Reflection
Water figures prominently in both of today’s readings. In the passage from Ezekiel, the prophet tells of an angel who brought him to the entrance of the temple where Ezekiel beholds streams of water flowing forth from the place where God dwells. The angel instructs Ezekiel to wade in the water, which suggests cleansing and purification, and reminds us of the waters of our baptisms. In today’s gospel story from John, water appears in another way. Jesus is in Jerusalem for a Jewish feast and goes to the Pool of Bethesda. The evangelist tells us that the area was crowded with “a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled” persons who were there because people believed that the waters of the pool, when stirred, could heal.
In the Christian tradition, in addition to purification, water also symbolizes healing and restoration, re-creation and new life.
But these symbols only work when the water we drink or the water we use, in daily life as well as in liturgical rituals, is clean and pure. It would be hard to associate the waters of baptism with new life in Christ if the water around us is polluted, stagnant, and far too filthy to drink. And wouldn’t we flinch at the Eucharist if we watched the priest pour a few drops of dirty water into a chalice filled with wine that will become the blood of Christ?
In today’s gospel, Jesus encounters a man, lying by the pool of Bethesda, “who had been ill for thirty-eight years.” Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be well?” It’s a question at the heart of Lent and, indeed, at the heart of our lives. Do we want to be well? Do we want to be healed and made whole? If so, we must turn away from sin, we must repent of, and renounce, all behavior that disrespects, harms, injures, violates, or desecrates any of God’s creatures, whether another human being, an animal, or anything of the natural world that God created, cherishes, and never fails to love. Praying that not just ourselves but that all things will be well is a fitting resolution for Lent. Even in this fourth week of Lent, it’s not too late to start.
