As we journey together through Lent, Christians throughout Columbia will be sharing their own beautifully written personal meditations. Each will be accompanied by a corresponding scripture reading, and be linked to that passage in the Holy Bible. If you would like to join us on Columbia’s Lenten journey, please submit your personal meditation by email. Especially meaningful submissions will be printed. Let us continue our Lenten journey, day by day, to its glorious culmination on Easter Sunday.
Scripture reading: John 5:1-18
This passage takes place outside the Jerusalem temple and describes Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath. Jesus saw an invalid by the pool of Bethesda, asked him if he wanted to be healed and then said to him, “Pick up your mat and walk.” When the Jewish leaders saw the man with the mat, they were first concerned that carrying the mat violated the laws against working on the Sabbath. When they learned that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the leaders began to persecute Jesus for doing that work on the Sabbath. In their eyes, Jesus’ response, “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working,” was scandalous; Jesus not only saw His healing as part of God’s continuing creative work but also He saw God as His own Father. He was making Himself equal with God.
I can’t help but think: That old Jesus, he’s at it again --- breaking the rules and shaking up the Sadducees. He just couldn’t keep His mouth shut, even when He knew that the temple authorities were out to get Him. Jesus was as human as we are. Two thousand years later, I thank God for that!
Jesus lived a fully human life, and while He was journeying toward Jerusalem, He felt all the pains, losses, abandonment, and earthly joys that we each face daily. His human side knows what it’s like to laugh with joy, weep in loss, and cry out in pain. But Jesus is also fully divine; as in this passage God is His Father and He is one with God. Our creedal statement that He is ‘of one being with the Father,’ speaks to Their co-eternal nature. So that now, two thousand years later, They are by our side, participating in the world, sharing our joys with the wonder of creation, and shedding a tear with us in our losses and disappointment.
Terri Bailey
Trinity Cathedral EfM mentor and Book Store’s Enneagram program
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia Prayer Chain: Wednesday, February 27
In our prayers: Mary Ellen Joiner, Elizabeth Jean Emerson, Mary Reames, Richard Smith, Claudia Strattman, Jennifer Williams, Betty Jo Carson, Gary Davis, Eddie Bolton, Doug and Sharon, John Kelchner, Elizabeth Matthews, Nedrick Griffin, Jennifer Handy, Nancy Stuckey, Annemarie Sullivan, Greg and Lisa Steele, Dean Timothy Jones, Linda Langford, Marty Fritz, Harriet Hancock, Tommy and Robby Palmer, Patty and Ted Mac Laughlin, Janet Long, Bobby Wilson, Debbie and Pat Barry, Patrick and Patricia Barry, Jordan Hill, Doris Clevenger, Charles Sigel, Bob Davis, John Whatley, Nancy Zuckerman, Charles Davis Sr., Bill Carter, Betty Peavy Frick, Joye Cantrell, Dale and Norma Sessions, Padge Arrington, Jerry Callahan, Norman Masters
Special prayers for Mary Ellen’s four-year-old grandson, Joseph Patrick, who is fighting cancer
In memoriam: Dr. Paul Akers, John Larry Lucas, Robin O’Neal Mock, Mary Hobbs Shaw, Jams Earl Helper, Paul Pabst, H. Clay Moore, Ann Rowe, Genevieve H. Shampy, Yolanda Marie Wallace, Emma-Lett Jordan Kell Sims, Pearl Lee Samuels
Our prayers are with: the elderly, the homeless, all currently fighting illness, all beloved pets, our president and congress, our police officers and firefighters, all who serve in the armed forces
Columbia Prayer Chain is open to all residents of greater Columbia who would like to share prayers and receive the prayers of others. Please leave your name in the comment box or email me.
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