June 2, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

A Matter of Perspective

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Compassionate Lord, I ask for Your wisdom in my decisions, and Your love in my attitudes.

Read John 5:1-15

[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. [4] 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.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

Our first reactions reveal our real perspectives. Do we sniff out sin, or long for others to encounter grace in Jesus Christ?

Jesus’ healings were “signs” of the Father’s kingdom and evidence of his own identity because they brought life to those in need of it. Jesus slipped into this situation. He learned of one man’s lifetime of ill health, healed him with a word, and slipped away again. The man did not know who Jesus was. There is no evidence that “Do you want to get well?” (6) is asking the man what he really desired. In effect Jesus says, “Can I help?” The man thought he was being offered a hand to get him to the pool, next time the water stirred. But Jesus said “Get up,” and the man’s healing was instant. Suddenly he could get up and walk, and he did so, taking the mat he had been lying on with him.

That is what Jesus is like. His only purpose was to make the man well. The healing was not performed for the conflict it would provoke. It was in itself a cause for rejoicing. This man mattered to God.

From the perspective of the Jewish authorities, however, what mattered was that the man was carrying his mat. Only at this point do we learn that this was the Sabbath. Moving an item from one place to another was one of 38 ways in which the Sabbath could be broken, according to the oral law. The man’s testimony that he had been healed was ignored. Having been told off, he was now irrelevant. These leaders were on the trail of a law breaker. Once they had identified him, Jesus would become the object of their hostility for the remainder of this Gospel. Later, Jesus warned the man not to sin again (14), but his healing had nothing to do with his merit, just the love of God.

Apply

Can you think of situations in your own church where people resist living in the presence of Jesus in favor of customs, habits, or traditions? How should you handle such situations?

Closing prayer

Help me, Lord, to see as You see and to love as You love. Open my eyes to the needs of others.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

View all readings

Get ENCOUNTER:

in your email:

in Print:

Become a Member | Visit our store