“Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?…. Rise, take up thy bed, and walk…. Jesus made him whole.”
— John 5:1-18
This year I hear this story in a new way. Not as a miracle of physical healing, not as history of “the perfidy of the Jews,” but as a story of the healing of mind and spirit.
I hear the echo of Jesus’ fundamental teachings: Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. Become whole. Praise God in all the creatures of the earth. Encounter God in the cosmos — the heavens. Love God in every man.
Love your neighbor without “knowing” or “understanding” or “judging” — just love every neighbor.
Love yourself without “criticizing” or “judging” or “guilt” — without wishing you were different. Love yourself without being made impotent and diseased by obsessing over and being crippled by the circumstances of your birth, how you were parented, where you were raised, or how you were taught or treated.
Love God. Love your neighbor. Love yourself. Become whole.
Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Ezekiel 47:1-9,12
Psalm 46:1-8
John 5:1-18
