Happy Purim! We celebrate the winter Feast of Purim. The Book of Esther expresses Love in action of a young woman who was called to save her people from certain death. In John 5, I believe that Jesus healed the impotent man at Purim and that the impotent man represents the church in the wilderness.
Jesus asked the man, “Do you want to be made well?” The man knew not that the Healer was before him. The man had no idea that the SON of the MOST HIGH GOD was standing right in front of him. Instead, his hope was based on stirred up water by an angel at a certain time. LOVE came to heal and none of the people recognized HIM.
“Rise, take up your bed and walk.” What a simple command! Thirty-eight years of suffering, gone in an instant. How did the established leaders respond? Their egos wanted to seize back control over the man by questioning the legality of the man carrying his bed and “doing work” on the Sabbath. None of them rejoiced concerning his restoration. Instead they focused on the legality of the day. Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” The man did not know. The man was too “self-centered” to even inquire about the person who just healed his impotence. How could there be such little gratitude for your restoration? Is this man any different than those who live today with the expectation of entitlement? Jesus immediately left the pool after the healing of the impotent man. The man could not tell the leaders who had healed him. Later, Jesus later found him and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
His impotence was tied to his sin.
We have assumed that something noteworthy would happen at only a major feast yet this man’s day of release happened at Purim. Is today your day? Purim is known for the culmination and essence of Esther’s calling. The deliverance of the Jews did not happen at Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles. Instead it happened in the winter months.
Our individual callings are not necessarily tied to a specific corporate cycle. We should treat each day as though it is our day for our calling to be fully manifested. Your calling may require faith and courage to complete the task at hand. Mordecai posed the question to Esther:
4:14 "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"
Esther responded:
4:16 "Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish."
Purim is the most joyful of all Feasts for the Jews. May today be the day when your calling is fully manifested as well!