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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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I’m sure we’ve all been like this man who was healed by Jesus.
Notice he does nothing to receive this grace; for thirty-eight years, he was actively trying to heal himself by diving into the waters at Bethesda.
Much like the spring at Lourdes, Jews believed that the first person to reach those waters when stirred would be healed of their sickness. But Lady Luck was never this man’s friend.
Suddenly, Jesus shows up and does for him what he cannot do for himself.
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Many miracles in the Gospels end at that point – when a person is healed. Think of the man who had a legion of demons cast out of him. He wanted to follow the Lord, but Jesus told him to go home and love his family.
So, we never hear of him again.
This miracle, however, is different.
John tells us that, after the man was healed, Jesus finds him in the Temple area. I’m sure he used those fresh legs of his to walk – or likely run – to offer sacrifice in thanksgiving to God. How that scene must’ve consoled the heart of Christ!
We know that’s one thing that matters to Jesus: gratitude.
Like the man who could not help himself, often we find ourselves in places or positions that we cannot work our way out of. So, we pray for strength, healing, or an open door, and it’s granted.
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When has Jesus come to your aid or answered a prayer near and dear to your heart?
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Two simple words always console him:
Thank you.
May they fall from our lips and reach his heart today.
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Image credits: (1) Kairos Ministries (2) Nathan Greene (3) TruFluency