THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Tuesday in the fourth week in Lent, 2021,

Ezk 47: 1-9, 12

Ps 46

John 5:1-16

Take up your pallet and walk

Dear friends in Christ, when a situation seems hopeless, many people give up. In some situations it is not because they cannot be helped, it may just be that, others are too preoccupied with their own problems. Rather than give up, in your own situation, look up to Jesus, who turns every situation around for good.

Our first reading today is from the Prophet Ezekiel.  Ezekiel was the son of Buzi and of the priestly family. He was one of those deported to Babylon in the first deportation; and he directed his preaching to the exiles in Babylon. He was a great visionary, who attributed the fall of Jerusalem to the defilement of the Sanctuary and idol worship. Today’s vision therefore is about the Temple and the sanctuary. The prophet sees water flowing from the threshold of the temple, south of the altar, and it gradually, became a river impossible to walk across—deep enough to swim in. The water flows down to the Arabah, bringing freshness and fresh life, as swarms of living creatures depend on it; with all kinds of trees, growing by its banks, bringing forth fruits. Ezekiel’s vision is a lesson, for those who were suffering in exile, that only God can truly bring them back to life and that the temple is the place to find solace and fruitfulness.

In the Gospel of today from John, there we find the story of the Sheep Gate Pool. The Pool had healing power when it is stirred miraculously by the angel and the first person to go in gets a cure. Jesus met a sick man, who had been there for thirty-eight years waiting for a chance to be the first to get into the stirred pool, and asked him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going, another steps down before me.” In a condition as his, with no help coming from friends and family, the only hope is God. He had been waiting for this opportunity, even before Jesus was born. The miracle he wanted from the stirred pool, he got without having to enter the pool, because Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet and walk.” His illness and paralysis of thirty-eight years suddenly disappeared. I believe in Jesus, to turn around my own situation and yours too. He has the whole world in his hands.

Whatever the situation may be, never give up. Keep hope alive. Nothing is impossible with God. If that man had given up after some years and had gone back home, he would not have met Jesus. You may have a difficult condition at this time, a hopeless situation by human reckoning, commit it to God again.

Let us pray: Lord, look kindly upon your people who call to you for help. Raise them up from their pallet as they place their hope in you. Amen.

+Remain blessed