March 28 2006

Jn 5:1-16 There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gatea 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 thereand 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.
I have heard people jokingly say no good deed goes unpunished. It is the sort of situation. Jesus has compassion on a man who has been suffering an seeking healing for many years. The temple officials have no interest in the sufferings of this man and the compassion of Christ. The only concern the temple officials have is did Jesus violate the laws of the sabbath. It is a case of thinking only with the law, the letter of the law, the head and ignoring the heart of the situation. Without love we are nothing. In our religion love is the center of Christian life. The letter of the law and only seeing that leads to darkness and straying from the love of God. Compassion and mercy are within the heart of Christ and the message of the ministry of Jesus. To reach out, to show compassion, to give healing, to include not exclude are all messages of Christ's ministry. I pray today that I will show that love of Christ within myself and share it humbly with all people that I encounter today.