John 5: 1-16
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Encounter
An encounter with Jesus is always transformational. As we see in today’s Gospel, Jesus has a way of entering our lives no matter our situations. The sick man in the Gospel lies in pain, feeling forgotten. He is not only in need of physical healing, but companionship… and Jesus is there.
Our relationships with Jesus do not look so different today. Amidst our brokenness, loneliness, and suffering, Jesus is always looking for ways to encounter us. He continuously seeks new ways to deepen and renew these loving relationships. We can even imagine Jesus asking us, today, the same phrase he asked the sick man: “Do you want to be well?”
Are there attitudes or mindsets we hold that keep us from experiencing loving encounters with Jesus? As we march on in this Lenten season, let us open our hearts to be transformed through encounters with Christ each and every day.
—Brian Kemper, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province studying philosophy at Fordham University.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
You continuously seek a relationship with us, no matter where we are on our faith journeys.
You overflow us with your abundant love and mercy.
Help us, this day, to return that love back to you in all that we do.
And help us to always see your face, Lord, in all whom we encounter.
Amen.
—Brian Kemper, SJ
Pray with the Pope
The Holy Father’s Monthly Prayer Intentions Brought to you by Apostleship of Prayer the first Friday of each month.