Daily Word Of God
John 4:45-53
There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem next to the Sheep Pool there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed.
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 that 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 down there before me.’
Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk around. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to harass Jesus.
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- In the world today, there are millions who are sick and dying and are abandoned due to their ailments. As such, these people lead very sad and lonely lives, and their sufferings are very intense.
- Jesus in His compassion always reaches out to these people in their times of suffering. We too should try our hardest to be like Him, and fill the lives of others with love and warmth.
- However, there will always be those who obstruct us from doing God’s work. We need to pray for God’s graces to stand up against the erroneous opinions of the crowd and be firm in our commitment to be Christ-like.