Word to the Wise
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 - 4th Week of Lent - Tues
[Ezek 47:1-9, 12 and John 5:1-3a, 5-16]"Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a sabbath. [John]
Scripture scholars commonly divide the Gospel According to John into two major parts: the Bookof Signs (Chs 1-12) and the Book of Glory (Chs 13-21). Today's gospel scripture invites a comparison with the two previous days' scriptures from the Book of Signs. All three days feature "signs" worked by Jesus. On Sunday there was the Man Born Blind. On Monday there was the healing of the royal official's son. Today we have the healing of a crippled beggar. Each of these has its own "flavor." Some of the "signs" are used by the evangelist to present extended "discourses" in which Jesus reflects on his identity and mission.
In today's encounter, we have a colorful beggar who has been ill for thirty-eight years. That little detail of years lends a note of authenticity. I have heard a preacher speculate that the man has been making a pretty good living begging and his excuse for not being healed seems lame in itself! In any case, Jesus heals him after hearing that excuse. As in the story on Sunday about the Man Born Blind, Jesus performs this sign on a sabbath, which invites the hostility of the Jewish authorities. At the end of both stories, Jesus does a "follow-up" which underlines that hostility. The crippled beggar goes and reports the incident!
Our situation is not the same as that of the audience to which the Gospel According to John was originally addressed. We are not in danger of being cast out of our synagogue (parish church!) because we believe in Jesus. However, we can become "distant" in our faith from Jesus simply by falling into routine sacramental practice without reflecting on why we have sacraments in the first place. They are all an encounter with Jesus. The "signs" in the Gospel According to John invite us to reflect on our own encounter with Jesus. The lives of those characters were transformed by the encounter. Do we feel that way about our faith? Renewing that encounter could be an important feature of Lent. AMEN
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