26 January 2010
Psalm 45; Gen. 15:1-21; Heb. 9:1-14; John 5:1-18

Abram has seen great things from the Lord and has experienced His blessing, has heard that blessing pronounced by another, and yet the word of the Lord comes and says, “Fear not.” Abram expresses his fear in that no child has been born to him and this inheritance will go to one who is not his own child. The Lord’s answer is that he will have a son of his own and the comfort Abram was given was to gaze upon the stars and be assured that his offspring would be even greater than these. This time the Lord makes the covenant official in a strange but familiar covenant ceremony. In the midst of the ceremony, the word of the Lord comes to Abram prophetically as well, concerning the enslavement of the people in Egypt. (For some reason the Episcopal lectionary leaves out this part, vv. 12-16) After this word, the smoking pot comes and passes through the animal carcasses. In a typical covenant cutting ceremony, both parties to the covenant would have passed between the animals. The implication was, let it be done to me as it has been to these if I fail to live up to my covenant obligations. Abram, however, is not asked to take this step, only the Lord swears on His life.

“Do you want to be healed?” sounds like a simple question but this man answers like most of us would in his circumstance. Apparently there was a belief that if you were able to get into the pool when the water was disturbed then you would be healed by the angel who had disturbed the water. This man, in answer to Jesus’ question, decides to explain why he hasn’t been healed. Jesus doesn’t want to hang out and help him get in the pool, He is offering healing now. He doesn’t just heal him though, He also tells the man to take up his mat and go home. The problem is, it is the Sabbath and carrying your bed on the Sabbath is considered labor so the man is breaking a commandment in the eyes of the religious establishment. They have missed the amazing part, the healing, and focused on the mat. God is among them and they do not know Him.

An important distinction is made in this Hebrews passage, the high priest went into the holy of holies once a year to make atonement “for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.” Unintentionally committed sins is the important part. There was no atonement sacrifice for sins committed intentionally, that was the point of the goat being set free at Yom Kippur. If the goat didn’t return, their intentional sins had been forgiven. There are two different things at work there and we need to preserve some sense of the expectation of righteousness by keeping ourselves from intentional sins. Jesus has made atonement for all our sins and we have been delivered from the law, but as we read yesterday, that same law is written in our hearts, not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law as well. We are responsible for life lived according to the commandments of God and intentional or willful sin is a great sin against God. Our lives are to be devoted to His will, not our own.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.