Contemplative Bible Reading

John 5:8,11 (New Living Translation)

8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”…11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

This was the man who was at the pool at Bethesda. He had been lame for 38 years. Jesus healed the man so that he could carry his mat and walk.

Well, it happened to be the Sabbath day and law-abiding Jews did not carry mats or anything else. Questioned by the authorities as to why he was obviously breaking the law, the man replied, “Well, I don’t know, that fella’ told me to.”

The leaders then demanded to know who it was who had told the man to break the law. Who was encouraging anarchy?!?!!!

“Uh,” replied the man, “I don’t know. He didn’t have a name tag or anything.”

In this story, the person telling happened to be Jesus, the Son of God. The lame man with the mat didn’t know that and he didn’t care. Someone told him to do something, so he did it.

We don’t need permission to tell someone to do something that is right. Jesus didn’t; we don’t.

I’m not encouraging us to go around and be bossy all the time and tell everyone what to do and run their lives. Now and then, however, meekly tell someone. Such as

• Smile when you order coffee at Starbucks.
• Hold the door open for others, let them go first.
• Pray when you see someone hurting
• Do one little thing to aid someone else.

It won’t hurt to tell anyone any of these things. Sort of like, “Pick up your mat and walk.”