Daily Gospel Reflection

God’s Greatest Protection

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. What is God going to say to you today? Today's reading is from John chapter 5: 1-16. After this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there was in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool in Hebrew called Beth Za, which has five porticos. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for 38 years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and when I am going, another steps down before me." So Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet and walk." And at once, the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry your pallet." But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, take up your pallet and walk." They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, take up your pallet and walk?" Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place. Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well, sin no more that nothing worse before you." The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus because he did this on the Sabbath.

It's insane, right? He heals this guy on the Sabbath, but that is why they got a hold against him. What jumps out at me today is this phrase, "Jesus finds him. He's healed him earlier. Now he finds him in the temple." And he says to him, "See, you are well. Sin no more that nothing worse befalls you." What's he saying-- he said, "Okay, you've spent 38 years laying on the ground, but actually through your sin, something worse than that can befall you." And we don't like to talk about sin. We don't like to talk about when we miss the mark spiritually and morally and ethically. But the reality is, is bad things can befall us when we sin. And Jesus is saying that. He's saying, "See, you are well." He's saying, "See, you're there laying on the ground in misery for 38 years, sin no more that nothing worse befall you." God's always trying to protect us. It's not saying, "Oh, don't sin because of whatever." Don't sin, it's bad for you. I'm trying to protect you. I love you. I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to protect you. I want you to have a great life. God bless you. Have an amazing day. Be bold, be Catholic, and I will see you tomorrow.