Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
John 5:1-3,5-16
“Do You Want to Be Healed?”

In today’s Gospel (John 5:1-3, 5-16), Jesus encounters a man who has been sick for thirty-eight years, lying by the pool of Bethesda. When Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be healed?”, the man doesn’t say yes. Instead, he complains: “I have no one to put me into the pool…” He blames others for his situation and seems trapped in a cycle of discouragement and self-pity.

Yet Jesus, in His mercy, heals him anyway. “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.” And immediately the man is made well. But even after his healing, his reaction is striking—there is no gratitude or joy. He simply shifts the focus: “The one who healed me told me to do it.” Later, he reports Jesus to the authorities.

How often do we act like this man? We stay in the same place spiritually, emotionally, even physically, blaming others for our situation. Jesus invites us to healing, but we hesitate, making excuses instead of responding with faith.

Lent is a time when the Church asks each of us: “Do you want to be healed?” It is an invitation to renew our Baptismal promises and allow the waters of life—grace—to stir our hearts. But healing requires a decision: to get up, to pick up our mats, and to walk in faith.

Let’s examine our hearts. Are we stuck in the apathy of complaining and excuses? Jesus calls us today to rise from our paralysis, to embrace His mercy, and to live with gratitude and joy.

Lord Jesus, heal our hearts. Stir the waters of our souls. Give us the courage to say yes, and to walk with You in newness of life. Amen.

© Claretian Publications, Hong Kong, China
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025