Wednesday, 3 April 2019
Tuesday, 2 April 2019
Audio Reflections of Wednesday, April 3, 2019
To hear the Audio Reflections of Wednesday, April 3, 2019 click HERE
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - Jesus revealed the Father through all that he said and did. Will you reveal Jesus by what you say and do today?
To read the texts click on the texts: Isa 49:8-15; Jn 5:17-30
These verses contain the
first discourse in the Gospel of John. It is made up of many closely related
themes. The Jews are outraged that Jesus has healed on the Sabbath and in
answer to this outrage Jesus answers them in the following verses. To the
charge that Jesus was making himself equal to God, Jesus answers that he as Son
can do nothing apart from the Father. He is completely dependent on the Father
and merely does the Father’s work. The Father reveals all that he does to his
Son including raising the dead and giving them life. Thus the Son shares in the
life giving work of the Father. The Son has also been given the power and
authority to judge. This implies that everyone is under the Son’s reign and
rule, and thus must confer on him the same honour that is conferred on the
Father. The one who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father since it
is the Father who has sent the Son.
To hear the Son’s word and
believe in God opens the gift of eternal life. The alternative is judgment.
This judgement will be based on the response to the Son in the present. Those
who accept him and do good will be granted the resurrection of life whereas
those who reject the Son and thus do evil will go to the resurrection of
condemnation. The now will determine the later, the present will determine the
future. This part of the pericope ends with an idea expressed earlier namely
that the Son can do nothing on his own and will do nothing on his own, because
he seeks only to do the will of his Father.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - Isa 49:8-15; Jn 5:17-30
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - Isa 49:8-15; Jn 5:17-30
Monday, 1 April 2019
Audio reflections of Tuesday, April 2, 2019
To hear the Audio reflections of Tuesday, April 2, 2019 click HERE
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 - In which areas do I need a new Vision, a new way of looking at Persons/Things/Events?
To read the texts click on the texts: Ezek 47:1-9,12; Jn 5:1-16
The miracle of the healing
of the paralytic is exclusive to the Gospel of John. The story is set in
Jerusalem and the miracle occurs during one of the Jewish festivals though John
does not specify which one. Later in the narrative we are told that the day of
the festival was also the Sabbath and this adds to the significance of both the
festival and the Sabbath and thus the miracle and the controversy that follows.
Festivals in John are used as a platform for a deep revelation of the person of
Jesus and this festival is no exception.
John gives a detailed description
of the place where the miracle was performed as if encouraging the reader to
place him/herself in that place. Three kinds of invalids are mentioned: the
blind, the lame and the paralyzed. These are at the pool waiting for the
stirring of the water. Popular belief was that an angel was responsible for the
stirring of the water and thus for the inexplicable bubbling at the surface. Of
these one is singled out. He is a man who has been ill for thirty-eight years,
which symbolizes that his illness is almost permanent. At this point the text
does not tell us what his illness is. Jesus picks out this man and again we are
not given a reason. Did he come across to Jesus as the one most in need? Was he
the only one who did not have someone to help him? We are only told that Jesus
“knew that he had been there a long time”. Jesus initiates the miracle by
approaching the man. Yet, he does not force his healing on the man as is
evident in the question that he asks him; “Do you want to be made well?” The
man does not answer the question but begins his litany of complaints. He has
already set limits to what he believes can be done for him. He does not expect
the impossible. Jesus responds to the man’s complaints with three imperatives:
“stand up, take your mat and walk”. That Jesus’ words are effective and
transformative is evident in the fact that the man was made well. He obeys
Jesus’ commands to the letter: “He took up his mat and walked”.
Immediately after the
miracle, there is an objection on the part of “the Jews” (which here refers to
the Jewish authorities who oppose Jesus and not the Jewish people in general)
because the man was carrying his mat on the Sabbath and this constituted work
which was not allowed on the Sabbath. The man responds that he is simply obeying
what Jesus asked him to do. The Jewish leaders prefer to focus not on the fact
that he had been made well, but on the one who told him to violate the Sabbath.
The man cannot respond to the question of the Jewish leaders about who Jesus
is, since he does not know Jesus.
At this point Jesus re-enters
the story and finds the man in the temple confirming that he has been made well
and speaks to him about sin. He invites the man to move from the mere physical
healing to spiritual healing. The man on encountering Jesus again, announces to
the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. While some see these words of the
man as pointing Jesus out to the Jewish leaders, others interpret them as an
announcement of the man about who Jesus is. Again the leaders refuse to focus
on the positive action of the man being made well and focus instead on the
violation of the Sabbath. This is why they decide to persecute him.
Two issues are brought out
in this story. The first is that of illness. While we may be able to see with
the eyes of our head, it is possible that we too like many of those who were at
the pool may be psychologically or spiritually blind. We may not be able to see
another person’s point of view and imagine sometimes that ours is the only
correct viewpoint. We may also be blind to the sufferings of the numerous
people around us and close ourselves in on our own small worlds. We may have
the facility and use of both of our legs, but may have given in to lethargy or
laziness. We may have lost the desire and drive to do what we have to do. We
may be able to use all our limbs and move about freely, but may have given in
to fear. We may also be carrying resentments, bitterness, anger, jealousy and
even rage in our hearts because of which we are paralyzed and not able to move
freely.
The second issue which the
story brings out is that of law versus love. Like the Jewish leaders we are
also guilty sometimes of focusing too much on the law and not enough on love.
Like they were not able to focus on the man’s wholeness but only on the
violation of the Sabbath, so we are sometimes prone to focus on the negatives
rather than on the positive. We prefer often to give a negative interpretation
to a person’s actions and words rather than a positive one.
The miracle thus calls each
of us to give up the blindness of our heart and the lameness of our mind and
the paralysis of our spirit and to focus on the positive of God’s unconditional
healing and love made visible in Jesus.
Questions for Reflection:
Am I able to see others point of view in different
situations? Do I feel threatened by differing points of view?
Do I have prejudices about certain individuals/groups,
which do not allow me to encounter them wholly and completely?
Am I able to take clear stands about issues? Or am I
accused of sitting on the fence, being neither hot nor cold?
Am I afraid to make changes because of the fear of
change?
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 - Ezek 47:1-9,12; Jn 5:1-16
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 - Ezek 47:1-9,12; Jn 5:1-16
Sunday, 31 March 2019
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