John 4:46-54 [5:1-18]
These two passages speak to each other. They are perhaps more powerful together than apart because of the contrast in the two stories. The first story has an official of the empire who comes to Jesus to heal his son. This time, I saw that it was the next day when the servants came to tell the official that his son was healed. The official journeyed for more than a day to see if his son could be healed, and went back home with only the word of Jesus that it had been done.
The next story has Jesus with a man ill for 38 years. It doesn’t tell us exactly what the man is afflicted with, and I don’t think it’s important. For 38 years he has been trying to get into the pool every time the waters stir, and he hasn’t made it first yet. Jesus tells him to get up, take his mat, and walk. When he does, he is accosted for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. Next he has to explain himself, and how it happened, and he doesn’t even know who Jesus is!
These healings happen outside the Jewish community, outside of the people who know who Jesus is or would be expected to encounter. And that may frustrate some believers, which may be the point. These healings stir things up. They cause things to happen. They get people talking about the power of God experienced in their lives, and asking questions. The healings aren’t about keeping the Sabbath, or rewarding faithfulness, they are about revealing the glory of God to a world that needs to hear and see and feel it. How do we see God at work, even if it’s against “the rules?”
