3/8/11 Nehemiah 1-3; John 5
S: John 5:8-16 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. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jewish leaders began harassingt Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules.
O: The Jewish leaders were so fixated on their strict interpretation of the Law that they couldn't see a miracle staring in their face.
A: We as committed Christians also suffer from this danger. It's so easy to be Pharisaicly legalistic in our desire to be spiritually correct.
P: Father, keep me walking in Your Spirit and guard me against becoming Pharisaic. If there are things that I'm legalistic about, please open my eyes to them and help me become more Christlike. In Jesus' name, amen.
I just posted a note about this same passage in YouVersion.
ReplyDeleteWhereas you approached it prayerfully, I was kind of harsh. Here it is:
Jewish leaders, Pharisees, scribes. These were all religious men who wanted to follow the law on point. They praised themselves for always following the law. I get that people can take pride in being obedient.
But, man, sometimes they just irritate me when I read about them in the Bible.
In this verse, a man was just healed so that he could walk again. He's just walking along for the first time with his mat rolled up in his arm, and the Jewish leaders pick on him.
"Who said you could carry your mat? You know you can't do any labor on the sabbath!"
These religious leaders were laboring themselves, searching for lawbreakers, as if they were cops.
We have these kind of leaders in the church today who care too much about the lawbreakers than the ones with broken hearts.
http://www.youversion.com/notes/1920215/irritating-leaders
Thanks for sharing, Faith.
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