Protocol for Service
At Bethesda, Jesus didn't utilize the waters, the cures, or the healing rituals there. He simply told the old man" "Arise, take up thy bed and walk." He knew that after being there for 38 years, the establishment would know who the invalid was. He know that this healing would attract attention. He knew that carrying his bed on the Sabbath would cause an uproar. But the people needed to know! They needed to know that it wasn't by the normal healthcare of the day—it was a divine work!
They needed to know that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus, that He was anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, to relieved the oppressed, to liberate the captives, to heal the afflicted, to restore sight to the blind, and to reveal to the world the light of truth!
They needed to know that the Sabbath isn't about counting your footsteps, is isn't about strife and debate, it isn't about afflicting your soul and bowing down your head like a bulrush with sackcloth and ashes. Is about loosening the bands of wickedness, undoing the heavy burdens, freeing the oppressed, breaking every yoke. Its about giving your food to the hungry. Its about bringing the poor to your house. Its about putting your cloths ont he naked.
Yes, the sabbath is about going to church and refraiing from secular life. Its about spiritual refreshing and spiritual renewal. Yes the Sabbath is a holy day. It is to be guarded as sacred and special. It is not to be treated as common, nor is it for self-pleasing or entertainment. The Sabbath is the seal of God. It is the heart of the moral law. Yes, It is about worshiping God—putting Him first. But it is also about our self-less service to others. It is the protocol for service!
Jesus forced the issue of Sabbath reform in Jusea and in Galilee. We need to force the issue today. Even Seventh-day Adventists haven't yet got it right yet concerning the Sabbath.
"The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah contains present truth for the preople of God. Here we see how medical missionary work and the gospel ministry are to be bound together as the message is given to the world. Unpon those who keep the Sabbath of the Lord is laid the responsibility of doing a work of mercy and benevolence. Medical missionary work is bound up with the message and sealed with the seal of God." EV 516.
"This light is given to those who keep holy the Lord's Sabbath; but we cannot keep this day holy unless we serve the Lord in the manner brought to view in the scripture: 'Is not this the fast that I have shosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo every burden, to let the oppressed go free? And that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When you see the naked, that thou cover him?" Isaiah 58:6, 7. 5MR 33.