u. Be no longer a burden, a charge to
others, but begin yourself to bear the burdens of others, and be a
source of strength to others.

Before the man could get home with his bed he was challenged for
carrying it on the Sabbath. They must surely have known that he himself,
and many more, had that very morning been carried to Bethesda. But we
can scarcely conclude from the Jews thus challenging the healed man that
they sought occasion against Jesus. They would have stopped any one
going through the streets of Jerusalem with a bundle on the Sabbath.
They had Scripture on their side, and founded on the words of Jeremiah
(xvii. 21), "Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath
day." Even in our own streets a man carrying a large package on Sunday
would attract the suspicion of the religious, if not of the police. We
must not, then, find a malicious intention towards Jesus, but merely the
accustomed thoughtless bigotry and literalism, in the challenge of the
Jews.

But to their "It is not lawful," the man promptly answers, perhaps only
meaning to screen himself by throwing the blame on another, "He that
made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed." The man quite
naturally, and without till now reflecting on his own conduct, had
listened to Christ's word as authoritative. He that gave me strength
told me how to use it. Intuitively the man lays down the great principle
of Christian obedience. If Christ is the source of life to me, He must
also be the source of law. If without Him I am helpless and useless, it
stands to reason that I must consider His will in the use of the life He
communicates. This must always be the Christian's defence when the world
is scandalised by anything he does in obedience to Christ; when he goes
in the face of its traditions and customs; when he is challenged for
singularity, overpreciseness, or innovation. This is the law which the
Christian must still bear in mind when he fears to thwart any prejudice
of the world, when he is tempted to bide his time among the impotent
folk, and not fly in the face of established usage; when, though he has
distinctly understood what he ought to do, so many difficulties
threaten, that he is tempted to withdraw into obscurity and indolence.
It is the same Voice which gives life and directs it. Shall I then
refuse it in both cases, or choose it in both? Shall I shrink from its
directions, and lie down again in sin; or shall I accept life, an