A Reflection for Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Find today’s readings here.
“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.” -Isak Dinesen
I am graced to spend my elder years on the edge of the continent, where northwest Oregon meets the Pacific Ocean. The sight and sound of the waves are ever present, testifying to God’s glorious creation. The beach changes shape with storms and tides, but I feel I know this shore intimately. Between the ocean’s constancy and our annual 120 inches of rain, when I am here I am always mindful of water.
Water courses through today’s readings. The prophet Ezekiel describes a vision of life-giving water. It flows from the temple in every direction. It will freshen the sea and nourish creatures and plants, fish and fruit trees, which will in turn sustain people. For Ezekiel, the water symbolizes the presence of God as the nation of Israel returns from exile. As Ezekiel wades through the deepening river, the angel showing Ezekiel these wonders calls him “son of man” (Ez 47:6).
Another “son of man” in the Bible, Jesus, has a different kind of encounter with water in today’s Gospel from John. At the pool of Bethesda, “a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled” (Jn 5:3) people hope to be made well by immersing themselves in the stirred-up pool. The suffering man whom Jesus meets there has no one to help him dip into the healing waters. But Jesus does not need the waters to cure him. He simply wills it.
It would be a lovely miracle story but for the fact that Jesus heals the man on the sabbath, which is forbidden. Jesus tells the man, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse will happen to you” (Jn 5:14). Ironically, in the critical eyes of the authorities, Jesus himself has taken the first step on the dusty road to Calvary and crucifixion: Something worse will happen to him. Then, thanks to Jesus, something better happens for us.
From the baptismal waters of the Jordan River, to the stormy waters upon which Jesus walks, to the life-giving water that flows from his pierced side, the Gospel accounts of Jesus offer us vivid images of the power of water to heal, to nourish, to cleanse, and to overcome anything in its path. Yet Jesus is greater than all the waters of the earth. Each time we bless ourselves with holy water, we renew and remember the premise of our faith.
“Do you want to be well?” Jesus asks the man, asks us (Jn 5:6).
We do.
That’s why we’re here.
