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. JN 5:1-16
If Jesus asked you, “Do you want to be well?” how would you respond? We like to be comfortable, we have our favorite sins or at least the ones we struggle with the most. If we think about it, you can trace back when that sin began. Jesus later said, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” When we come to Christ, we are transformed and He asks us to sin no more. This happens at Baptism, when we receive the Eucharist, Confession, and Anointing of the Sick. God’s grace transforms us. We are in control of ourselves. With God’s grace we are called to change our habits, this requires discipline and self-control. This requires making good decisions and fasting. Lent is a time to enter the spiritual weight room. It is in prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor that we work on changing our habits. We usually have one simple habit that needs to change that will help us to stay out of the near occasion of sin. Jesus is ready to help us every day, this is what He died for. After all, deep in your heart, “Don’t you want to be well?” Holiness equals happiness.
Today’s challenge: Take time to reflect on the words of Jesus, “Do you want to be well?” What real change would you like to make. With God’s grace anything is possible. Never give up!
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
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