Turning Point

8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. - Jn 5:8.

In John chapter 5 Jesus not only proves that he is God but he is the God of the Impossible when he asks a man who has been paralyzed for 38 years to pick up his bed and walk. The man simply did as Jesus asked and was healed for his faith. He trusted Jesus at his word and executed the command. Faith happens when we trust God at his word with no other evidence. This paralytic trusted and obeyed with no idea who this man was asking him to pick up his mat. How many of us can say the same? When God asks us to do the impossible, or even what we feel is impossible, do we have the same faith? Do we trust him regardless of the evidence? 

On another note, part of Jesus’ coming in human flesh (other than to be the perfect sacrifice for sin) was to correct a grievous misunderstanding of God’s word. In what we can assume was good intent, the religious elite had created an oral tradition or law that would help them ‘live’ the given law. They inflicted a man-made understanding of God’s law on the community of Israel, in doing so, they established a false religious system far from the heart of God. Jesus heald this man on the sabbath in order to challenge the status quo and open the hearts and minds of the people to seek God before all else. That meant seeking God’s heart before adhering to a man-made moral and religious law.