Jesus meets a man that is lying on a mat because he has been sick for 38 years. Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be made well?” The man gives Jesus a list of reasons why he has not been made well; Jesus just finally tells him to get up. The man is immediately healed; he gets up and walks away with his mat.
The Jewish authorities are enraged because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath. They actually think that Jesus was a bad guy for doing what he did. Jesus didn’t just heal him… Jesus gave him his life back.
The Jewish authorities completely missed the point!
The Sabbath is a day to rest, reflect, and honor God. Telling others what they can and can’t do is not honoring God; it is claiming God’s authority as your own. Someone asked me the other day what my opinion on gay marriage is. I said, “I don’t have one.” Why do I have a right to tell two people they can or can’t get married? Where did I get the authority to say? I didn’t ask society for its permission when I married Michelle.
When we start telling people what they can and can’t do, we run the risk of looking God in the face and condemning Him for His ungodly actions.
As a pastor, I will be happy to tell you what the bible says. As a Lutheran, I will be happy to tell you what the ELCA believes. As a Christian, I will be happy to tell you that we are sinners and that God has forgiven us.
But as a person created in God’s own image, I will not tell another person created in God’s image what they can and can’t do, that is God’s job... and the cops.
And I trust in both, unless I'm the one going 5 over the speed limit.
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