The book “Songs of the Deliverer” tells the story of Christ re-cast in modern day. The book is a work of fiction but the stories and characters are based on the Gospels of the New Testament. These Reflections are written to highlight the Biblical pericopes.
Referenced in Chapter Six
It’s Saturday. The day is warm with a light breeze. An older man, an invalid for 38 years, seeks comfort. He stations himself near a natural spring hoping to be immersed in the soothing stream. Every time he struggles to enter the water, another person jumps ahead of him and keeps him from entering the pool.
Then the man hears someone say, “Do you want to get well?”
Of course he wants to be well, the disabled man must be thinking, but how can he feel better if he can’t make it into the pool? He answers, “Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.” The response comes:
“Pick up your mat and walk.” (John 5:8)
And he walks.
He later learns that the man who healed him on this Saturday, the Sabbath, was the man called Jesus. Soon, others confront Jesus and demand to know why he is working on the Sabbath, a day given to rest and worship of God. Jesus tells them he is mimicking his Father:
“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (John 5:17)
For Jesus, this day is Father’s Day. He honors the day by doing the works his Father has revealed to him as by making the lame walk. He explains further:
“The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19)
This is why Jesus was sent to us: to do the works of God the Father. And Jesus knows why this is so:
“For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” (John 5:20)
For Jesus, every day is Father’s Day. Every day is borne of the love of God. Every day is given in honor of God. If we accept this truth in our life, Jesus tells us what this will mean:
“Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life.” (John 5:24)
Happy Father’s Day.
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