Daily Devotions
John
Better than an angel
Text: John 5:1-15
BETTER THAN AN ANGEL
For thirty-eight years the man had lived with his infirmity. Perhaps his illness grew worse with the passing of the years. Perhaps he had relatives and friends once before. However, having an illness for such a length of time wore out all relatives and friends. He could honestly say to Jesus that he had no man, that is, he really had no one to assist him.
Little did he know that the Person who spoke to him was better than a friend, and better than an angel even! Quietly, Jesus said to him.
“Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
John 5:8
What did this Man say? How could He say such words? Of course he would like to be able to rise up, take up his bed and walk. Wasn’t that the reason why he stayed near the pool all this while? It was because he nursed the hope that one day God would heal him.
But wait, there was something about this Man that was different. Was it the words that He uttered? How was it that even as He spoke those words, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk…” he suddenly found strength in his legs. He found new strength in his legs! This was unbelievable and yet it was true!
John noted this miracle carefully. He wrote,
“And immediately the man was made well,
took up his bed, and walked.
And that day was the Sabbath.”
John 5:9
He was healed! He did not need to enter into the Pool of Bethesda. He could walk again! In his excitement, he did not even notice that Jesus had quietly walked away from him! He didn’t even have a chance to say “Thank You” to the One who healed him!
THE QUESTION OF THE SABBATH
Jesus had chosen the Sabbath to perform this miracle. He could have chosen any other day to work this sign-miracle for the man, but no, He had chosen the Sabbath to heal him.
As soon as the man was healed, of course he took up his bed and began to walk away from the Pool of Bethesda. Those who knew him must have been happy for him. They must also have been amazed too, for they had not seen him go to the Pool to be healed. How had he been healed? Who healed him? He could not have replied even if he were under interrogation. Jesus had known all about him, but he knew next to nothing about his new Friend and Healer!
But there were other people who were there, and those who spoke to him were unfriendly. They must have known him. After a while, a person who has a case history of being ill for thirty-eight years would become well-known as a “hard luck story”.
John noted the pathetic approach of “The Jews”. These had sent their men to interrogate John the Baptizer. They had also challenged the right and the authority of Jesus when He chased out those who bought and sold in the Temple precincts. Now this group of self-righteous Jews went up to the man and said to him,
“It is the Sabbath:
It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
John 5:10
What were the Jews talking about? What was the problem here? Why were they so concerned about the man carrying his bed on the Sabbath, as if he had committed a very grave sin?
The bed that that man was carrying could in fact be nothing bigger than a bed roll. He certainly wouldn’t be lugging a huge four-poster bed with him! To these Jews, he was violating their understanding of the Sabbath.
Nowhere in the Scriptures was there an express statement that one couldn’t carry a bed roll. The Sabbath was graciously given by God to ensure that men would find time to rest from his daily labour. The Sabbath was made for men! The way the Jews interpreted the Sabbath Law enslaved men to their man-made regulations!
The man had been ill for thirty-eight long years! He had “kept the Sabbath Law” all these years, for he had not been able to carry his bed at any time for all these years! He was now miraculously healed from an infirmity of thirty-eight years, and yet the first word hurled at him was to question him as to why he carried his bed-roll! What kind of religion did these Jews practise anyway? Was this really a problem of the Sabbath, or was it really a problem that the Jews had conjured up?
A WEAK ANSWER
Even as he fumbled for an answer, the man who had been healed knew that he was blameworthy for not being able to give a better answer to these Jews. He could only say weakly,
“He who made me well said to me,
‘Take up your bed and walk.'”
John 5:11
He didn’t like the belligerent attitude of the Jews. They were always bullying people. But he did not know how to answer them on the issue of the Sabbath except to say that the Person who healed him had told him that he could take up his bed and walk. He figured that if this Person had the authority and power to heal him, then surely, it must have been all right to heed what He had said – and that was to take up his bed and walk! He had not walked for thirty-eight years, and now that he could walk, he was going to enjoy the gift of being able to walk again – notwithstanding the nasty attitude of the Jews who queried him about carrying his bed on the Sabbath!