Now that day was a sabbath.
John 5:8b
This morning on the way to work, I was listening to a new song by William Murphy called, “Chain Breaker.” The chorus struck a chord in me. It says,
If you’ve got pain
He’s a pain taker
If you feel lost
He’s a way maker
If you need freedom or saving
He’s a prison-shaking Savior
If you’ve got chains
He’s a chain breaker
In thinking about chains as I searched for today’s text, John 5:8b stood out to me. There we find these words, “Now that day was a sabbath.” It is the second half of the verse that is part of the story of Jesus healing the blind man on the Sabbath. The blind man was laying at the pool of Bethesda along with others who were blind, lame, and paralyzed. In other words, all the folks with issues were at that pool waiting for their chains to be broken.
And, Jesus did things as only Jesus can. Not only did he break the man’s chain of blindness but he broke the chain of legality by doing it on the Sabbath. Jesus used the healing of one man to break an entire system of laws that were binding people with chains. In doing so, this sign that Jesus performed pointed to Jesus as our Chain Breaker.
Today, as you reflect, what chains do you need Jesus to break for you?
