Jesus was the one who had made him well

John 5:1-16

You are a seed scatterer, don't worry about the harvest

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.  In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.  One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  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?"  The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up;  while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."  Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath.  So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."  He answered them, "The man who made me well told me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'"  They asked him, "Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk?'"  The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.  After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, "Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you."  The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well.  Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.

Jesus was the one who had made him well

Lord,

You are the one who made me.  I don’t understand it, but I know it was you.  You were so discrete; I did not even know you were there.  No, I did know you were there with me in the confessional.  You are always in the confessional.  I wonder if that is a reason I love the confessional.    No, I don’t think so because I I know beyond a doubt that you are here with me in the chapel but I also know you are with me out there, always.  I don’t just believe it, I know it.  I have experienced you, I have felt your presence and even when I do not ‘feel’ you, I know you are there. 

Lord, my heart is so full of love for you.  It is swollen with that love.  Why are you so generous to me?

I love you.  I want to make you stronger, stronger in every way.

Lord, you love everyone.

Everyone is different and everyone’s needs and experiences are different and everyone has their own ways and will. I am there for all, but few know it the way you do.  Many do not want to believe.  Many want to control their lives themselves and they make messes of their lives and those around them.  Some learn from those experiences and some do not.

I love them all and I wait for them all.  Some come and some do not.  They all have a free will.  I am at peace with it and so should you be.  It is completely out of your hands.  You are a seed scatterer.  That’s all I’m asking from you.  Don’t forget and get discouraged when you do not see the crop.  You are not meant to see the crop.  That is where faith comes in.  Know that your work is not in vain and let go, move on.