February 14, 2025 

Today's Reading: John 5:1-18

Daily Lectionary: Job 10:1-22; John 5:1-18

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. (John 5:6–9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

There is a lot going on here. If you keep reading, you see that this healing took place on the Sabbath, which led to a huge discussion a bit later. What is the nature of the day of rest? What is the nature of this healing? Can something so strange really be done with God’s approval on a holy day?

We can easily look back and say that of course it was good and right for Jesus to do this. But, in the moment, it was a strange thing for faithful Jews to try and understand. How could someone sent by God violate God’s own law about working on the Sabbath?

But look closely at what Jesus both says and does. There is much more happening here than ‘just’ a healing miracle. He speaks words of creation and resurrection. He asks if the man wishes to become “whole.” He tells him to “rise” and walk. And all of this happens near water.

What Jesus essentially does is raise this man from the dead and restore him fully to the people of God. This is why the authorities were so angry; to them, Jesus, who they saw as only a man, had done something with evil intent to destroy God’s holy law because there was no way God would allow this.

On the other hand, the man healed saw the whole promise of God fulfilled in Jesus’s words and work for him. Only God could work such a miraculous thing, so of course, Jesus was from God. 

Creation came forth from water, and our rebirth and resurrection is done through Baptism, but Jesus’ words also remind you that “Let there be” came even before that. Here again is the promise that Jesus is indeed God in the flesh, that everything he does is for the love and salvation of his people.

It may not always make sense, and it may sometimes be hard to understand, but everything Jesus does, even if it upsets the religious authorities, is a promise that his work is for you.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Ev’ry wound that pains or grieves me By your wounds, Lord, is made whole; When I’m faint, Your cross revives me, Granting new life to my soul. Yes, Your comfort renders sweet Ev’ry bitter cup I meet; For Your all atoning passion Has procured my soul’s salvation. (LSB 421:4)

-Rev. Duane Bamsch, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Grass Valley, CA.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.