John 5:7-13
“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.’ - Jesus said, ‘Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.’ The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off. - 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.’ But he told them, ‘The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’’ - 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.”
“‘I can’t, sir,’ the sick man said, ‘for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.’ Jesus told him, ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!’ Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, ‘You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!’ But he replied, ‘The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’‘ ‘Who said such a thing as that?’ they demanded. The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd.”
Tradition said the first one to enter the pool when a current stirred the waters would be healed. In the proceeding verses Jesus, who knew this man had lain near the pool among many others for 37 years, asks, “Do you want to be healed?” Of course he does, but he was in a hopeless situation. Hopelessness is never permanent when Jesus comes calling. Jesus told the man to walk, carrying his sleeping bag and the morality police pulled him over for a citation. Jesus calls us to testify of our changed lives and always, someone will be offended. The police were after the king pin, but Jesus had slipped away. He was not abandoning this man but allowing him to discover his faith would enable him to stand the inquisition. When Jesus does real work in us, there is no arguing about it. We know that we know.
Lord, thank you for the work you have done in my heart and the confidence it gives me. It feels good to feel solid. It is amazing that you, so big, care for me, so small. I overflow with thanksgiving. You are so good.