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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 any more,
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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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“After this, Jesus found him in the temple area.”
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The Gospel is filled with stories of miraculous healings: lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the lame walk, even the dead are raised.
Often these stories conclude with the miracle itself; a person is healed, then the Gospel moves onto another story.
But today we get a glimpse into what happened afterwards.
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A man was crippled for 38 years – so crippled all he could do was lay on a mat. I imagine him balled up like an infant, his limbs deformed, his body overcome with arthritis.
Suddenly, Jesus comes along and heals him using simply the power of his speech. Anyone would’ve been overwhelmed by such a gift, but where would you go after?
The Gospel tells, “Jesus found him in the temple area.” Meaning, the first thing this man did with his fresh legs was walk – or maybe run – up to the temple to give thanks to God.
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Gratitude.
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Anyone who’s had a prayer answered – whether it was something minor or something major like the healing of this crippled man – has a reason to give thanks to God.
So, what’s one thing I’m grateful for? Have I given thanks?
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Today is an opportunity to live out this Gospel passage. Go up to the temple – go to the house of the Lord – and, “give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1).
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Image credits: (1) MaryAnn Ward, WordPress (2) St. Shenouda Monastery (3) Faithlife Sermons