Water is the predominate feature of the old testament reading, the responsorial psalm, and the gospel reading today as well. The water in these readings are portrayed as healing and the source of all life. In the first reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the water was portrayed as majestic, fresh and life giving as it flowed out from underneath the temple. The temple of course is where God dwells and all life on earth flows from this source, because God is our creator.
All life on earth exists because of water. This is the same with our spiritual lives too. Eternal life began for us, when we were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Original sin was washed away at our baptism and we were born into a new life in Jesus Christ, through his holy church. However, our faith was still small then, like a trickle.
God’s grace increases in us as we grow older, as long as we remain connected to Jesus Christ and his church. We grow in faith, through God’s grace, to be life giving to those around us. God’s word flows through us into the world, bringing love and goodness into a world that is often darkened by sin. Hopefully we will change the world around us into a better place a little more each day.
In the gospel today, Jesus had compassion for a man who had been sick for 38 years. This man could not get to the healing waters in the pool of Bethesda, because there was no one to carry him (when the angel stirred the waters). So Jesus, in his compassion had pity on him and healed him. There is something worth noting about the words Jesus said to him, “Take up your mat and walk.”
The Pharisees got upset with this man because he was carrying his mat on the sabbath, which was against their rules. Jesus surely must have known it was against the rules to carry your mat on the sabbath, so why did he tell this man to do this? It made the Pharisees upset with the man who had been healed, but also with Jesus for healing him on the sabbath. It’s almost like Jesus intentionally provoked the Pharisees, by telling this man to take up his mat and walk.
The Pharisees questioned the man who was healed. They wanted to know who healed him, but he did not know who it was. Later, Jesus confronted the man that he had healed and told him not to sin anymore, less something worse befall him, but the man went and told the Pharisees who he was anyway.
It really makes you wonder why Jesus did something that was against the rules of his time? He would have known the rules since he was a child, and yet he broke them on purpose. Perhaps it was to make a point that people are more important than the rules.
Another thing that seems a bit odd is that the man who was healed told the Pharisees he didn’t know who had healed him, and then Jesus purposely sought him out and told him to not sin anymore. So, of course the man who was healed ran straight to the Pharisees and told them it was Jesus who had healed him. It’s almost as if Jesus wanted him to do this because this man didn’t know him and that Jesus wanted him to tell others that the miracle was attributed to him. Is it possible that Jesus provoked the Pharisees on purpose? Jesus did provoke the people in his own hometown so bad that they wanted to kill him. If Jesus did provoke the Pharisees on purpose, then it must be so that God’s plan of salvation would be fulfilled, if the Pharisees got mad enough at him to kill him. Jesus knew the bigger picture of the purpose of his life and may have been laying the groundwork for his eventual execution on the cross, even this early.
Things are not always what they seem to be on the surface of things. What began as a simple healing of a cripple by the pool of Bethesda, ended with the Pharisees getting so angry at Christ for doing this, that they began persecuting him for it. But, the whole thing may have been part of God’s plan all along, because the reason Jesus came to earth was to die for our sins.
Both of the readings for mass today encourage us to try and see the bigger picture. The angel guided the prophet Ezekiel to see the big picture in today’s first reading for mass, but the gospel reading today wasn’t quite as obvious. Our own lives are like that too. It’s easy to get caught up in the small details, tasks, and encounters with other people we have each day, and never really see the bigger picture of our lives.
That is a good question to ask ourselves as we travel through Lent. Do we have any idea what God’s will is for our lives? Are we learning to listen to Him a little more each day, through an active prayer and sacramental life? If we have not grown very much closer to God during this Lenten season, then perhaps today’s readings could be taken as a reminder to seek the Lord in prayer and listen for Him in periods of silence throughout our day. Self will is a good thing, but God’s will is even better.
Daily Mass Readings:
Ezekiel 47: 1-9 / Psalm 46: 2-3, 5-6, 8-9 / John 5: 1-16
