This reading is odd. A man waiting for 38 years? Waiting to step into the pool only to have others step in front of him. In all that time why did no one help him? Might not both of them have been healed? After he was healed by Jesus the man was stopped because he was carrying his mat on the Sabbath. Which of us has a mat—unless we practice yoga? And being stopped for carrying it?
Our world is so different from the time of Jesus. We all live our lives on a 24/7 basis. What, if any, concept of the Sabbath do we have? Don’t we go to yoga, mow the lawn, shop at Wal-Mart, watch the big game and much, much more on the Sabbath? Though we don’t observe the Jewish laws of Jesus’ day our Sabbath activities do take us away from God.
As we live 24/7 lives, so does God. His love, healing, forgiveness, grace and presence are gifts that are always available no matter what we’re doing, how busy we are, what day of the week. Jesus healed on the Sabbath then and heals on the Sabbath now.
Remember that and remember also to take a moment in all our life activity to be still and know that God is God. Even on the Sabbath.
Lawrence Elliott
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