March 22, Wednesday, Fourth Week of Lent
Isaiah 49:8-15; John 5:17-30
I am surprised at the question Jesus asked the man lying at Bethsaida pool for 38 years. All the sick, including him, are waiting near the pool with one desire, and one hope that is healing. And the surprise question is “Do you want to be healed?” He must have been the first one to challenge him in that way.
Often, we get so accustomed and habituated to the way we are that we do not think of the possibility of any change. The desire to bring about a change in us dies. At that time, not even God can help us! The question must have surprised the man who was accustomed to lay there for so many years. Jesus interestingly did not say, “come on” I will help you carry your cross. Just like the question Jesus asked the invalid, Jesus’ response to the man’s positive desire to be healed too is a surprise. If your want is real, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
He has to do three things all by himself, getting up, lifting up and walking. For 38 years he had thought differently, with the booster shot from Jesus everything changed, he got up, lifted up the bed and walked before them all.
His emotions and thoughts began to support his body. Jesus knows that God wants all humans to be healed and stay healthy. Wellness is the way we are meant to be; sickness is our addition to creation.
If I were there in the vicinity, I would have marvelled at the new miracle worker who happened to walk by the pool. Surprise, admiration, and gratefulness would have been the natural human responses to such an unusual experience of healing.
The Jews were annoyed. Their eyes were more focused on the breaking of the law. Their mindsets were hardened not by 38 years but hundreds of years. It is much harder to enable people to think newly and positively than give strength to the man who was lying invalid for years.
The Jews believed that no work and no healing should be done on Sabbath. Healing is a daily process. There is no holiday for healing. God’s children were created first. Sabbath is a later addition. Jesus as the Son of God will be there every day and all the days wanting only our wellbeing. No Sabbath can stop him from being and doing good.
May we be ever ready to be channels of healing!
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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