It was Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

IT WAS JESUS

John 5:8-15

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 Jews 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 Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

NIV

We go back a verse to include the moment Jesus told the man to get up and pick up and mat and walk so that we get the context of what happened next. It is interesting the Jesus did not ask the man if he believed in him, if he was born again, or which denomination he belongs to and if he believed in the gifts of the Spirit, such as healing. It is interesting that Jesus simply healed him by telling him to get up. There was no fancy rite, or long prayer, or even the laying on of hands, or anointing him with oil. True this is Jesus, the divine Son of God, who is God himself in the flesh. But there is it, just healed because Jesus did it. He does not change, he still is able to heal just with a word. However, there is another thing going on here as well since Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath. Jesus was fully aware it was the Sabbath and that the law forbids the man to carry his mat on the Sabbath and yet Jesus told him to just that. He is making the point, without saying it yet, that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. The Jews mentioned here are most likely either the Pharisees or the teachers of the law, or members of the Sanhedrin. They were questioning the man about breaking the law by carrying his mat on the Sabbath. Although they knew he was made whole, that he was healed of his thirty-eight-year infirmity, they were only concerned about him carrying his mat on the Sabbath. Who cares about his walking now, having been healed? It is the rules, the law that is more important. Let’s not break protocol, after all, rules and rules, and we have to abide by the rules. So they questioned him why was he carrying his mat. The man tells him that it isn’t his fault for breaking the command, it is the fault of the guy who healed men, he told me to pick up my mat and walk. What a guy, he could not just tell them, look I am walking, I been healed, who cares about this darn mat, or whatever, I am healed, yippee, and get on with walking. But no, he blames the guy, for he did not know it was Jesus, who told him to get up and take his mat with him. However, Jesus did catch up with him a little later and it is interesting Jesus told him to stop sinning. What kind of sin does a lamb man commit? What kind of sin does a man who cannot even get to the water before someone else, for thirty-eight years of trying? Maybe he was bitter, or jealous, or envious of others. Maybe he was full of anger, being hateful toward others. We just do not know exactly, but Jesus told him to be careful and do not continue in this path of sin he was in, or that sin would cause something worse than being physically lamb. We know it would cause death, a spiritual death which is far worse than physical death. So what does this man who Jesus healed do, he goes and tells on him. He heads off to those Pharisees or teachers of the law and tells them it was Jesus. This could have been a great testimony, he could have given a great witness, saying something like, “Praise God, he used this man Jesus to heal me”. “What a wonderful gift I have been given by God”. Maybe he did, but all we are told he now knows the name of the man he was blamed for him walking with his mat on the Sabbath and he was telling the Jews. We need to make sure we give God, give Jesus all the credit for our healing, our salvation, our walking and leaping and praising God. We should not blame Jesus for any trouble that comes our way, as it may well be our own fault. Let us live praising Jesus for all his has done for us, in us and through us. We should always be saying, it was Jesus.