John 5:1-16

Lectio (Reading)

Read the passage twice and get a sense of what it is saying. Pay attention to what strikes you.

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.

Meditatio (Reflecting)

Slowly read the passage again, pausing on words or phrases that stands out. Take time to consider the meaning. particularly in your life.

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… Rise, take up your mat, and walk.

Oratio (Responding)

Read the passage again, slowly. Consider how God has spoken to you and respond back to Him. You may want to consider how this passage is asking you to act differently.

The pool of Bethesda had a huge mythology associated with it. The Romans believed that the pool had mystical healing powers, but that the healing only happened when the waters were stirred up from an underground release of gasses, creating bubbles. So the lame and ill would wait around the edges of the pool for the stirring of the waters, to begin, and then they would rush into the waters. It was a mad rush, and the weak and crippled could never make it into the waters in time. And so it goes with this man, who had been waiting on his mat for a very long time.

The other important thing to mention here was that this myth was not a jewish belief, it was a pagan practice that desperate jewish people had glommed onto because of they had no other options. And so this jewish man was lost, he was disabled, and hopeless, and was trusting his future in pagan lies. And then Jesus walks into his life. The lord of the universe went out of his way and came directly to this man, as he still does today, and asks him the enigmatic question “do you want to be well?” this question has multiple levels. ‘Well’ can mean physical healing, but it also means spiritual healing.

This man was totally lost and desperate and putting faith in pagan myths. Jesus is offering first to restore this jewish man to his jewish faith, to make this man once again a child of God, and it was based on this answer that Jesus healed his broken body, not the other way around. This question is also meant for all of us, Jesus is asking you also if you want to be well? It is a question that we must also ponder deeply, because the restoration of your whole mind, body, and soul depends on the answer.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)

Make a resolution that will improve your life, your relationships, or your faith. Make it small and attainable, and do it.

Oh lord, I do want to be well, I want to be in full communion with you, and to be part of your holy family, in eternity in heaven. please heal me, and restore me to being a beloved child of the most high. Amen.