God Is Still Working

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
God Sends Jesus
Honoring the Sabbath

John 5:2-17

The Message

Even on the Sabbath

5 ^1-6 Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”
^8-9 Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
^9-10 That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”
¹¹ But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’”
^12-13 They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?” But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
¹⁴ A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”
^15-16 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.
¹⁷ But Jesus defended himself. “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”

For Reflection

One would like to think that the legal system is about justice.  Yes, sometimes retributive justice is served, but often than not, distributive justice is not served well.  Distributive justice is about adherence to the intent of a law.  No legal system can be established to serve a just intent infallibly.  It is not enough to follow the rules.  Christ has shown us how to lead with compassion when the law is in conflict with healing action. 

Pray

 that you will follow your heart in matters of conflict.  Pray that your sense of compassion will over-rule your sense of rightness.  Pray for courage to do the right thing even when doing the right thing may be contrary to common practice.