Who tells us we cannot get up off our bed of shame?

John 5:10-12 English Standard Version

¹⁰ So the Jews^[a] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

Footnote ^[a] The Greek word Ioudaioi refers specifically here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, who opposed Jesus at that time; these are the ones telling us we cannot.

This man was waiting at the Bethesda pool and said to Jesus that he could not get up by himself to enter the pool upon seeing the stirring because he had no one to help him. Jesus said to the man to get up, take his bed and walk.

Here is a point often overlooked unless we can see his bed as a symbol of the man’s reproach. Jesus did not tell the man to leave his bed, but to take it with him.

We carry our shame with us but what is it that causes us to lay down on it again?

Others will tell us it is not lawful to take up our bed of shame when it is Jesus who has said for us to do so. Do we believe Jesus or do we believe everyone else that says we cannot?

The human condition says to us that eventually we will get tired and we will lay down again. This is true, but what makes any bed a bed of shame? It is how we use it that makes it a bed of shame.

How can we stop using it as a symbol of our shame?

Remember it is Jesus that tells us to get up, take our beds and walk away.

Isaiah 25:8 English Standard Version (ESV) He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

The title Clean Slate was used recently and it occurs to me that it did not say what some expected.

The issue of beginning again with a clean slate is a judicial issue. A judge can expunge our criminal records if he can find justification for it. This may be why some teach that justification before God is just as if it never happened.

The reproach of people is another matter. People do not forgive and forget and tend to cling to their attitude of reproach. It is far easier to gain God’s forgiveness than others.

One of the biblical definitions of reproach is resting upon the condition of shame. It is an emotional condition based on our own guilt. Another definition is a taunt or scorn by our tormentors.

Some of us find it very difficult to find that clean slate where our heavenly judge has erased our sins from the record. We rest upon the condition of shame. It becomes even more difficult if we cannot find forgiveness from those who were wounded by our transgressions.

Many find it difficult to accept God’s forgiveness because they have not, cannot, or refuse to forgive themselves. There is nothing we can do to change the past. There is little we can do to change the minds of our tormentors. How can we comfort others who are resting on a bed of shame if we have not found a way to get out of bed ourselves?

Who is telling us that we cannot get up off our bed of shame?