Sanitized

John 4:10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed." 11 He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'" 12 Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

It used to be commonplace to find strips of paper which declared, “Sanitized for your protection.” Whether the item in question was legitimately sanitized or not is anyone’s guess, but the paper declared it and so the tendency was to believe it true.

What if the item had been sanitized, but no paper of declaration affixed? Alternately, what if the paper was affixed, but the item had not been sanitized?

Do you see the point? How does the existence of a man-made strip of paper provide a basis one way or the other for belief?

Here we have a man, (a MAN!), walking – who has not walked in 38 years – and the lawyers look on to see if he has the strip of paper affixed. What do we see? We see a man walking while carrying his bed. This is a man who could NOT walk 5 minutes ago, and therefore he could not carry his bed. Hello? Is anybody paying attention? This man is…WALKING!!!

A flat out miracle based in love has happened, and those who are in the know look instead for the paper to verify the case of the miracle having occurred. The man is walking without having been ‘sanitized’ for his own protection. In fact, he is judged unsanitary since he is now carrying his bed.

The problem is the paper was created by man and not God. 24 chapters in the Mishna deal with what man can or cannot do on the Sabbath. God had merely said, (in the fourth of His Ten Commandments,) “Remember the Sabbath Day, and keep it Holy.”

Somehow having God heal you – on the Sabbath, by the way – was not regarded as keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. It was somehow NOT reflective of God’s glory to perform a wondrous healing on THE day God had set apart from all the others that He might be remembered and cherished above all names. Hmmm…

One consistent ploy of Satan is to do everything he can to make God appear a hard master. Adding TO God’s Word is a sure way to do that. If God’s Word is Holy, then it stands to human reason adding TO God’s Word makes it even MORE Holy! We have to be careful we never do LESS than God’s Word calls for, but we also have to be just as careful not to impose MORE than God’s Word calls for.

- Pastor Bill