"You broke the rules"

June 21, 2025 | Read John 5:1-18

Jesus' healing of the invalid by the pool occurred in Jerusalem, when Jews from all over the land came for one of the big feasts. Likely, there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of worshippers at the Temple who witnessed the miracle.  The framework for this story is a familiar one:

• A CONDITION EXISTED

• A HEALING OCCURRED

• A RESPONSE WAS MADE

The "condition" part focuses on the person healed. What were they like before Jesus came into their life?

The "healing" part focuses on the work of Jesus.

As far as "response," we read of the response of the healed man, and the response of the religious leaders.  The latter group is the focus of this post. They rejected Jesus for the good work He did.

Verse 16 says the healing was on a Sabbath, a day for NO WORK.  Consequently, the Jews persecuted Jesus for violating Jewish law. Here, there is little doubt John is referring to the Jewish leaders themselves, and probably a sub-group of those leaders.

Not only did these leaders start to persecute Jesus after the healing, verse 18 says from this point on they were trying to kill Him.

This verse is a true pivot in John’s gospel.  These leaders might not have known at the time by what means it would happen (crucifixion), but for months, as John tells us, they were conspiring to kill the Lord.

Slandering the Savior

June 20, 2025 | Read and Think About Matthew 12:22-37

Jesus' once healed a blind man who also could not speak, and the miracle was met with two reactions.

First, the crowd reacted with astonishment and the roots of belief that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah ("could this be the Son of David"). Recall the oath God had made to David centuries before, which started us in Module 2.

What a hopeful response! But the second reaction threw a blanket over this response, for Matthew tells us the religious leaders (plural "Pharisees") accused Jesus of being in allegiance with Satan.

This was deliberate slander of Jesus that was meant to convey an official, authoritative tone. They were saying, "do not trust this man; he will lead you astray." It was not said conversationally. While the people were exclaiming "could this be the Son of David," the Pharisees would have been yelling all the louder, "only by Beelzebul ...!"

As we read the passage, it tells us much about the opposition Jesus was facing by this point in his ministry. By their response, the Pharisees were trying to kill Jesus' reputation, to take away His voice and make His message powerless.

This form of opposition was bad enough. As James wrote many years later: "Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body." The Pharisees were illustrating this. Ironically, it was they who were doing the works of the devil.

But in the following passages, we will see even greater opposition to Jesus and his message.

Blind to the Good

June 18, 2025 | Read and think about Mark 2:1-12

We looked at this same passage when covering John the Baptist. It's a repeat, but it's worth covering again because there is something else important to notice.

The passage recounts how Jesus healed a paralyzed man - someone whose friends brought him to the house where Jesus was preaching, made a hole in the roof because the door was inaccessible, and lowered the mat on which the paralyzed friend lay.

There is so much good happening in this scene:

1. Jesus in the house, teaching the word

2. People heard Jesus was there, and they came - a large crowd

3. The faith of the friends

4. The miracle of healing Jesus performed

5. People being utterly amazed at the miracle

6. Then glorifying God because of it

And yet ...

There were scribes sitting there, listening to His words, and hearing Him tell the paralyzed man, "Your sins are forgiven." They were blinded to the importance of that statement. They rejected it in their hearts, calling it blasphemy. They were wrong. They were tuned to their own agendas, not to God's.

These scribes - the learned ones who could transcribe key documents, most notably scripture - were blind to the Good that was before them. Throughout these next few posts, we will see this as a recurring theme among the religious leaders of Jesus' time.