God's gonna trouble the waters

Good evening friends,

Today's reading starts an interesting story in John's Gospel that will include some pretty harsh sounding words about judgment. One of the things I love about John's Gospel is that he has several extended stories, and this is one of them. Context is always important when we want to understand a passage. In this case, if we start at the beginning of the story we'll see the story in a different and more complete way. Apparently the pool Jesus appears at in this story was known for healing, but the healing was related to the water being stirred up. In this case, the man in question can't get in the water quickly enough to be healed. So not only is he affected by his disability, he also has the constant sense of being left alone by others. 

God bless,
Sam

John 5:1-9a

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ²Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. ³In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 

⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”⁷The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” ⁹At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

forsaken

Good morning friends,
Happy Pi day, for those celebrating the mathematical holiday. Today's reading is a follow up from Sunday's topic of being separated from God by our sin. Psalm 22 is a Psalm of lament. It's a powerful and emotional Psalm, all the more so because Jesus quoted it from the cross. Even when we feel far away from God, we know that Jesus once felt the same way. Jesus suffered, but God did not abandon him. God will never abandon us either; even in the darkness we can seek God's light.

God bless,
Sam

Psalm 22:1-11

¹My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? ²O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. ³Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. ⁴In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. ⁵To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

⁶But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.

⁷All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;

⁸“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

⁹Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.

¹⁰On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

¹¹Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.