Sabbath

May 4, 2013

Opening Hymns:
472 Near to the Heart of God http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh472.sht

Scripture Reading:
John 5:1-18

5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda^[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ^{[4] [b] 5} One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰ and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Message:
 In today’s society we sadly don’t recognize the Sabbath as we ought to. Some stores in the big cities near where I live stay open 24 hours a day every day, only pausing to close on Christmas. Maybe down the line they will be open on that special day as well. The hospital I work at is open 24 hours a day every day of the year. Illness and disasters never seem to sleep, and neither does the hospital. Because of this my work schedule changes and rotates, and my Sabbath can’t be consistent from week to week.

In today’s scripture, Jesus’ words bring comfort to me. He heals on the Sabbath. In the scriptures He always recognizes the importance of the Sabbath, but His actions show that healing and caring for others should not be stopped on that holy day. It is important to remember to take a break each week to focus our hearts and our minds on God, and on resting our bodies for the week ahead. However, never forget that love does not take a break. We are to love others always as God has loved us.  

Time of Prayer
Dear Lord, teach us how to recognize the Sabbath that You have given us. Thank You for the love that You have given to us. Let us go forth into the world and share that same love with others, every day of the week. Amen.


The Lord’s Prayer


Closing Hymn
381 Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead us http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh381.sht

May the Lord bless you and keep you: May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Amen.

Go in peace, serve the Lord
Thanks be to God