Always Working
Notes
Transcript
12th in series - just reaching chapter 5 - a lot to unpack in John - not sure I’m doing it justice
Manufacturing - “fell out side on the way in” - “Sorry - you’re late”
personal story - Fill in at small church
A disabled person and Jesus run into some “trouble” in our scripture reading today.
Jesus has been in Samaria and Galilee during chapter 4 no He is back in Jerusalem.
Please stand as we honor the reading of God’s word
John 5:1–18 (NIV)
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. 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.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
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 WORD OF GOD, FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD
Jesus has a response to that last verse - but we’ll dive into His response next week.
Jesus interaction on a Sabbath day with a man near the Bethesda pool caused commotion for the man and for the Jewish leaders.
Command
Command
Bethesda pool - many sick and infirm waiting for their “chance”
Healing by water touched by an angel
The man is focused on his circumstances - “if only I could get to the water first after the angel stirs it. The I would be healed.”
Jesus says - focus on me and my command - the man didn’t even have to worry about the water that he has wanted to touch “first” for 38 years.
“You want to be well?” - “Get up and walk.” - for the man verse 8 is a physical command - for all of us - it can be a spiritual command - rise above our circumstances and follow Jesus. Many times our circumstances don’t change as it did for this man physically - but Jesus can greatly impact our lives and how we understand and deal with our circumstances.
For the man and for us - there is a follow up command in verse 14 - “Stop sinning.”
Sabbath
Sabbath
What was the big deal for the Jewish leaders? This healing took place on a Sabbath day. “the ‘law’ forbids you to carry your mat!”
4th of the 10 Commandments - “Remember the Sabbath” - keep it holy - do not work - that begs the question “what is work?”
The Pharisees and other leaders did a lot of work on a list: “Do this - don’t do that”
A whole gamut of rules - like in sports - Football - “you can’t do that!”
Christian “sabbath” is Sunday rather than Saturday
The “mat” wasn’t the only problem - Jesus “healed” (or worked) on a Sabbath. Wednesday Bible study - looking at Luke and discussing healing on the Sabbath - Jesus asks them - why is it wrong to do healing, God’s work, on the Sabbath or any other day, for that matter? In Luke chapter 14 - they stayed silent - they didn’t have an answer.
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
12 “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.
Working
Working
In verse 17 - Jesus responds to the Jewish leaders about His activity on the Sabbath: God never slumbers - He is always at work - he still expects us to “rest” from our labor: 6 / 7 is nearly 86% of our days living and working with and for Jesus.
Any time / any day is a good day for the work and mercy of God. That’s Jesus’ message about timing -and yes even on the Sabbath.
post-divorce - “disappointing” everyone including God, but his Spirit impressed upon me - “Get up - I have things for you to do.” There is work to be done. Been singing and preaching ever since with “rest” along the way.
God is always working. Jesus is always working. The Holy Spirit is always working. Are we joining in God’s work throughout the week? Even on the Sabbath?
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Grace - compassion on this man who had been waiting by this pool for 38 years - the healing Jesus brought to the man’s life - radically changed his life
Truth - verse 17 - God is always, always, working - did I say always? Jesus is always doing the work of His Father who is always working.