“Plan No Evil On The Sabbath!”

“Plan No Evil On The Sabbath!”
It is true that “faith rolls the mountain,” but Jesus is not limited to your faith in other to demonstrate God’s grace and mercy on you. Jesus asked a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years whether he wanted to get well? After listening to the man Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick your mat and walk.” The man was cured and he did as Jesus said. The man did not even know who Jesus was; talk less about having faith in him.
However, our focus is not about faith. We are concerned about the Jews who persecuted Jesus for “doing these things on the Sabbath.”
Jesus told them this fundamental truth of the Sabbath which we often ignore: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” By saying this, Jesus angered the Jews the more, so they “tried all the harder to kill him, not only for breaking the Sabbath,” but for “even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (Jn.5:1-18).
There is a sense in which religious fanaticism misses the core expectations of the faith which are righteousness, justice, love and mercy. On God’s holy day we are in churches busily pouring out our petitions and requests to him. Imagine that all those prayers are kept in “pending file” till Monday! Then why waste our time praying on Sundays when no prayer point is attended to on that day? Imagine that the hospitals doors are closed on Sundays and there is no pharmarcy on call! What if there are no taxis and okadamen to carry us to church on Sunday! And what if the clergies do not work on Sunday!
Worst of all, to want to eliminate somebody because he does good on God’s holy day! Isn’t that devilish rather than godly? To crown it all, such murderous plans are hatched right within the precincts of God’s house (temple or church), and on God’s holy day! How evil is the heart of (wo)man!
Dear friend, we were all paralysed with sin. Jesus has made us whole but cautions, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”
Secondly, let us be concerned about the welfare of humanity even on the Sabbath rather than being angry that God has been merciful to someone on that day! Lastly, while Jesus demands from us faith the size of a mustard seed, he is not limited to act on us because of our faith in him! Just like the Father, he is more than we define him. In God’s storehouse there is enough for everybody. Ask for your share without envying what has been given to your neighbour, even on a Sabbath.
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit teach me not to begrudge those whom the Lord favours on his Sabbath. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!