20260317 DON’T CLOSE THE DOOR OF JESUS TO SINNERS
17 March 2026, Tuesday, 4th Week of Lent
First reading |
Ezekiel 47:1-9,12 |
Wherever the water flows, it will bring life and health
The angel brought me to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream came out from under the Temple threshold and flowed eastwards, since the Temple faced east. The water flowed from under the right side of the Temple, south of the altar. He took me out by the north gate and led me right round outside as far as the outer east gate where the water flowed out on the right-hand side. The man went to the east holding his measuring line and measured off a thousand cubits; he then made me wade across the stream; the water reached my ankles. He measured off another thousand and made me wade across the stream again; the water reached my knees. He measured off another thousand and made me wade across again; the water reached my waist. He measured off another thousand; it was now a river which I could not cross; the stream had swollen and was now deep water, a river impossible to cross. He then said, ‘Do you see, son of man?’ He took me further, then brought me back to the bank of the river. When I got back, there were many trees on each bank of the river. He said, ‘This water flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 45(46):2-3,5-6,8-9ab |
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
God is for us a refuge and strength,
a helper close at hand, in time of distress,
so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,
though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
The waters of a river give joy to God’s city,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within, it cannot be shaken;
God will help it at the dawning of the day.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
The Lord of hosts is with us:
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come, consider the works of the Lord,
the redoubtable deeds he has done on the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps50:12,14 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
A pure heart create for me, O God,
and give me again the joy of your help.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | John 5:1-3,5-16 |
The healing at the pool of Bethesda
There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem there is a building, called Bethzatha in Hebrew, consisting of five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, paralysed – waiting for the water to move. One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.
Now that day happened to be the sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.
DON’T CLOSE THE DOOR OF JESUS TO SINNERS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZE 47:1-9,12; PS 45: 2-3,5-6,8-9; JN 5:1-3,5-16]
The Scripture readings today make it clear that God wants to give life to all. In the First Reading, the angel led the Prophet Ezekiel to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream came out from under the Temple threshold and flowed eastwards. And we are told that wherever “the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along with the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.” Indeed, this reading prepares us for the Sacrament of Baptism that will be celebrated at Easter. The waters of baptism will give those who receive it new life: their wounds will be healed and their sins forgiven.
What is significant is that the one who initiates this is God Himself. God is the cause of our salvation. He comes to invite us to share in His life. In the Gospel, Jesus visits a pool where people with all kinds of ailments and illnesses gathered, hoping to find healing, as they believed that an angel would come and stir the water in the pool, and the one who got in first would be healed. Seeing a man who “had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years”, Jesus took the initiative to reach out to him. Why did he choose this man among the rest we do not know. This is the mystery of God’s grace and election. Jesus knows our hearts more than we know ourselves, just as He could read the heart of the paralysed man.
Jesus saw his helplessness and offered him healing. We are all like this man, helpless and lying at the side of the pool. This is the other aspect of being a sinner. We are unable to free ourselves from our sinful situation. In the face of sin, man is incapable of fighting against sin using his own strength and will. Indeed, some scholars suggest that the five porches symbolise the Five Books of the Torah, indicating that obedience to the Law could not even save them. And the thirty-eight years of the man’s sickness symbolises the Hebrews wandering in the desert for thirty-eight years before they entered the Promised Land. Only God can help us overcome our utter helplessness. God finds us all helpless like this man, yet He wants to grant us healing. Nevertheless, God does not force us to accept His grace. This is where we must always maintain both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. God respects our will, and for this reason the Lord asked the man, “Do you want to be well again?”
This is the same question that Jesus is asking us. Are we serious in wanting to live well and be well again? The truth is that not everyone wants to be healed desperately. We want to be Christians, but only provided it is convenient and brings earthly benefits and privileges. Some of us are converted to Catholicism not because we truly desire to live the life of Christ so that we can find eternal life, but because of convenience. Indeed, like some people who are sick or unemployed, we might have become lazy and irresponsible. But when you offer them the possibility of being cured or a job, they come up with all kinds of excuses. They prefer to live with known pain rather than face the unpredictable future ahead of them because of new responsibilities and the need to be independent.
