John 5:1-14 Walking in wisdom, not in law.

After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.  In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters;  for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]  A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”  The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”  Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”  Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.  So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”  But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’”  They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?”  But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

In a world without sin, there would be no sickness and no death.  When death entered into the world, the illnesses leading to death followed.  Jesus was know to heal people on the Sabbath as He is Lord over the Sabbath and He came to do his Father’s work.  But when people saw the work of God they blamed Him for breaching the Law of Moses.  What Jesus desired is obedience to God coming from the heart instead of laws written on tablets.  Jesus declared it is not a sin to do good on the Sabbath.

Daily Prayer:  Lord, You obviously understand.  You don’t confuse laws written to guide us into holiness with holiness itself.  As for me, teach me to be holy as You are holy and the wisdom to know the difference.  In Your righteous name I pray Amen.