April 13, 2010, John 5

Key Verse: 

Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

(John 5:8)

Key Concept:

Life does not have to be this hard, really.

GET UP!

Do you ever read your Bible and really pay attention to how Jesus responds?
First lets look at Jesus. Growing up I always saw Jesus as angelic, lamb-like and probably glowing. Jesus was a carpenter. Do you know any? They are strong, sturdy folks. Try swinging a hammer a few hours. It's tough. He walked from place to place. Do you think he was clean, white and glowing? Probably not. He was probably dusty, sweaty and rugged.

Now that you can picture Jesus as a fit, rugged guy and probably not really clean; look at the scene in the first eight verses.

Jesus approaches a man who has been an invalid for 38 years, He has compassion for the man . . . . Follow me here . . . . He asks a simple question: “Do you want to get well?”

What does the invalid do? He makes excuses and whines about his daily struggles and how others mistreat him. At this point, I see Jesus is getting a little angry with the guy. Read verse 8. Jesus just says, “GET UP!” Some versions have an exclamation point, others do not.

Jesus, exhausted with our excuses, cuts to the chase and tells the man to "get up" and go! The invalid, at this point, is probably frightened and follows the instructions. (Finally.) He does not even ask who cured him; he just goes.

Read on to see how the teachers try to pick Jesus apart for helping the man on the Sabbath and are subsequently admonished by Jesus. (They bring a BB gun to a tank fight.)

The point to take away today is to stop making life so difficult. Jesus says “Here I am, Love Me, I will take care of the rest.” We say, “But what about . . . , and that person has done this to me . . . , if I . . . then they will . . . .” No excuses. Just listen to Jesus and GET UP!