Fr Anthony Christy, SDB –
THE WORD IN LENT – Tuesday, Fourth week
March 12, 2024 – Ezekiel 47: 1-9,12; John 5: 1-3,5-16
Through the desert, God leads us to freedom. This freedom is, beyond the cross and through the cross that stands tall, drawing our attention; it is through the desert, which offers us some valuable learning experiences, that we are led to freedom, to salvation, to new life. Just as these days of lent take us towards that experience of resurrection, so does our journey of lent take us towards new life, new life in the Risen Lord.
One of the strong symbols of the Paschal feast is water – being the waters through which the pasch of Israel brought them across the Red sea; the waters of Jordan that signified conversion to the people who lined up before John; the living waters Jesus said – let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink (Jn 7:37) – the water that is promised for those who need rejuvenation, renewal, and new life. Here is where the Word gives us a reason to rejoice… while we are given this offer of the life-giving water, in God’s bountiful mercy, the water flows to us, instead of us going to the waters.
We see that in the Gospel today, so symbolically expressed. While the man was waiting to go to the waters to draw life from it, the water was coming to him, the life-giving water, the life transforming water—and reaching out to him. Jesus came to encounter him, asking him, “Do you wish to be well again?” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. The Lord comes to encounter us, just as the waters flow from the presence of the Lord towards Ezekiel in the first reading.
Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live, says the Word. When the Lord comes to encounter us, we shall live, we shall be born again, we shall be touched and transformed, and we shall be asked to pick up our mats and walk – walk towards a new life, towards our eternal life. How glad we should be, that the Lord chooses to come to us. There are stagnant voices, festering waters, infested with negativity and prejudice, all around us. But we are called to focus on that flowing water from the eternal presence of the Lord… the Lord comes to encounter us, let us behold him and rejoice!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He holds doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.