09/09/2026
For thirty-eight years, this man lived with a condition he could not change on his own.
Araw-araw, nakahiga siya sa kanyang banig, waiting for the opportunity to be healed. For so long, that mat had been part of the life he knew.
Then Jesus came.
📖 “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
— John 5:8
And immediately, the man was healed.
Pero may isang detail dito na madaling lampasan.
Kung magaling na siya at kaya na niyang maglakad, bakit ipinabuhat pa ni Jesus sa kanya ang banig? Bakit hindi na lang niya ito iniwan?
Hindi sinabi mismo sa passage ang eksaktong dahilan kung bakit ipinabuhat ni Jesus ang banig. But look at what the command visibly showed.
Ang banig na dati niyang hinihigaan dahil hindi siya makalakad, kaya na niya ngayong buhatin habang naglalakad.
Dati, siya ang nakahiga sa banig.
Ngayon, siya na ang may pasan nito.
Dati, kailangan niya itong higaan dahil hindi niya kayang tumayo.
Ngayon, kaya na niyang buhatin ang banig na dati niyang hinihigaan dahil hindi siya makalakad.
The same mat was there, but the man was no longer in the same condition.
And that makes the scene so powerful.
The mat became visible evidence that something had truly happened. Hindi na kailangang manatili ng lalaki sa dating pwesto niya at humiga ulit. Every step he took while carrying that mat showed that Jesus had done for him what he could never do for himself.
And there is a beautiful reminder here for us.
When Jesus changes our lives, our past does not suddenly disappear. May mga alaala pa rin. May mga consequences na maaaring kailangan pa ring harapin. May kuwento pa rin tayo tungkol sa kung sino tayo noon at kung saan tayo natagpuan ng Panginoon.
But what Jesus has changed should also change the way we move forward.
Our past can remain part of our story without remaining the place where we live.
Maaaring dala mo pa ang alaala ng dating buhay, but you don’t have to keep living according to your old identity.
Maaaring naaalala mo pa ang dating weakness, but it doesn’t have to define who you are in Christ.
Parang banig ng lalaking iyon:
Nandoon pa rin ang banig, pero hindi na siya nakahiga rito.
He was walking now.
Kaya huwag mong ikahiya kung saan ka natagpuan ni Jesus. Let it remind you of His grace. Let your life testify that the person who once could not rise is now walking because Christ intervened.
Carry the testimony, but don’t return to the place Jesus has called you to rise from.
Because the greatest part of the story was never the mat he carried.
It was Jesus who gave him the power to rise and walk.
