After seeing the overthrow and disappearance of the northern
kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes, wouldn’t you think that Judah would have
repented and returned to the Lord? I can
just hear the talk though, that God obviously rejected the northerners and all
it proved was that they, the people who worshiped in Jerusalem had been right
all along. While others were apostate in
their practices and their worship center, they still had the temple, still had
some semblance of right doctrine, did all the right things in just the right
manner. Right religious practice and
right doctrine matter primarily when they are connected with right attitudes
and right living. Religion isn’t wrong
even though people today find it trendy to say it isn’t about religion but
relationship. Religious practices like
worship and devotion are not, in themselves, wrong, God commanded them and
defined them, but they flow from, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” In the church religion flows from the
cross. Religion isn’t unimportant, it
just can’t be primary or we lose relationship.
John tells us that at the pool were “a multitude of invalids—blind,
lame, and paralyzed.” Jesus chose one
man from that multitude to heal that day.
Was there something inherently sweet or wholesome or righteous in the
man? If there was, it certainly isn’t
apparent from the story. Jesus asked him
a simple question, do you want to be healed?
There was no real reason for Jesus to ask the question given the situation,
they were all there because they wanted to be healed, that was the point of
being there. It was a man-made pool that
had come, under the Romans, to be thought to have healing powers. The Jews baptized the idea by attributing the
healing power to angels rather than the god the Romans believed to be
responsible. Ultimately, the man doesn’t
give glory to God, he just walks away and the officials had to ask who had
healed him. He had to have a second
encounter with Jesus to even know His name. That second encounter was more like
confrontation, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen
to you.” A bit less pleasant than the
first. What was the man’s reaction, to
shift blame and curry favor with the Jewish officials. Why did Jesus heal this man? Perhaps the same sort of reason He chose
Judas.
(Not surprisingly, the Lectionary skips verses 26 and
27. There is no reason to do so. There are not textual problems and even if
there were, the lectionary doesn’t omit the beginning of John 8. The only reason is that the compilers don’t
like what Paul wrote.)
In failing to recognize God in His creation, we began to
worship creation and to pervert it through seeking to fulfill our own
desires. We were to multiply and fill
the land and instead turned to narcissistic sexual activities. Paul says in verse 32 that it isn’t only
doing sinful things that is the problem it is also the giving of approval to
these things by those who know God’s righteous decrees. We are clear on the sexual issues, but that
list is more comprehensive than sex. How
are we doing neither practicing nor approving those other things? Maybe, Paul says, we who get some things
right need to do a little inventory-taking of our hearts lest we fall into
judgment as well. Ask Him today to show
you where you practice or approve such things as: “covetousness, malice, envy,
murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slander, hatred of God, insolence,
haughtiness, boastfulness, invention of evil, disobedience to parents, foolishness,
faithlessness, heartlessness, ruthlessness.
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