Mid-Pentecost; The Holy Apostles Jason and Sosipater; the Holy Martyrs Dadas, Maximus and Quintilianus (286-305); Our Father among the Saints Cyril of Turau (1183)
Acts 14:6-18; John 7:14-30
Read John 7:14-30
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.
We just heard this past Sunday about the man who was paralyzed for 38 years being healed by the word of our Lord Jesus. Our Lord performed this miracle on a Sabbath. With the Jewish leaders upset that He told this man to carry his mat, and that He cured a man on a Sabbath, our Lord responds with a Jewish mode of argumentation – if a lesser thing is true, then how much more true is a greater, related thing. If circumcision is done on a Sabbath (for the sake of the salvation of a man), then how much more true is the healing of the whole man, done on a Sabbath. Bu the Jewish authorities only saw the carrying of the mat. Their interpretation of the sabbath law prevented them from seeing what Jesus was truly trying to get them to see the miracle He did – and who He truly is – the Messiah! God is present, alive, and interactive with us! They just couldn’t see the forest because of the tree!
How often it is that we cannot see what the Lord is doing in our lives, His great and mighty works, because of our assumptions and presumptions on how He should act! It is like being in a swimming pool. We keep hanging onto the sides of the pool because of fear, habit, or even bad teaching. What we see and understand of the whole pool of water is very limited. Our Lord wants us to let go, trust in Him, and float, and see and know that He holds us and cares for us.