Scripture

The Jewish leaders said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law does not allow you to carry that sleeping mat.”

Observation

Jesus goes to the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem where scores of people wait for the water to bubble up so they can be healed. He meets a man who has been sick for 38 years. He has no hope of being healed because he has nobody to help him get into the water.

Jesus tells the man to get up, pick up his may and walk. The man is instantly healed.

As he walks away, the Jewish leaders rebuke the man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. He tells them that the man who healed him had told him to do this, but he didn’t know who he was.

Application

When your whole vision of being holy boils down to rules, you will miss the amazing works of God when He steps out of the box you constructed for Him.

The Jewish leaders could not see the miracle of healing because they were obsessed with the man’s behaviour after the event.

Christians can be like that sometimes. An evangelist can win thousands of people to the Lord, but we get annoyed by his tattoos. Somebody is healed miraculously, but some believers can’t see it because their theology is that miracles don’t happen any more. A prostitute or alcoholic is rejected by a church because they are afraid their past sins might contaminate the congregation

We are not made holy by the outward observance of rules and regulations. We are made holy by the indwelling presence of God’s Spirit.

When people’s lives are changed by God in ways that run against our understanding then it is we who need to change, not God.

Prayer

Lord you save people when we least expect it. Your grace is wider than we imagine. So Lord please expand my way of thinking to embrace all that you want to do. Amen.