＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

　Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12*

The man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple

And I saw water coming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastwards.(……)

 The man then said to me, “Son of man, did you see?” He led me on further and then brought me back to the bank of the river. There I saw a number of trees on both sides of the river. 

He said to me, “This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, and when it flows into the sea of foul-smelling water, the water will become wholesome. Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures will live in it; fish will be plentiful and the seawater will become fresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound.(……)  

 

Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

John 5:1-16

 After this there was a feast of the Jews and Je­sus went up to Jerusalem. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Je­rusalem, there is a pool (called Beth­zatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people – blind, lame and paralyzed.

 ( All were waiting for the water to move, for at times an angel of the Lord would descend into the pool and stir up the water; and the first person to enter after this movement of the water would be healed of whatever disease that person had.)

 There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him, and since he knew how long this man had been lying there, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” And the sick man answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is dis­turbed; so while I am still on my way, another steps down before me.”

 Jesus then said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. 

So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, “It is the Sabbath and the Law doesn’t allow you to carry your mat.” He answered them, “The one who healed me said to me: Take up your mat and walk.”

 They asked him, “Who is the one who said to you: Take up your mat and walk?” But the sick man had no idea who it was who had cured him, for Jesus had slipped away among the crowd that filled the place.

 Afterwards Jesus met him in the Temple court and told him, ”Now you are well; don’t sin again, lest something worse happen to you.” And the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jews persecuted Jesus because he per­formed healings like that on the Sabbath.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Sometimes, we miss the miracle and wonder unfolding before our eyes simply because we are too preoccupied with doing the proper things as the law dictates. Our minds are set in doing what is right.

We have no time to be amazed. That is why the people in the miraculous pool of Bethzatha near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem missed the fact that the paralytic who had been sick for thirty-eight years can now walk and carry his mat.

They are rather preoccupied with the thought that he is not supposed to do work on a Sabbath. They have no reaction to his miraculous healing. They are scandalized that he was carrying his mat.

When we begin to be engrossed with the following rather than the proper understanding of the law, our energy is focused on our obedience of the lack of it in front of the law.

we have no more to spare for awe and wonder. We rob ourselves of the chance to be transformed by the many miracles that happen around us everday .