The LORD of hosts is with us;our stronghold is the God of Jacob.Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,the astounding things he has wrought on earth.
Psalm 46 8-9
Jn 5:1-16There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gatea pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.When Jesus saw him lying thereand knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,“Do you want to be well?”The sick man answered him,“Sir, I have no one to put me into the poolwhen the water is stirred up;while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
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.” He answered them, “The man who made me well told me,‘Take up your mat and walk.’“They asked him,“Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”The man who was healed did not know who it was,for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.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.”The man went and told the Jewsthat Jesus was the one who had made him well.Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesusbecause he did this on a sabbath.
Like the nourishing water flows all the time, always supporting the fish, always watering the trees, always healing, the love of God and his healing energy never stops. Not even on the Sabbath. Maybe especially not on the Sabbath. I understand the whole idea of a day of rest, but sometimes people need emergency medical care on the Sabbath, and I think it would be preferable to be “worked on” during the Sabbath rather than dying because care was not available. Jesus seemed to think that this man should not have to wait for his medical care, for his healing. Like the healing waters that do not dry up on the Sabbath, Jesus was expressing that the love of God is a continual state. God’s love and his care for his people is our stronghold. And it doesn’t take a day off.
May your Holy Spirit be our teacher, that we may encourage those in doubt and error to follow what is true and good.Enable us to enter more deeply into the mystery of your Anointed One, that our lives may reveal him more effectively. Purify and renew your Church in this time of salvation, that it may give an ever greater witness to you.
Our Savior Lutheran Church
www.joinusinworship.com
Called as God's People
Equipped by the Holy Spirit
Sent to boldly proclaim the love of Jesus Christ to all people.
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