Monday, March 2, 2026

Opening Scripture

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.  Psalm 51 (selected)

Opening Prayer

Most Merciful God, I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry, and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me, that I may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

John 5:1-15

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Reflection  

At some point, Jesus left Galilee and returned to Jerusalem for one of the annual festivals. Travelers always go “up” to Jerusalem (even when they’re traveling down from the north) because it’s the Holy City set on a hill.

While John doesn’t indicate which feast this was (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles), it’s significant when calculating the length of Jesus’ earthly ministry. John specifically mentions three different Passovers. If this is a fourth, then Jesus’ ministry lasted between three and four years.

When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, He made his way to the pool of Bethesda on the north side of the Temple. Bethesda means “house of mercy.” Over the years, people with various disabilities began to gather there. Apparently, a superstition had grown up that, from time to time, an angel would stir the water, and the first person in would be healed.

There were many individuals with disabilities lying around the pool that day. In what can only be understood as another divine appointment, Jesus focused His attention on this man. We aren’t given his name, age, or infirmity, which leaves our personal identification with the man wide open. Jesus was especially concerned about him due to the length of his illness.

As usual, Jesus gets straight to the point and addresses the man’s greatest need. With a simple question, Jesus exposes his doubts, hopes, and fears. After thirty-eight years of disability, did he want to be healed? Was his expectation tied to a superstition? Had he grown “comfortable” in his condition?

Jesus acknowledges the man’s free will in this moment. Rather than “stirring” the water in the pool, Jesus sought to “stir” the man’s faith. In response, the invalid explained his predicament: “I want to get well, but I need help.”

That was enough! Jesus immediately healed the man and told him to prove it by picking up his mat and walking. As an act of faith, he did what Jesus said, and in an instant, his life was radically changed. Of course, in disbelief, he could have continued lying in his miserable state, rejecting Jesus’ invitation.

When Jesus sought the man out later, He tied his miraculous healing to personal repentance and let him know that there were worse things than his previous disabled condition. God’s gift of wholeness warrants a life of holiness.

Flourishing Habit

Meaning and Purpose

In this encounter, Jesus sought out an individual in a crowd of broken bodies. He chose to focus on a tree in a forest of hurting people. God’s will, in that moment, was to transform the life of a particular person.

Jesus wasn’t indifferent to the plights of everyone else around the pool that day. He no doubt had compassion on all of them, but his mission was specific to this man.

We are surrounded by hurting souls. The needs are great all around us. It is easy to become discouraged or suffer from “compassion fatigue.” We can’t help everyone! And most of us don’t have the gift of healing.

As disciples of Jesus, we aren’t called to “cure” everyone; we’re called to care about those we encounter. We are the hands and feet of Jesus, functioning as salt and light in a broken world. If we’re open and available, God will regularly bring people into our path who need time, attention, and comfort.

Have you become “hardened” by the magnitude of brokenness around you?

Has “compassion fatigue” made you dull to the needs of those in your path?

Don’t let the fact that you can’t do everything keep you from doing something.

Ask God to open your eyes and heart to those He brings into your life today.

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!