Section 9
it was that the impotent man not only rose up, but also picked up his bed and walked. He was not only healed; he was enlivened. According to verses 24 and 25, this is for him as a dead man to pass out of death into life and live.
We do not need religion's pool with its water and we do not need the angel. When we have Jesus, we do not need anything else. It is Jesus who enlivens. We all have to see this. This is life's enlivening. This is the central point of this case on the positive side.
LIFE'S ENLIVENING BREAKING RELIGION'S RITUAL
In 5:10-16 we see religion's opposition to life. "The Jews then said to the one who was healed, It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to pick up your bed" (5:10). Life's enlivening breaks religion's ritual. Religion is offended by life and begins its opposition to life from this point. The Sabbath is for man (Mark 2:27) and should be a rest to man. Religion's law-keeping did not bring rest to the man sick for thirty-eight years, but life's enlivening did it in one second. Yet, the religious people cared only for the ritual of Sabbath-keeping; they had no concern for the sick man's rest. What a life we have! We do not