Today’s devotion is based on Sunday’s message: Signs – Beyond Superstition (CLICK HERE TO LISTEN)
The man who was healed had one perspective on how he could be healed: Get into the water first when it moved. Jesus healed him apart from him getting into the pool. One would think that a miracle of this proportion would catch the attention of everyone who was around and there would be celebrating around the pool.
But it didn’t and there wasn’t.
The healing was overshadowed by the Sabbath police:
John 5:9 The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
For 38 years the invalid had no problem obeying the Sabbath laws imposed by the Jewish leaders. He couldn’t get up and carry his mat so he never did. Now the FIRST time he could get up and carry his mat was on a Sabbath and the Jewish leaders caught him. They didn’t celebrate the miracle, but instead they interrogated the one who was healed to understand by what authority he was walking and carrying his mat on the Sabbath. In their estimation, the one who would give such a direction was in greater violation than the one who was healed and carrying his mat.
Eventually the man found out who it was and told the Jewish leaders. Here’s what happened:
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The Jewish leaders couldn’t see the truth about Jesus because they were convinced Jesus was a threat to their religious ideals and laws. Although all the evidence showed that Jesus was the Son of God, they refused to believe in him. Their minds were on the one track: Jesus was NOT the Son of God.
While many readers of this devotion may see and believe Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior, our sinful nature can blind us to truths about Jesus and his Word. Our sinful nature gets us fixed on its own belief system rather than being open to seeing the truth about Jesus and what he does. The man healed was fixed on his human limitations. The Jewish leaders were fixed on their legal obligations.
Jesus came to change both perspectives, to see he is the Son of God who doesn’t have limitations and to believe he was the Savior, the one who gives greater rest for our souls than the Sabbath gave rest for one’s body.
Let the evidence of the miracle testify to your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and by believing be assured you have life in his name.
Apply: What aspect of Jesus is it hard for you to believe even though the evidence recorded in Scripture proves otherwise?
Prayer: Spirit of God, open my eyes and my heart to the evidence of Jesus so that my trust and confidence grow in Jesus as my Savior. AMEN.