“13 Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, 14 because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him.” John 9:13-14
The Pharisees became apoplectic (overcome with anger) when Jesus made mud on the Sabbath. If Jesus had just healed the man1 by speaking healing the Pharisees would still have been angry. But, for Jesus to actually do physical work – making a tiny amount of mud – was so beyond their thinking, that all they could think was to kill Jesus.
What are Our Pharisaical Sabbaths?
So, do we have pharisaical (like a Pharisee) “Sabbaths”? What is there that we would never allow anyone, even Jesus, to touch? Perhaps there is a passage from God’s Word that we have made a Sabbath. Every time we read it we close off the Holy Spirit. We don’t want a deeper understanding; we like what we have.
Our Prayer Time?
We may have made our prayer time a pharisaical Sabbath. We’ve created a method we use to pray. What would we do if the Holy Spirit came upon us and called us to pray more deeply, more intimately, less formally? Could we do that?
The Holy Spirit?
Have we put the Holy Spirit in a pharisaical Sabbath? Do we only allow Him to speak to us about Scriptures but lock ourselves out of the gifts of the Spirit? Do we constrain the Holy Spirit, as our Helper2, Comforter3, Advocate4, and Lord5?
The Version of Our BIble?
Perhaps we have made our Bible reading a pharisaical Sabbath. Only our version of the Bible is true. When it comes to Bible versions, we should know the following statistic:
In 2018, a record 67.3 million U.S. residents (native-born, legal immigrants, and illegal immigrants) spoke a language other than English at home.
Center for Immigration
That number has surely grown in the last four years. With so many people in America who do not speak English at home, in our churches, and in our sermons, we should use Bible versions that are Scripturally accurate while being easily accessible. We never know who will show up in our churches.
Let Jesus In
If you have a pharisaical “Sabbath,” let Jesus do for you as He did in today’s text. Allow Him to be Lord of any pharisaical “Sabbaths.”
Image by Kristin Eisner from Pixabay
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1: Matthew 12:13
2: John 14:16-17 KJV
3: John 14:26 KJV
4: John 14:16
5: 2 Corinthians 3:17