. Seeking earthly approval turns gratitude into betrayal.
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Question 1: Who is the most ungrateful person in History?”
Answer: “It may be the man described in Today’s Reading, John 5:1-16. He was too crippled to be among the ‘first’ to get into The Healing Pool of Bethesda for 38 years.”
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Question 2: “What did Jesus do for the man?”
Answer: “He cured him! Jesus knew the man had been too sick to walk for a long time. He asked him: ‘Do you want to be well?’ Then, Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your mat, and walk.’”
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Question 3: “What happened after Jesus performed that Healing Miracle?”
Answer: “‘Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, ‘It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ To keep from getting into trouble with the Temple Policemen, the cured man blamed Jesus! ‘He answered them, ‘The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’“
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Question 4: “The guards in charge of The Healing Pool had to find who cured the man! Its waters could only cure ‘the first person who got into it’. That person was whoever bribed the guards to let them in first! What did they do to find this threat to their income?”
Answer: ‘They asked him, ‘Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’? But, ‘the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, in the crowd.’”
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Question 5: “Did the healed man find out who had cured him?”
Answer: “Yes. ‘After this, Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, ‘Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.’”
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Question 6: “What did the man healed by Jesus do?”
Answer: “He was just like Judas! He wanted approval from the same authorities who had not let him into The Healing Pool for 38 years! ‘The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well.’”
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Question 7: “What a nasty ingrate! What did the people who made a living from The Healing Pool do?”
Answer: “Those who understood the threat to their income ‘. . began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.’”
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Question 8: “Why didn’t the Temple Authorities thank Jesus for His Miracle and ask Him to cure everyone?”
Answer: “The health of the people was not as important as maintaining cash flows from bribes that took the form of ‘donations’.”
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Question 9: “What happened to the healed man?”
Answer: “He had willfully betrayed Jesus and willfully disobeyed This Order from Him! ‘Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.’ His eternal punishment may have been worse than that of Judas.”
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Simple reasons to be Catholic. catholicfundamentalism.com
