Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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.
Walk!
1) Do you want to heal? Being sick meant, apart from not being able to be independent in their life, being left on their own. Maybe the disease you have today is that of not being free, of being tied up to something or someone. And even worse, you may be feeling alone, with no one to help you and to free you from this disease. It seems that even faith is limited here, because you feel you have no freedom to move in life, you feel tied down, but above all, alone.
2) Jesus heals him. When Jesus saw the man lying there simply waiting to be cured, knowing
that he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be well?” This way Jesus shows us that to get ahead, beyond God’s help, you and your desire are also necessary. Your attitude to be able to say, “I want to get out of this”. God can help you in everything and He can give you all the tools to get ahead, but if you don’t show the right attitude, then it’s impossible. The key is to be willing to change your lifestyle. God puts 50 % and you must put the other 50.
3) Worse things. You come into this life with freedom and clarity, but you get entangled. This is when you start getting sick in this life. You catch the disease of losing objectivity, the disease of losing freedom in everyday life, even losing self-esteem and feeling worthless. When you experience God and you know you are healed by Him, if you don’t change your attitude, everything is cut short and falls to pieces. It is time for you to roll up your sleeves, but to act in your own life. You can’t always be selling your freedom and your dignity. Be someone who gets up, who rises and walks through life without expecting anything from anyone, only from God. Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
