Well, I was out of a commission for a couple of days...sick...yuck.  I had a stomach bug I think, but I can’t be sure because everyone automatically assumes every sickness these days is COVID.  At any rate, on the mend now and ready to go...glad to be doing this again.  I listened to a message from our home church yesterday about being passionate for God, and for His Word.  I really did miss this morning time of digging in...I just sets me up for a good day and has, over the years, become that first thing I do to level-set and prepare for the day.

In the reading this morning, we see Jesus showing up at this pool where there is a man who has been paralyzed and unable to walk for basically his entire life...he is identified as an invalid.  Jesus sees him there and goes up to him, and after an exchange with him, He heals the man and the man picks up his bed (which would have been a mat of some sort) and walks out of there.  He had been waiting to try to get into one of these pools to seek healing, and apparently no one would help him.  At any rate, he walks out carrying his mat and the Jews confront him...and this is what really sticks out to me, not that he is healed, but that the Jews confront him about his carrying his mat on the Sabbath.  See, the Law that was handed down to Moses had a lot in it, but there isn’t anything in it that would have forbid an activity like carrying is bed roll or bed mat.  What had happened was that the Jews had constructed their own laws and customs that were designed to make sure people didn’t even get close to breaking the Law of Moses...and this crossed THEIR line.  So, and here is the key for me this morning, this man broke THEIR rules and THEIR customs, and so they freaked out.  They missed the forest for trees here.  Here they were in the midst of a miracle, in the midst of an undeniable moment where a man that they had no doubt watched trying to get into this pool probably for years, who they had stepped over on countless occasions, was now healed.  And instead of looking into that and looking for God in that moment, they were looking to condemn this man.  Here he is, never having walked before, stumbling around and walking, and they can’t see the miracle because they are so focused on the customs they had put into place.  And this is what we sometimes do as well.

We turn our religious lives into a series of religious practices and we go through the motions and miss the moments.  We do our routines and we never encounter God because we are always checking the boxes...Sunday church, check; morning Bible reading, check; said my prayers at the dinner table and at bed, check.  If that’s the story of our faith and the depth of our spiritual lives, then we are missing something; we are these Jewish guys.  Routine is good...don’t get me wrong.  But, the routine, like the laws and customs of these Jews, isn’t the point.   The point is to be poised and ready to experience God.  We have to learn to maintain an expectant heart.  And that’s my prayer today...that I would experience God today, as a reminder, that relationship and presence is more important than rules and rituals.