REFUSING LIFE
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This statement of Jesus could be considered one of His most sobering warnings. His extended conversation with the Jewish leaders came in the aftermath of His healing of the man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years at the Pool of Bethesda.
They challenged Jesus about breaking the Sabbath, which led to some of Jesus’ most direct statements about His relationship with God the Father.
But He also made this stark warning about the risks for committed religious people, students of the Scriptures, missing the point of their religious study—even as He was standing in front of them and they were beginning to persecute Him (see John 5:16).
As evidenced by His life and teaching, Jesus was certainly not against the study of the Scriptures and the work of learning and growing in our understanding of faith. He taught His disciples and commissioned them to teach others.
But Jesus was clear that there were serious temptations and preoccupations that are unique to religious people, perhaps even more so to religious leaders and experts, as well as for those of us who have grown up in, studied in, and are employed in church contexts. Professional and highly committed religiosity has unique hazards.
However, the response to this warning is not to study harder, pray more, or be more religiously earnest. It is to come to Jesus Himself.
We surrender ourselves and even our religious expertise or qualifications to Him, seeking the life that He brings and—in the context of the story in which this discussion took place—the real healing and liberation He offered.
The question Jesus urged was whether our religious expectations and engagement, including our Bible study, add to, discount, or discourage the life, ministry, and service to which Jesus has called us.
