John 5:15-23

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 min)

2) Scripture Reading: John 5:15-23

15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

 ¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

 ¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

3) Devotional

 In this passage there are several important lessons to be learned. I will focus on two of the lessons. The first lesson is about being judgmental. Jesus healed a paralyzed man on the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders judged and persecuted him for breaking the Sabbath rather than glorifying God for healing the man. What is more important, that the man was healed or that Jesus did “work” on the Sabbath? We must be very careful when we accuse people of sin and/or unrighteous behavior. Most times, we do not know the facts and the motives for why people do what they do and when they do it. The Jewish leaders chose to judge Jesus as a Sabbath breaker without knowing the entire story. They jumped to conclusions about the event, just like I do on many occasions.

The second lesson is that God is at work all around us at all times. When it comes to ministry work, we can do nothing without His assistance. God is sovereign over all things. If you do not feel Gods presence during worship, prayer and ministry, it does not mean that God is not there. In fact, He is there. We must become more intimate with God in order to see and feel Him as we attempt to walk closer with Him.

4) Questions to Consider

Are you quick to show someone grace or judgement?  Are you sensitive to what God is doing around and through you?  If not, what needs to change?

5) Prayer

Lord, You love us so much. Forgive me when I don’t recognize that you go with me wherever I go. Forgive me when I choose not to trust you and rely on my own will to do what I want to do. Finally, forgive me when I judge others rather than giving them the benefit of the doubt. Help me to walk as Jesus walked and become more like Him every day. And it is in the name of Jesus that I pray these things, Amen.     

John 5:1-15

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 min)


2) Scripture Reading - John 5:1-15
Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people - blind, lame, or paralyzed - lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, "Would you like to get well?" "I can't, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me." Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!" Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking!


But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, "You can't work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!" But he replied, "The man who healed me told me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" "Who said such a thing as that?" they demanded. The man didn't know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, "Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you." Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.


3) Devotional
"Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. . . " What a simple, yet profound truth! Sad things is - so many of us miss the kind expressions of His love each and every day, because our hearts are unable to receive them. For the man in this story, his life was defined by his illness and his mat. He was unable to see past his immediate circumstances. They colored his day to day existence. Over time, they became for him - a form of bondage, until Jesus set him free.


As an avid gardener, I can appreciate what it takes to make a plant grow and thrive. When plants are placed in small pots, the roots literally wrap around themselves, since there is no where for them to go. It's not until it's removed from the pot, and the ball of roots broken up and placed in a larger patch of fertile soil, that the plant is given the opportunity to thrive. The size of the pot will define its existence and ultimately its fruitfulness.


When we choose to take ownership of our lives and the circumstances that define us, and allow the Holy Spirit to show us how to go about "breaking up the ball of roots" that can sometimes limit us, we are then able to slowly embrace that simple truth. . . "Jesus loves me this I know," and begin to LIVE and THRIVE as Jesus wants us to!


4) Questions to Consider
Can you give a name to the "pot" that is defining your life? What will it take for you to be "transplanted" into a larger container, and your roots broken up, so that you can begin to thrive in the love of Jesus again?


5) Prayer
Lord Jesus, set me free to be the person you have destined me to be. Help me pause to hear your voice today and to leave behind the "pot" that has defined me as I seek to follow you. Help me to discern your hand at work in and through my life, both in the past and the future. In Jesus' name, amen.