“WE CAN’T AFFORD TO GIVE UP”

 


            No one likes to be accused of doing something that they didn’t do.  In the case of Jesus, He is no different.  From the moment He began His ministry till the moment He ascended back into heaven, all He had done was good.   He had never defrauded anyone, never taking advantage of anyone, He had not even committed one sin.  Yet, the people that should have recognized who He was, are the very people that are accusing Him of breaking the Law.    If Jesus did anything, it was upset the religious leaders of the day.  Because of all the attention He was getting, there were some that were accusing Him of leading the people astray.  Can you believe that, accusing Jesus of leading people away from God?  Not only did He not lead them astray, it would have been impossible for Him to do so since He Himself was God.  Of all the people to be accusing Jesus, these people had no right.  In the reading for today, Jesus had been accused of breaking the law of the Sabbath day by healing the lame man from the pool of Bethsaida in John 5.  Jesus responds to His accusers in the following way, “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law…. I did one work and you marvel at it.  Moses gave you circumcision and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?” (John 7.19-23).  They had been so caught up in small things concerning Jesus to accuse Him, they were missing the whole concept of who He was.  When we think of all the wonderful attributes that Jesus has, I hope we never overlook the patience and long suffering of Jesus.  It would have been so easy for Him to give up on His creation and just say forget the whole thing, yet He remains faithful to do what He had been called to do; die for the sins of the people.  Just when you think that you are all alone and no one understands you, or when you feel like the entire world is against you in your quest to live a righteous life.  Don’t forget that they felt the same way about Jesus, yet He stayed on course.  When you feel like giving up because of the way you have been treated, look to the example of Jesus…He didn’t!

 

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