Sabbath Rest(-oration)
Opening Prayer
Where in your life do you need breakthrough? Ask God to break into your life now through his Word.
Read John 5:1–15
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
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. [4] 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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Do you want life transformation?We might be surprised by Jesus’ question, “Do you want to get well?” (6). But how often do we let disappointment reduce our expectations to the point of becoming comfortable with our situations? We hold too tightly to what’s worked in the past (7) and miss what God is doing now. Let’s confidently look beyond circumstance and sustain ourselves on the promise of our
God of the impossible.
The man is healed even without responding in faith; Jesus demonstrates that God gives undeserved blessing. There’s a place for challenging sin (14), yet God acts in grace without preconditions. However he looks for change in the lives of those who receive his grace. Rather than pointing the finger, let’s encourage people to receive God’s healing grace and allow God to transform them.
God’s mercy is far more generous than we are often comfortable with! How might we be like the religious leaders, so concerned with Sabbath rest that they miss the wonder of God’s restoration (10)?
Look at the way Jesus commands healing (8). All authority has been given to him by his Father and he shares it with his church (Matt. 10:8). We can pray boldly for healing, being sure that no matter the result healing is central to God’s nature and his plans to bless us.
Apply
Read Psalm 103:1–5 and renew your hope in God’s faithfulness and power to bring you breakthrough.
Closing prayer
God, I need You. “Take me, Mold me, Use me, Fill me; I give my life to the Potter's hands” (Darlene Joyce Zschech).
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