Fr Kevin Kilgore

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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.

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Jesus is describing a similar relationship to his Father in today’s Gospel.

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

The more Jesus does his Father’s will, the happier he becomes.

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The same is true for us.

The more we give ourselves to God, the happier we become.

I wonder, what might it look like for me to give even more of myself to God today?

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Image credits: (1) Hungryfaces (2) AZQuotes (3) QuoteFancy

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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

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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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Today’s Gospel provides a beautiful image of the Christian life.

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A desperate father approaches Jesus, begging him to heal his son. Adding to this father’s anguish was the 20-mile journey he made on foot from Capernaum to Cana, praying for a miracle.

When he finally approaches the Lord, he says, “Come down before my child dies.” But this father is only given the promise, “You may go; your son will live.”

I’m sure anyone would’ve wanted proof; something more than a promise; some sign that the boy was okay. 

But Jesus invites this desperate father to journey home in peace; to walk, not run; to trust that what he said, was, in fact, done.

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That father’s 20-mile journey back home from Cana to Capernaum is a fitting image for the Christian life – for your journey and for mine.

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The Lord promised us at our baptism, “Whoever believes in me and is baptized will be saved.” We’ve been given the gift of eternal life! It’s what we will celebrate at Easter.

While we may desire more proof, we’re invited to trust like this father, that what Jesus says will be done.

The more we trust him, the easier and more peaceful our journey becomes. 

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

And so will we.

Thanks be to God.

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Image credits: (1) King’s Church Birmingham (2) westend61 (3) The Stone Table