{"id":4697,"date":"2013-11-02T00:05:20","date_gmt":"2013-11-02T07:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=4697"},"modified":"2013-11-01T10:11:11","modified_gmt":"2013-11-01T17:11:11","slug":"but-its-impossible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2013\/11\/02\/but-its-impossible\/","title":{"rendered":"But It’s Impossible"},"content":{"rendered":"

\tWhen Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, \u201cDo you want to be made well?\u201d <\/p>\n

\tThe sick man answered Him, \u201cSir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tJesus said to him, \u201cRise, take up your bed and walk.\u201d And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. <\/p>\n

\tAnd that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, \u201cIt is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tHe answered them, \u201cHe who made me well said to me, \u2018Take up your bed and walk.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n

\tThen they asked him, \u201cWho is the Man who said to you, \u2018Take up your bed and walk\u2019?\u201d But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, \u201cSee, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.\u201d (John 5:6-14)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tJesus asked a disabled man a simple yes or no question. But instead of answering Jesus\u2019 question, he told Jesus why he couldn\u2019t get healed. <\/p>\n

\tToo often we respond to God exactly the same way: rather than saying yes to him, we explain to God why what we most need is impossible to get. <\/p>\n

\tRemarkably, Jesus did not wait for the poor man to say the right thing in the right way before he would help him\u2014any more than he expected anything from the man at all. Jesus knew what the man really needed. Even if the man didn\u2019t understand it himself.<\/p>\n

\tOnly after healing the man did Jesus warn him to stop sinning. Jesus\u2019 intervention was not dependent upon the man\u2019s repentance, but rather upon his need. And Jesus criticized the Pharisees for imagining that doing the right thing should be allowed to stand in the way of doing another right thing. Keeping the Sabbath was good; but using it as an excuse to let suffering continue was inexcusable. The religious establishment had allowed concern with legalities to obscure the reason the legalities existed: love. They had missed the whole point to the commandments and saw them as an end in themselves, rather than what they were: a means to an end. The means to doing the loving thing.<\/p>\n

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When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, \u201cDo you want to be made well?\u201d The sick man answered Him, \u201cSir, I have no man … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4697"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4698,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4697\/revisions\/4698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}