The fourth commandment says: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy…the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord God; in it, you shall not do any work…the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.” Yet we see Jesus healing the man who had been ill for a long time on the sabbath. Was Jesus disrespecting the commandment? He knew the commandments – so why did he do this? One of the wonderful things Jesus is teaching us is the bigness of God. Your image of God creates you or defeats you. There is an absolute connection between how you see God and how you see yourself and the whole world. The religious leaders in Jesus’ time on earth had a God who looked to judge people for their sins if they didn’t obey his commands. But Jesus taught that God isn’t looking for every opportunity to judge us for our sins or to prescribe punishment. In reality, Jesus taught that the Father is just trying to describe what happens if we keep living the way we do. Maybe we can go on for a while, but something will happen. We will end up hurting ourselves, the people we love, our community, and the world we share with so many others. The story of Jesus healing a man suffering from dropsy had many people mad at him for doing it on the Sabbath. Their God was vengeful, and they expected Jesus to “pay” for his transgression. Jesus’ actions were to show everyone that God seeks to nurture and care for them and that he desires to be in communion with them. Who we understand God to be will shape everything we do in our lives. What is your image of God?