To be healed also means that we must accept healing on God’s terms, not ours. The man indeed wanted to be healed, but he presumed that Jesus would assist him by pushing him into the pool when the water stirred. He had no idea who Jesus was. But for Jesus, as long as the man showed signs that he was seeking life, He would help him. How little is needed on our part for God to work in us. All He asks of us is our docility to His grace and His mercy. Jesus said, “‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.” Jesus did not just heal him but also gave him the strength to carry the mat and walk, meaning that he was fully restored. God is not content just to make us well; He wants us to be independent and be actively engaged in life by cooperating with God’s plan. God is great! As the Gospel says, “He does all things well!”
This is the first part of the story. The second part is that there are others who would like to prevent sinners from coming to God and receiving forgiveness. This is against the wish of God because He welcomes sinners. But there are some people, especially the self-righteous, who want to exclude others from meeting the Lord because they are not considered worthy enough. In this case, the Jews reproached the man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. “It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.” For the Jews and the religious leaders during Jesus’ time, they were so focused on observing the oral traditions of the Law, which detailed minutely how the general principle of the Mosaic Law should be applied to every conceivable situation, so much so that the oral laws became very burdensome. And this is true for some of our self-righteous Catholics. They introduce so many “oral traditions” and human laws governing how Catholics must behave and conduct themselves. Often, some of the “rules” in our churches make it so difficult for Catholics, lapsed Catholics, or those interested in the faith to come to church. In fact, some are simply put off by our legalism and our business-like attitude toward them. They do not find warmth, compassion, understanding, and welcome in our churches. More often than not, we are found to be impatient and high-handed in dealing with our people, and many remain ignorant of our actual practices and traditions.
Of course, this does not mean that as Catholics, we should continue to misbehave. On the contrary, the Lord warned the man, “Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.” Jesus had just healed the man and ordered him to take up the mat, but this caused him trouble. To protect himself, he shifted the blame onto Jesus. “The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.” By informing Jesus’ enemies, he prefigured Judas, who later betrayed our Lord. This man’s betrayal of Jesus stands in marked contrast to the devotion of the blind man to our Lord, for the blind man confesses Jesus by standing up to the very opponents whom this mad sided with against Jesus. (Jn 9) This man is ungrateful. He still did not know Jesus.
Therefore, as we approach the Sacrament of Baptism or the renewal of our baptismal promises at Easter, we must once again examine our conscience. Whilst it is true that some of our illnesses and failures in life have to do with our sins and irresponsibility, we must not go so far as to suggest that every illness is always connected to a particular sin. Rather, it is a call for us to examine our conscience and to repent of our sins. Similarly, just because we are not sick does not mean that we have no sins either. Nevertheless, the view that man has been wounded by sin in general is in line with Scriptures. Acknowledging and confessing our sins is the way to find restoration and wholeness.
What is ultimately critical is to realise that we can do that only if we come to know Jesus. Although the man was healed by the Lord, he did not know Him. Indeed, when the opponents of our Lord asked, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’? the man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place.” There are two aspects to this question. On one hand, they could be asking for the name of this man who healed him. But more importantly, what is at stake is not His name but who He is. Knowing who Jesus is makes a lot of difference in the way we approach Him. It will determine whether we choose life or death.
The man who was healed did not know Him, and so his life after his healing remained unchanged. His complete ignorance of Jesus is similar to the Jews who saw the signs of Jesus, His miracles, and yet remained unconvinced of His identity. They had no faith. But for those of us who have faith, we see that all these signs in fact point to Jesus as the revelation of God’s mercy and love. He is the Son of God who comes to give us life, light, and strength. In healing this man, who was totally unworthy, Jesus reveals to us the utter graciousness of God’s mercy and love extended to us sinners at all times.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
