From the responsorial psalm: “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 5:1-16, today’s readings)
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.
In Jerusalem, there is a pool called Bethesda where many people come who have a number of illnesses. One man lies near there who has been ill for 38 years. When Jesus first encounters him, he hears how others get to the pool before he is able to. Healing him on the Sabbath, Jesus then slips away into the crowd. When Jewish authorities confront the healed man for carrying his mat on the sabbath, explaining that Jesus healed him, they look for Jesus to persecute him for performing this act on the sabbath. Jesus finds the man later in the temple area and warns him to sin no more. Just as the waters described in Ezekiel’s vision bring abundant physical life, through his passion, death, and resurrection, Jesus brings new life to those who believe in him.
God, let me consider the words of Jesus throughout the day: “Do you want to be well?” Not a prompt for an automatic yes or for greater rational examination, the question is your constant invitation to go further and deeper, as Ezekiel went deeper into the river flowing from the temple. The angel draws Ezekiel from ankle-deep water to depths that eventually engulfed him in a river teeming with life. Give me the grace to recognize the areas in my life where choosing to be well means allowing you to overwhelm me. Do I want to be well? The voice of Christ says, “Take up your mat and walk.” Help me hear and obey him. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.