Cleansed

Devotion by: Bill Carbaugh

John 5:1-16

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.” ’ They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath.

There are some who read this passage and focus on the law – Hebrew law precluded Jews from working on the Sabbath. Why, even the Ten Commandments ask us to “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” How could Jesus blatantly violate Jewish law?

My father (a pastor, I might add!) had two favorite quips about the law – (1) “The law is an ass,” and (2) “The law kills.” Jesus turned the law on its head. He worked on the Sabbath and healed the sick. This is certainly good news – that we have a Lord and Savior who works 24/7, doing the work that his Father sent him to do and fulfilling the promise of our baptism. We should go and do likewise.

PRAYER: Dear God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit: We all are afflicted with illnesses and infirmities of many kinds (both real and perceived). We desperately need your healing words, your healing touch and your healing waters – the promise of our baptism in your name. Be with us to open our hearts and minds to remain faithful and receive the healing that only you can give. Keep us strong in body, mind and spirit so that we may go forth and do unto others as you have done for us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.