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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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The Gospels are filled with stories of miraculous healings. But these stories often conclude with the miracle itself; someone is healed, then Jesus and the person healed move on.
Today, however, we get a glimpse of what happened after the miracle.
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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 a cat, his limbs deformed, his body overcome with arthritis.
Suddenly, Jesus comes along and heals him using the power of his voice. Anyone would’ve been overwhelmed by such a gift, but where would you go if you were suddenly able to walk?
Perhaps back home to share the good news with family or friends.
Yet the Gospel tells us, “Jesus found him in the temple area.” Meaning, the first thing this man did with his freshly healed legs was walk – or maybe run – 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 something I’m grateful for?
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Now is the opportunity to put this Gospel into practice. Go up to the temple – go to the house of the Lord either today or on Sunday – 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) LinkedIn (2) The Puzzling Pool of Bethesda, BAS Library (3) Whiteland Church of Christ