Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 245

The angel brought me, Ezekiel,
back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple was toward the east...

Based on this verse and others like it, the Church has a predilection -- an orientation -- for the east. When the priest and congregation faced the same direction, with the altar in front of them, they faced the rising sun. (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger argued strongly for retaining that tradition based on this liturgical orientation.) The congregation might watch the growing light of dawn through stained glass windows above the priest and altar. Stained glass windows proclaim the gospel in light. 

From the east comes the new day, new opportunities, and new hope. As the Church spread westward across the Roman empire, and eventually to the Americas, we would turn eastward, remembering Jerusalem, whence we came. But the Church, advancing in apostolic times eastward to India looked eastward, for that is the way of our mother planet Earth. 

Saint John certainly had today's aqueous passage from Ezekiel in mind as he described Jesus's coming to the Pool of Bethesda. And he was familiar with this morning prophecy of Jeremiah:

But this I will call to mind;

therefore I will hope:

The LORD’s acts of mercy are not exhausted,

his compassion is not spent;

They are renewed each morning—

great is your faithfulness!

The LORD is my portion, I tell myself,

therefore I will hope in him. (Lamentations 3:21-24)

The sick man that Jesus found at the Pool of Bethesda had apparently lost all hope. After thirty-eight years he was a fixture like the buildings, the pavement, the crowds, and the water. He was known only to other residents who had nowhere else to go. His family would be long forgotten as people usually forget about their institutionalized kin, whether they're in asylums, prisons, or nursing homes. Life goes on! The gentleman of John 5 had his own certain spot like daily commuters in city buses or beggars on their street corners. He had watched the sun rise, the seasons change, the years pass, and  had learned to expect nothing. 

And then Jesus, the East, the rising sun, came. He brought new life and opportunity to a hopeless man. 

Struggling as we are to maintain our hope amid several relentless epidemics, horrifying news of war in Europe, and polarized politics in America, we turn to the East, to the Lord, and hope for a rebirth of wonder.