Author: admin

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Gospel: John 5: 31-47

Jesus said to the Jews: 
“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.
But there is another who testifies on my behalf,
and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.
You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept human testimony,
but I say this so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.
But I have testimony greater than John’s.
The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,
these works that I perform testify on my behalf
that the Father has sent me.
Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf.
But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
and you do not have his word remaining in you,
because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.
You search the Scriptures,
because you think you have eternal life through them;
even they testify on my behalf.
But you do not want to come to me to have life.

“I do not accept human praise;
moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 
I came in the name of my Father,
but you do not accept me;
yet if another comes in his own name,
you will accept him.
How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another
and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:
the one who will accuse you is Moses,
in whom you have placed your hope.
For if you had believed Moses,
you would have believed me,
because he wrote about me. 
But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe my words?”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Every morning before I begin praying at my desk, I light a tea candle and place it in a stand. That candle burns bright for over an hour until its little wick runs out, disappearing into a silhouette of smoke.

Symbolically, that candle reminds me of John the Baptist, whom Jesus praises in today’s Gospel.

“He was a burning and shining lamp,” Jesus says, “and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.”

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Like a tea candle, John gave off light, leading people to Christ. 

And just as a candle warms whatever is near it, John warmed human hearts with his goodness.

Above all, like a candle, John slowly burned away his life, his understanding, his entire will until only Christ remained. 

As he himself said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.”

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In what ways are we like John the Baptist? 

Do we emit the light of Christ? 

Do we attract others by our warmth? 

Do we allow the Holy Spirit to melt away our plans and desires until only Christ is left?

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Lent is the time for us to live more like John, who like a little candle, gave himself away.

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Image credits: (1) FireFly Fuel, Tea Candle (2) Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (3) Everypixel.com

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Gospel: John 5: 17-30

Jesus answered the Jews: 
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
Nor does the Father judge anyone,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.
Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.

“I cannot do anything on my own;
I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Perhaps the most famous love story in literary history is William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet.

You may remember the famous balcony scene when Juliet gazes down upon Romeo and says, “Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”

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Juliet learned to see the world through Romeo’s eyes.

She dreamt her lover’s dreams and sought to please her lover’s needs, because the happier Romeo was, the happier Juliet became.

The more she gave, the more she had.

That’s the essence of love.

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Jesus is describing a similar love with his Father in today’s Gospel.

“I do not seek my own will,” he says, “but the will of the one who sent me.” 

Everything Jesus says and does is to glorify his heavenly Father, even at the cost of his own life.

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The same is true for us.

The more we give ourselves to God – the more we pray, the more we love him, the more we serve him in our neighbor – the happier we become.

In what ways can I love God today?

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We’ll always be happier when we do.

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Image credits: (1) The Trinity, Taddeo Crivelli (2) The Holy Trinity, Nicoletto Semitecolo (3) Christian Wall Art Bible Verse, eBay

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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