4th TUESDAY OF LENT, APRIL 1
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12
John 5:1-16
When I was four years old, our car broke down while crossing
the desert in New Mexico. Perhaps the
experience is exaggerated in my memory, but I can still remember waiting for
hours until a tow truck happened upon us and sitting in the little shade
provided by the side of the car while we waited. I can also remember being thirsty and hungry
and oh so very hot and crying because of those feelings. Picture yourself in my four-year-old shoes. How grateful would you be to find a stream of
cool, crystal clear water, not just deep enough for wading, but deep enough for
swimming, and pure enough for drinking, and surrounded by delicious fruit trees
which never ceased to bear the most juicy, sweet fruit.
This was the word picture painted by the prophet Ezekiel for
the Israelites, who spent their whole lives living in a desert community, to
show them the abundance of God’s grace and mercy. This abundance is also what Jesus
demonstrated when he healed the man at the pool of Bethesda. Imagine being sick and lame, too infirmed to drag
yourself a few feet to the source of healing, always being beaten by someone
just a little less lame than you, and lying there day after day, never knowing
when or if it would be your turn to be healed.
One day, a man comes up to you, out of the many who surround you, and
speaks a word, and you are completely healed.
God wants to pour out an abundance of mercy and grace upon
each one of us. What do we have to do to
receive this grace and mercy? Absolutely
nothing but receive it.
- By Lisa Lenard Chiles
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