�Jesus said to him, �Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.�  And at once the man was healed, and took up his pallet and walked.  Now that day was the sabbath.  So the Jews said to the man who was cured, �It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.�� 

Today�s gospel story is a familiar one.  Jesus heals a man, despairing and suffering for 38 years, at the pool of Bethesda.  But, that healing takes place on the sabbath�and, thus, the Pharisees condemn his action and find �basis� for their persecution of Jesus.

From our vantage point in the 21st century, we often point to the Pharisees� response and find it lacking.  We criticize their behavior toward Jesus�and speak of them with disdain.  We point to their legalism�their inability to step outside their laws to know and accept God�s will.  Clearly, they failed�their rules were based not on grace and scripture, but on human-constructed tradition.

But, wait!  Look around you.  How different are we from them�really?  Do we have a list of �do�s� and �don�ts� about Christian behavior�a kind of checklist for Christianity?  Where did our lists come from?  Scripture?  Tradition?  Church doctrine?  Are we guilty of interpreting human rules as God�s rules, of trying to supplement God�s grace with our own works or ideas?  Are we rulebound�or spirit led�in our dealings with others?

As a woman, a feminist, and a Christian, I have often found myself judged, disdained, and ridiculed based on what I perceived to be human laws, not God�s laws.  I have felt firsthand the cruel heartlessness than flows from rigid legalism and doctrinaire perspective.  At one time, I thought myself only the victim of such a stance.  But, the Spirit has led me to see that I too can engage in such thinking�painting those who disagree with a broad and insensitive brush.  I too supplement God�s grace with my interpretation and understanding. 

I have come to see that we all are likely to engage in such behavior, we are all capable of being Pharisees�such is the human condition.  Our understanding is always limited, always fallible.  It is only when we open�and re-open and re-open and re-open�ourselves to the Spirit�s movement in our lives that we can begin to act within the mystery of God�s grace. 

Maybe we too, like the invalid in today�s story, need to pick up our pallet and walk�walk in the path opened for us by the Spirit, even when that path seems to break the rules.  Think how you and I would be different�how the world would be different.   May it be so.