March 28, 2017, Tuesday 1st Reading: Ezk 47:1–9, 12 Gospel: Jn 5:1–16 (or 5:1–3, 5–16)
There was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool (called Bethzatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people—blind, lame and paralyzed.
There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him, and since he knew how long this man had been lying there, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” And the sick man answered,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; so while I am still on my way, another steps down before me.”
Jesus then said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked.
Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, “It is the Sabbath and the Law doesn’t allow you to carry your mat.” He answered them, “The one who healed me said to me: Take up your mat and walk.” They asked him, “Who is the one who said to you: Take up your mat and walk?” But the sick man had no idea who it was who had cured him, for Jesus had slipped away among the crowd that filled the place.
Afterwards Jesus met him in the Temple court and told him, “Now you are well; don’t sin again, lest something worse happen to you.” And the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jews persecuted Jesus because he performed healings like that on the Sabbath.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
People bringing sheep for Temple sacrifice had to pass through a gate called “The Sheep Gate”. Jesus passing through this gate is perfect picture of him as “Lamb of God”. Jesus took this title to concrete levels when he healed the sick man at a pool not very far away from this gate. As Lamb of God he does not only take away the sins of the world but also heals the body of those whose sins he remits. The pool’s name “Bethzatha” (Hebrew for ‘flowing water’) is similarly symbolic, for at that pool Jesus offered mercy and compassion as abundant as the pool water.
Among the beneficiaries of this healing compassion was a man who had been sick for 38 years. This number is symbolic. It takes us back to the history of the chosen people who during their 40 years of sojourn in the desert disobeyed God for 38 years (Deuteronomy 2:14).
Today’s Gospel, so pregnant in symbols, is a powerful restatement of our salvation story: The Lamb of God passed through the gate of humanity (though incarnation) to renew God’s love towards a disobedient people, offering them overflowing love and mercy. –(Atty.) Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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