+ Jesus’ entire mission was to be a healer, a reconciler, a bridge-builder
between heaven and earth. And it did not matter on which day of the week he did
these things because there is no greater activity than uniting God with men:
bringing the broken life of men into the whole and complete life of God Monday
through Sunday. The man in the gospel passage was ill for 38 years, and Jesus cured him in a second! In
this case it was the man’s unexpressed faith that moved Jesus: he did not
directly put his faith in Jesus and ask to be cured, because he didn’t even
know it was Jesus who did it (he simply kept coming back again and again
looking for a cure); but once he found
out it was Jesus who cured him out of compassion and concern, he told everyone
about it. Now because Jesus both cured and told the man to do an “act of
work,” carry his mat around on the Sabbath, the Jews now begin to persecute
him.
This was how it was all meant
to play out, so we do not feel sorry for Jesus, but we can feel sorry for
ourselves if we do not plug into the healing, mercy and forgiveness that his
self-sacrifice for us on Calvary brought about! If we do not carry our mats of right relationship with him
about with us at all times, then we are not worthy of him!
As was prophesied in the first
reading from the Book of Ezekiel today the water flowing from the side of the
pierced heart of Christ is meant to be life giving and salvific as the water
that flowed from the temple like a river in the vision of the Prophet. We are meant to live richly and deeply in
the love and fruitfulness of God’s sacrifice for us and our salvation. May
we turn toward this living fountain and drink long and deeply from it – daily,
hourly and moment by moment: for it is our life, our joy and our salvation!
Come! behold the deeds of the Lord, the
astounding things
he has wrought on the earth!
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