Written by: Ann Shaffer
Reading: John 5:1-18
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
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 Jewish leaders 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 Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Authority of the Son
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.
For this devotion, we were asked to write a Faith story. The first thing that came to mind happened recently when we relocated back to Florida from Texas. Due to family situations in Florida, we really wanted to move back. We didn’t know how we were going to accomplish the move, but we prayed and asked God to help us. One big factor in the move was selling our house in Texas. The morning the photographer was to take pictures for the realtor turned out to be a grey rainy day and not very good conditions for taking pictures. I was a little disappointed, but kept working and continued to pray. About ten minutes before the photographer was to arrive, the clouds passed over and the biggest sunny blue sky appeared. When the photographer arrived, she commented on how she had been taking pictures all morning long in the grey overcast and it was amazing how the sky had cleared up as she was driving into our neighborhood. She took the pictures and they turned out great. Right after the photographer left, the sky clouded up again. We had a contract on the house the first day it went on the market. The whole story is too long to write about here, but the summary is that within a 3 month period, my husband and I both had new jobs, sold our house in Texas, bought a house in Florida and moved all our belongings. Everything just seemed to click and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that God answered our prayers and helped us to move. We had faith that God would answer our prayers and give us the wisdom to see his answers.
This Scripture reading shows us how Jesus did such miraculous things for people. At first the man questioned how it could be done, and then Jesus told him what to do. He followed Jesus with amazing results. How many times in our lives do we find ourselves in situations where we don’t know what to do and think that it is hopeless? God is always there for us and will help us in any situation. It requires Faith on our part to never have doubt and know that he is always there for us and will give us the answers if we would just take the time to pay attention to what he is telling us. Thanks be to God.
Reading: John 5:1-18
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
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 Jewish leaders 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 Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Authority of the Son
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.
For this devotion, we were asked to write a Faith story. The first thing that came to mind happened recently when we relocated back to Florida from Texas. Due to family situations in Florida, we really wanted to move back. We didn’t know how we were going to accomplish the move, but we prayed and asked God to help us. One big factor in the move was selling our house in Texas. The morning the photographer was to take pictures for the realtor turned out to be a grey rainy day and not very good conditions for taking pictures. I was a little disappointed, but kept working and continued to pray. About ten minutes before the photographer was to arrive, the clouds passed over and the biggest sunny blue sky appeared. When the photographer arrived, she commented on how she had been taking pictures all morning long in the grey overcast and it was amazing how the sky had cleared up as she was driving into our neighborhood. She took the pictures and they turned out great. Right after the photographer left, the sky clouded up again. We had a contract on the house the first day it went on the market. The whole story is too long to write about here, but the summary is that within a 3 month period, my husband and I both had new jobs, sold our house in Texas, bought a house in Florida and moved all our belongings. Everything just seemed to click and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that God answered our prayers and helped us to move. We had faith that God would answer our prayers and give us the wisdom to see his answers.
This Scripture reading shows us how Jesus did such miraculous things for people. At first the man questioned how it could be done, and then Jesus told him what to do. He followed Jesus with amazing results. How many times in our lives do we find ourselves in situations where we don’t know what to do and think that it is hopeless? God is always there for us and will help us in any situation. It requires Faith on our part to never have doubt and know that he is always there for us and will give us the answers if we would just take the time to pay attention to what he is telling us. Thanks be to God.
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