Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
(Ezekiel
47:1-9.12; John 5:1-16)
As everyone
knows, medical science has progressed by leaps and bounds. Seventy years ago, eye cataract surgery
required a delicate operation and a significant hospitalization. Today it’s performed routinely as an
out-patient service. The relationship between
the old and new procedures approximates the meaning of the two readings today.
Ezekiel
describes the temple as a source of life.
Its waters are bountiful and productive.
They nourish trees with abundant fruit and medicinal leaves. As life-giving as the temple is, however, the
gospel indicates that Jesus eclipses it.
He encounters a paralytic who cannot get to the temple pool in
time. But there is no need for healing
waters. Jesus just says a word to heal him.
The temple is like peroxide to Jesus’ antibiotic.
Now is the
time to renew our faith in Jesus. He will
heal us from the prejudice and fear that often separate us from other people. Allowing ourselves to be molded by his words,
we become loving and joyful.
