Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent ‘c’

John 5:1-16

How old are you? Young or older? You may be 25, 40 or 90 years old. Can you even imagine being paralyzed for 38 years of your life? That is either your whole or half-life. And then if you had a chance to be healed that one time, one day - would you say ‘no’ if that might be happening on the holy day of Sabbath when no physical work is allowed to be done? This is exactly what happen to that man who was ill, who was paralyzed for thirty-eight years of his life. And it happened that Jesus was walking by him on a holy day of Sabbath. Jesus healed the man and told him to pick up his mat and to go home. We can only imagine the joy and relief that the man would feel. Being freed after thirty years! Nobody would care what day it was. But there were those who got angry, who didn’t see that Jesus helped the man, but accused that man because he was carrying his mat on a Sabbath. I think what Jesus is teaching us today is that we Christians can’t make any excuses when it comes to helping others. If someone is in need of our love, help, and assistance, then we should leave everything and rush to help them.