My Father is Still Working

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When 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?” The 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.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. John 5:1-18

Yesterday was a full, complicated day. Most days are for many of us. We can try, over and over, to make something good happen and feel frustrated, alone and unable at the end of the day. We are saddened by losses in our lives, and miss the strength and foolishness of our youth. We are more cautious than when we were young, maybe more wise but often more burdened by a world that has passed us by.

The man by the pool was experiencing frustration and loss. He wanted to be well but could not get into the pool on his own. He needed help and everyone ignored him, but Jesus. Jesus told him to get up and he was instantly healed. It was a sabbath day and it made the religious leaders angry. But Jesus reminds us that God is still working. We are called to get up and be about the loving and healing business. Even though we have regrets, limitations and feel isolated, we are called to be transformed daily by the love of God. Despite all our failed attempts, Jesus promises we will not fail if we go forth in love.

Today, I ask God to help me get up and walk in love. May we all be about God's business, the business of love and healing.