Enjoy the gifts of god - don't be constrained by legalism (John 5:8-11)

Scripture reading
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "



Observations:
(1) Don’t confuse man made law with that made by god.

At first glance, this passage might appear to highlight a situation of conflict between a direct instruction of Jesus (for the man to pick up his mat) and a conflicting instruction under the law as given by god relating to rules about the Sabbath.

If this were the case, then I would have a considerable challenge not only with this passage, but also with the entire gospel. I would certainly have a problem with putting my faith in anyone whose instructions or teachings directly contradicted those given by god in the Old Testament.

Fortunately, however, this is not the case. In no way at all was Jesus instructing the man concerned to break any of god’s laws.

Instead, the legal requirements to which the Jews in question refer related to man-made requirements which were made in addition to the law of god. They do not relate to the law itself. It was this man-made law with which the Jesus were in conflict, not the law of god.

Essentially, in Old Testament times, god commanded the Israelites to set aside one day, the seventh day of the week, as a time to stop what they were doing and cease to perform any form of work or toil. The purpose of this was two-fold: (a) for physical rest and restoration; and (b) to remember, reflect upon and honor god, their creator.

As far as I understand it, the OT does not go into a great deal of specific detail in terms of the precise details as to exactly how the Sabbath was to be performed, and it does not specify a large range of do’s and don’ts with regard to this matter. Because of this, the Pharisees, a sect of the Jews, made their own regulations, was supposedly to help people to follow god’s law in the correct manner. It was these laws with which the man was in breach. At no time at all in the story described above does the man breach any laws as specified by the Old Testament.

The Pharisees, in their claims that the man’s actions in this case were in contravention of the law, had made the critical mistake of confusing their own laws with that of god. Bad mistake. We are nowhere near on the same level as god. He is the creator, we are his creation. Our rules will never, ever equate with his.



(2) Enjoy the grace of god, don’t be constrained by the religious ‘political correctness.’

The first thing that we see here is a direct clash between the political correctness of the day with regard to religious practices and the enjoyment of the amazing grace provided by the lord.

And the second thing that we see is the man making a correct choice between the two.

Granted we actually learn in the passage which follows those quoted in the scripture reading above that the man indeed did not actually see who it was who had healed him, and it is almost certain that his actions did not represent a purposeful decision to accept the magnificent grace of our lord.

All he knew was that somebody had healed him of an extremely serious physical condition, and that this somebody had now told him to walk. Who was he to question such a command? And why on earth should he not do so because of some man-made law about religion? Moreover, had those who were now lecturing him about legal requirements ever healed him? No. Had they ever bothered to about him or his condition? Probably not. And prior to his healing, had they bothered to take any notice of him at all? I doubt it.

My guess - the man was simply paying more attention to the man that had healed him as opposed to those who had done bugger all for him, just as any other sane individual would have done.

But whatever his motives, the point is that he did have a choice. On one hand, he could bask in the sunshine of the amazing grace provided by the lord (as instructed by Jesus) and on the other hand forfeiting the enjoyment of that grace because of legalistic, man-made religious requirements.

He made the right choice, and so should we. Whilst we should make every effort at all times to behave in a manner which is honorable to our heavenly father, under no circumstances should we allow legalistic, man-made requirements to hinder our full enjoyment of the amazing grace which is provided so lavishly by our wonderful heavenly father.



(3) Look at the bigger picture – rejoice for those on whom god shows favor.

One final point – the Jews in this passage had their priorities seriously out of order. Instead of simply being happy for the man, as they should have been, they were more worried about tripping him up on a pathetic small point with regard to legalistic requirements.

The law of god as laid down in the Old Testament lays down two key basic principles which form the fundamental cornerstone of the spirit of his entire law - love the lord god with all of our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. According to these basic principles, our most important concern when dealing with other people has to be their overall level of wellbeing - not the degree to which they comply or otherwise with man-made religious protocol. When the lord god does something wonderful like this, we should simply be glad for the recipient of his favor, not trying to trip them up on insignificant details.

Man-made religious protocol, in such circumstances, should be the last thing on our mind, and the Jews in this passage had plainly lost sight of the bigger picture of the law as laid down by god.

We must learn from this. Our focus, when dealing with other people, and indeed, at literally every moment in our lives, should be not on insignificant details but on living in a manner which is in tune with the basic fundamental spirit of god’s law – loving god with all of our hearts and loving others as ourselves.

Let’s just get these two things right and forget about minor issues relating to religious protocol.



Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, let us never, ever, replace your great law with our own.

Your law needs no addition - it is absolutely perfect and completely beyond rapproach as it is. It is absolutely sufficient in every way, and it is completely arrogant of us to think that we need to add to it in any way at all.

Moreover, it represents nothing but absolute and complete folly on our part if we try to put our man-made law above that holy one given by you. The day we do this, lord, we are lost.

Lord, let us never over-burden ourselves with political correctness with regard to religious protocol. Instead, let us bask in the glorious sunshine of the amazing grace which you provide so freely, and free our hearts lord to with an attitude of thanksgiving simply marvel and enjoy every good gift which you decide to shower upon us in your glorious mercy and love.

Finally, lord, let us never lose sight of the basic spirit of your law. We seem to have a hard enough time just getting the basics right, so instead of being overly concerned about small details, let our hearts focus on the bigger picture with regard to your great commands – loving you with all of our hearts and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

In these things, we pray.

In your great name,

Amen.