Can You Prove It?

John 11/Mark 11 Hypocrisy or Truth

John accurately wrote: If we say we have no sin, we deceive our selves. That was the condition of the religious leaders. They had seen the miracle of the blind man made whole and heard his testimony, yet threw him out of the synagogue. Later Jesus found the formerly blind man and seeing he now worshiped. How about us? The formerly disabled man at the pool was “resurrected” and could now walk. He obediently picked up his mat and walked but unlike the blind man of John 9, yet he never honored or praised God for his healing.

The religious leaders found Jesus and sought to trap him by asking him to prove his authority to heal. From John 5 we see that Jesus gave them four witnesses to prove his identity: John the Baptist who said; Behold the Lamb of God. Secondly, the works which Jesus did proved that He had the authority to heal and teach. Thirdly, His Father was working and He was working. Lastly, the scriptures themselves proved his authenticity. Jesus reminded them that they studied the scriptures seeking eternal life but He was standing there before them and they rejected the evidence.

Jesus asked the lame man at the pool: do you want to become well? He never answered Jesus affirmatively or negatively. When the religious leaders found him, they did not rejoice but castigated him for breaking a Sabbath rule they had in their books.

When we read stories like this how do we respond? Are we comfortable in our sin or do we honor He who healed us of our sin?