The In Thing

After these things was a festival day of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. Him when Jesus had seen lying, and knew that he had been now a long time, he saith to him: Wilt thou be made whole? The infirm man answered him: Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me Jesus saith to him: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed, and walked. And it was the sabbath that day. The Jews therefore said to him that was healed: It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. He answered them: He that made me whole, he said to me, Take up thy bed, and walk.They asked him therefore: Who is that man who said to thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? But he who was healed, knew not who it was; for Jesus went aside from the multitude standing in the place. Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith to him: Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee. The man went his way, and told the Jews, that it was Jesus who had made him whole. Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath.
John 5:1-16 (Douay-Rheims Bible)

Prayer Reflection

Dear Father when your son Jesus did many healings on the sabbath, wouldn't that in all likelihood tell us that he is a holy man. He was doing your Will, not doing his own thing. If that were the case, he would have been doing what many of us do, working on the sabbath, not going to Mass. For some it would be taking the family to sport games. Jesus would be doing pretty much what we do when we see another person in distress, look but don't help, because it's beneath us to do it. He may just sit by a window and watch rather than bring healing to another human being in His Father's image. And he most certainly wouldn't be hoarding his money, he became poor, because we are poor in so many ways. If Jesus did what we did he wouldn't have been ministering to the sick, the sinful, the broken ones. But think about this, aren't we who follow him persecuted for our faith. It's not the in thing to be a follower of Jesus, but you know something, it is the in thing to do more than we know, our salvation depends on it.