growth and healing is the desire for change. If we are content to stay as we are, then no amount of coaxing will change us.  The Lord manifests his power and saving grace towards those who desire transformation of life in Christ. The Lord approaches each of us with the same probing question: “Do you really want to be changed, to be set free from the power of sin, and to be transformed in my holiness?”

Lord Jesus, put within my heart a burning desire to be changed and transformed in your holiness. Let your Holy Spirit change my heart and renew me in your love and righteousness.

GOD BLESS US ALL!

O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU. – Bobot Apit

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