Homily: April 1, 2025, Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Lent ()

 “When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be well?’”

I have to be honest, I really didn’t like the man who was healed, when I first read the event in today’s Gospel text.

Jesus asked him a simple and direct question: “Do you want to be well?” All he needed to do was to answer yes or no. I would expect him to be enthusiastic and respond yes!

But he didn’t answer the question directly. Instead, he complained. He blamed it on the fact that there was no one to help him get to the pool, and that someone else would always get in before he did.

Again, after he was healed, when the authorities told him off for carrying his own mat on a sabbath, he blamed it on Jesus, for telling him to pick up his mat, and caused Jesus to be persecuted.

Wasn’t he grateful for being healed? Did he want to be healed at all?

It seems to me that he was a complainer, someone who doesn’t own up and puts the blame on others.

But I paused and reflected deeper, I shouldn’t judge him so quickly and tried to understand him.

Let’s try to see his side of the story. We don’t know his exact age, but we know he had been lying there for 38 years. What does 38 years of illness feel like?

I’ve seen people lose hope after just a few months of illness or hardship. This man had been ill almost four decades, and he never left the pool.

So, it is not unreasonable that he could be discouraged or feeling hopeless. Yet, he was still there, he somehow persevered, he had not given up completely, but he did not dare think about what he wanted, for fear of further disappointment, he was fixated about his difficulty in getting to the pool. That could be his thoughts every day for 38 years.

Many people come for confession and tell me: “Father, I keep falling into the same sin. Should I even keep confessing it?”

And I always say, “Yes! We need God’s grace, come back to Him. Again, and again.”

It is easy to become fixated about our difficulty in overcoming ourselves that we lose sight of the healing that Jesus wants to offer us.

No matter how many times we have failed, or how long we have been waiting and hoping to get better, God never give up on us. Whether it has been weeks, months, or even years, 38 years or more, if we want to be healed, we keep trying. 

And when the time comes, and Jesus asks, “Do you want to be well?”, may we respond with faith, “Yes, Lord, I want to be well.”

Be patient, don’t lose hope, don’t lose faith. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.