Category: Uncategorized

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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

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Gospel: John 4: 43-54

At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his native place.
When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
The royal official said to him,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him,
“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Let’s walk for a moment in this father’s shoes.

His child is deathly ill, lying in bed at home. Although he’s a high-ranking government official, no amount of wealth or influence will cure his child. He needs Jesus.

However, there’s one major problem: the Lord is 20-miles away in Galilee. 

I imagine this father sprinting, searching desperately for Jesus until he finds him. Finally, out of breath, he throws himself at the Lord’s feet, begging Jesus to visit his home.

But the Lord insists, “You may go; your son will live.”

What proof does this father have? How can he know for certain? If we were in his shoes, wouldn’t we ask the Lord for a sign, or confirmation of the healing?

But, the Gospel says, “the man believed what Jesus said to him and left.”

Now he can walk – not run – back home.

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This man’s forty-mile roundtrip journey from his home in Capernaum to Galilee and back is symbolic of the Christian journey.

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We begin by searching.

Though it may not be an ill child, something inside of us is stirred, causing us to look for Jesus. After a certain period of time, we find him. 

We encounter him.

That encounter with the Divine changes our perspective; it fills us with peace. Then we do what this father did – return home and share the Good News with others.

As the Gospel says, “He and his whole household came to believe.”

Which stage of the journey am I in?

Am I still seeking, searching for answers? Have I found the Lord? Am I now sharing my faith with others?

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May the Lord bless our Lenten journeys, so that we may proclaim with others at Easter, “My Lord and my God!”

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Image credits: (1) QuoteFancy (2) 123RF (3) Kairos Network Church