Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: April 1, 2025

Tuesday of the 4th Week of Lent

Scripture Text: John 5:1-16

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.

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The gospel text for today recounts Jesus’ healing of an ill man at the Bethesda on a sabbath. Some took exception with Jesus’ act because it was the sabbath when one was to abstain from labor.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

In living the LORD’s commandments, do I seek the loving response always?

Praying:

LORD, Almighty Father, You are love and your commandments give to us real ways to exercise and grow in love for You and in love for one another. Send your Spirit to illuminate our minds and tenderize our hearts so that we seek the loving path daily. Grant that we may grow as disciples of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who revealed You and your love and showed us through His example to find the loving response always. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Spirit, one LORD, forever and ever. Amen.