Remember the man that Jesus healed at the pool that I wrote about a couple days ago? What a miracle and transformation in this man’s life. His world of incapacity turned to a world of movement and action and life. Amazing!
It would seem that this crazy transformation is what everyone who witnessed such a miracle would be focused on. And I’m sure many were. But there were a group of them that couldn’t get past the fact that this healing had taken place on the Sabbath. The Jewish law prohibited anyone from “working” on the Sabbath, which, in essence, meant anything outside of breathing. They first got after the man for picking up his mat and carrying it. A man who, for 38 years, has not been able to walk! They completely dismissed the wonder of his healing. Then they gave Jesus grief for touching and changing this man’s life on the Sabbath. How dare He?!
I love Jesus’ response – John 5:17 – “Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to THIS VERY DAY , and I, too, am working.’ ” He made no apologies for “breaking the Sabbath” and, in fact, declared that God was working constantly, daily, even on the Sabbath and thus, so was He. This really ticked them off. How could He put Himself on equal footing with God?
Jesus goes on to answer that He is, indeed, the Son of God. He also tells them that as educated as they are, they have completely missed it. In verse 39 He says, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about ME, yet you refuse to come to ME to have LIFE.” They read the book, but completely dismissed the main character and the author.
Made me stop and think…How often have I gotten caught up on the “rules”? How often have I missed the beauty of a miracle because it wasn’t done the way I expected or thought it should happen? How many times have I quoted scripture and yet completely missed what Jesus Himself would have had as a response to a given situation?
Jesus. He is constantly at work and that work surpasses any preconceived ideas or rules. And though He is everything that His word describes, He is so much more than that. More than pages can contain. More than words can convey. More than ideas can conceive. This is the Jesus that I am madly, deeply, totally in love with…
