Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the power of God’s healing and mercy, the hope and light that we have been assured of from Him, everything that He has done for us, so that by His grace and love, all of us may attain healing and liberation from the attachments and shackles of our sins and evils. All of us as sinners still living in this world have been afflicted by the plague of sin and the corruption of our souls, which have kept us separated and distant from God. But God does not give up on us, and He still wants to be reconciled and reunited with us, and that is why we are constantly being reminded of this great love and mercy of God, freely and generously given to us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel in which the vision of Ezekiel has been highlighted to us. Ezekiel saw a vision of Heaven and its Temple where the Temple of God and His Holy Presence has been manifested to him, showing the glory of God and the majesty that Heaven is full of, and how from the Temple of God life-giving water came forth and this great flood of life-giving water comes down upon the world, bringing about healing and grace, sanctification and purification. This symbolism of the Heavenly Temple and the life-giving water is a representation of God’s love and mercy for all of us His people, that despite the sufferings and punishments that we mankind are suffering as sinners due to our sins and wickedness, but ultimately God’s love trumps over even all those.

This must be further understood in the context of the ministry of the prophet Ezekiel and events happening during his time. The prophet Ezekiel ministered to the people of God in the land of their exile in Babylon just before and after the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, which saw the Babylonians and their armies ransacking the city of Jerusalem and razing the Temple that King Solomon had built for God to the ground. There was nothing left of that Temple and the once great city of Jerusalem was left in ruins, as a stark reminder of the consequences of the sins which God’s people had committed against Him, their disobedience and sins by which they had been therefore punished and made to endure humiliation in the land of their exile, far away from the lands which God had promised to them and their ancestors.

By this vision of the Heavenly Temple and the healing which God has revealed through this same vision, God wanted to reassure His people of the healing and grace that He would impart to all of them, by which He would forgive them all from their sins and faults, and restore them all once again to their lands, bringing and gathering them back once again to the places where they would dwell again in His Presence. But at the same time, beyond the immediate effects of healing and reconciliation which God promised to all of His people, the Israelites, this same healing is also a premonition of what He would do in bringing about healing to all of us mankind, healing us all from our many sins and wickedness, from all of our troubles and trials, delivering us from the clutches of sin and from the fangs of death.

From our Gospel passage today, we heard of the events that happened at the Pool of Bethzatha in Jerusalem where many people came seeking God’s healing and mercy. As mentioned in the passage, those who went to the water of the Pool right when the Angel of God descended upon it would be healed and made whole again, freed from their troubles and complaints. But for that particular man who was paralysed and had been suffering for thirty-eight years, as mentioned there was no one present to help him for all those years, and he was still waiting for God’s healing and miracle when the Lord came to him at the side of the Pool of Bethzatha. The Lord saw the great faith in the man and had pity on him, and by His power, He made the man to be able to walk once again, healed from his illness and problems.

And we heard how this healing happened during the Day of the Sabbath when the people of God were supposed to cease their activities and focus on prayers to God. However, the Pharisees above all enforced a particularly strict version of this Law on the Sabbath, where they forbid even all kinds of actions including the actions of mercy and love, good and beneficial actions that are necessary for the good of the people of God. They often clashed with the Lord and refused to listen to Him despite the Wisdom that He has shown in their interactions with Him. Those same Pharisees also criticised the Lord in His action in healing the paralysed man as we heard in today’s Gospel passage. They all refused to admit that what the Lord had done for the paralysed man was truly a good thing and not something that is unlawful.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God does not desire the destruction of His people, and He certainly does not want to see us to suffer. We have to suffer from sin and its consequences because we have hardened our hearts and disobeyed His Law and commandments, but in the end, all these sufferings will come to an end and God will forgive us our sins if we seek Him sincerely with contrite and sorrowful hearts and minds. Through His love and mercy, God has brought freedom and consolation to the suffering paralysed man, and this action is a reminder for each one of us of God’s love and mercy, His compassion and kindness, in His ever present desire to be reconciled and reunited with us, His beloved people and children.

Now, during this time of Lent, let us all therefore commit ourselves anew to love the Lord our most loving God and Father, striving to be at our best each day in being good role models in our actions and lives so that by our good examples and inspirations, we may inspire many others around us, our fellow brothers and sisters to follow our examples and to walk in the same path that we the faithful and holy people of God had walked. Let us all be humble and be cognisant of our flaws, mistakes and sins, and seek God’s rich and most generous mercy so that He may heal us all and bring us to true and genuine reconciliation with Him. May the Lord continue to bless us in our Lenten journey and observance, and may He guide us all in each and every moments of our lives so that we may draw ever closer to Him and come ever closer to His salvation and grace. Amen.