4th week in Lent, Tuesday – 16th March 2021 – John 5,1-16
Acknowledging one’s Helplessness
Today’s Gospel narrates an event that took place near the pool of Bethesda, meaning “house of mercy” or “house of pity”. Surrounding this pool were a large number of sick people who had come with the hope of being cured. Some helpless, others lame, still others blind and useless. However, their hearts were filled with longing to be freed from their sicknesses, and they earnestly desired to find healing. In loving compassion, Jesus approaches one man, who had been an invalid for long time. Jesus had complete knowledge of everything, and knew that this man had been in this condition even before Jesus’ birth. He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” This is an embarrassing question, because Jesus knew that this was the greatest longing of the man’s heart. But He wanted to draw out from the man an admission of his own helplessness and of his desperate need for healing. In fact the answer of the sick man was rather pathetic, there was no one to help him. This reminds us how disappointed we are if we depend on our fellow men to save us from sins. However, Jesus knows that we desperately need to be saved, but He waits to hear the confession from our own lips that we are lost, that we need Him and accept Him as our Saviour. At the same, we are not saved by our own will, yet the human will must be exercised before God saves a soul.
