Thoughts for the Day

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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Jesus comes to Jerusalem for a festival, we don't know what festival, but there were three that called for all male Jews to attend worship at the Temple especially if they lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem. We last saw Jesus in Cana in Galilee where he healed a royal servant's son. John in his gospel calls this miracle his "second sign". Miracles are always "signs" in his Gospel, that is signs of God's Kingdom of love.

So in today's reading we see Jesus has travelled the 67 miles (107 km) from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem, to worship in the Temple. There is no mention of his disciples in the healing of the man at Bethzatha (sometimes called Bethesda), but we do know it was on the Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset). We might think the rule about not working on the sabbath seems ridiculous when a man has waited 38 years to be healed, but the Ten Commandments as given to Moses by God made it quite clear that no-one should work on the sabbath (see Exodus 20.8-11). It was a good principle, but it was left to the people to decide what was work. Later in Exodus we see the working out of this law (see Exodus 31.12-14). By the time of Jesus there were thousands of laws defining what was work, and in this case the man is stopped because he carries something in public. He could be stoned to death.

What can we learn from this "sign", today? Well many things no doubt, but a couple come to mind:

1. When we are sick and ask Jesus for help, then we should expect to meet Him halfway (which could be expecting to be healed, or obeying directives from the Doctor!).
2. We need to learn to take a 'sabbath day' ourselves - to free ourselves from computers and phones, and give more time to God, ourselves and our family. Can we change our lifestyle, if needed, this Lent?.

Lord Jesus Christ,
when we come to You needing help
may we meet you half-way,
ready to respond to Your wishes for us,
as well as our own wishes.
Help us to learn the need for
a "Sabbath rest",
not just for ourselves or our family,
but also to draw closer to You.
Amen.