The Greatest of All Miracles

You know the type, right? The one who must correct every statement another makes. Someone who can wax eloquent on just about everything, and does. That person. The one who knows it all. The person who makes everyone else around feel as if they know nothing. Oh, ya, I’m pretty sure you’ve met that person too.

Those know-it-alls. The experts. The grown up still waving his or her hand with the excitement of a child’s, “I know, I know, Teacher, I know!”

But here’s the thing. We’ve all been that person at some time about some thing. We’ve thought what we know makes us superior and right.

As I read the gospels, I’m often distracted by the know-it-alls. They get under my skin. Jewish religious leaders, with their pious spiritual acuity, knew the laws forward and backward. But yet, they didn’t recognize Jesus face to face.

And oh, how much I do not want to be like them.

They thought they knew it all, but they knew nothing. While Jesus made Himself clearly known, they didn’t have eyes to see it. They were know-it-alls without knowledge.

But, it was the demonstration of His Deity over and over again, which really angered them.  Blinded by pride and hypocrisy, they chose outrage and offense.

In John 5, Jesus healed a man paralyzed thirty-eight years. It was a very long time. Long enough to give up, lose hope, to become despondent and distrusting of others. Until one day.

“Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.” (John 5:8-9 ESV)

But the Jews were outraged because it was the Sabbath. And they knew everything about the Sabbath because they knew the Mosaic law forwards and backwards.

They chose to belittle Him, thinking in the process, they were made greater.

Their ridiculous reasoning blinded them to something profoundly miraculous. A man, unable to walk for thirty-eight years, rolled up his bed, hoisted it on his shoulder, and walked away.

And I can’t help wondering how often I too completely miss the amazing works of God, His divine answers and superior wisdom, by focusing on the wrong things, the offenses, and the ways of people rather than the ways of God. How often do I become distracted by piddly insignificant stuff and am blinded to the big eternal realm of God’s plan?

The experts around Jesus centered their wolf-scents on the day of the week. It was the Sabbath. I mean, surely, Jesus could have waited one more day. Or, maybe the invalid should have been patient till the following day to get up and walk?

Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, others carried the paralyzed man to his spot. They rolled out the mat, positioned him on it, and left him there lying against that thin mat. As the day wore on, the man’s inert body would have pressed painfully against the hard foundation underneath.

But at the command of Jesus, the man rose, lifted the bedroll onto his shoulder, and walked away.

I mean…how dare he, right? Wouldn’t a “godly” man know better? You simply couldn’t all willy-nilly tell someone who hadn’t walked in thirty-eight years to start on the holy day of Sabbath. And to carry his bed added insult to injury. Outrageous!

But I’ve been missing some key truths.

Moses forbade Sabbath work in Exodus 20:8-11. The seventh day of each week belonged to the Lord. The Israelites revered Moses the great leader of God’s people. God Himself rested on the seventh day of Creation. To break the Sabbath earned a punishment of stoning. (Exodus 35:2) So why did Jesus often perform miracles on the Sabbath?     

Jewish leaders with their great knowledge of the law, butted over the particulars. And so, they added their own interpretations and boundaries to what was allowed on the Sabbath and what was not.

They made their own list including 39 prohibited activities. Well…look-y there… the list included carrying something from one domain to another. Gotcha.

However, in the heated discussions that took place between the experts, a debate arose. How could God hold His universe together and rest at the same time? How did God manage it all? Could He become un-Sovereignly in control for one day to rest? They concluded only God could rest and work. He was after all, God.

Jesus wove His Deity throughout everything He did. His teaching, the miracles, places He went, and with whom He spoke, shouted out His Identity. He is the only real expert. He truly knows all things.

I’ve heard people say that Jesus never claimed to be God. How ridiculously ignorant. He claimed it in everything He did. He proved to be Lord of the Sabbath. Equal. One with the Father.

In John 10:33b, the Jews accused Him, “…you, being a man, make yourself God.” (ESV)   

Oh it came across clearly, yes it did. Arrogance filled the cracks of what the know-it-alls knew with a form of stupidity.

Can that happen today? Does it? Am I that kind of expert?

The man who hadn’t walked in 38 years carrying the bed roll down the street suddenly faced an enraged crowd of smart-alecks determined to squash his miracle.

I’ve often been perplexed by the experts’ reaction to Jesus’ miracles. To know it all, yet know nothing. Blinded to truth by all their knowledge, they understood Jesus’ claim. It offended them in every way.

Jesus said, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.” (John 5:46 NKJV)

What should have brought them flat on their faces before Him took Jesus to the cross.

I don’t want to be like them. I want to recognize Him in the really big and great Sovereign acts, but also in today’s littlest mundane miracles. I want God’s Word to instruct my mind and capture my heart.

For He is Humble, Perfect in character, full of grace, mercy, and love. He Who truly Knows All, knows all of me. He reached down and lifted me when I was paralyzed in sin, and raised me to walk in newness of life. It is the greatest of miracles each and every day.

 

 

 

 

*Feature Photo by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash