10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” 11 He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” 12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
John 5:10-13
As we keep or break the Sabbath day, we nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope by which man rises.
-Abraham Lincoln
Religious leaders are extremely angry when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. They get even angrier when Jesus claims to be God’s Son. They were more concerned with Jesus breaking their man made laws, than with any of God’s word. They were more concerned about when He did this than what He did.
For most of John 5, Jesus speaks to the Jews, the religious leaders, who criticize Him for healing the man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. The Jews had rules upon rules about what was permissible for the Jewish people to do or not to do. One of those rules prohibited any kind of work from being done on the Sabbath. Healing was one of those things and, according to their rules, was only permitted on the other six days of the week. Think about that for a little bit. The religious leaders were essentially saying, “You cannot perform a miraculous healing on the Sabbath as it is in defiance of the Jewish law! How dare you change this man’s life on the Sabbath! How dare you end his 38 years of suffering! That can surely wait until tomorrow.” Not even a miracle from God could supersede their laws, and they didn’t even care about the details of this man’s healing. How this happened was not important to them.
Throughout the rest of the story, in chapter 5, Jesus continues to call out the religious leaders. He points out that they have a great knowledge of the Scriptures, but have a blatant disregard for following them. They held their laws in higher esteem to those of God. The whole Bible is about Jesus, and the Old Testament, their Bible at the time, tells us about God’s plan of salvation, to send His Son Jesus. The Jews knew those Scriptures well, but failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
If we don’t watch out, we will also fall into the same trap. We can turn our relationship with Jesus into a bunch of rules, a bunch of do’s and don'ts. Saying all the right things on Sunday but living out a completely different life the rest of the week. By doing this, we can completely miss out on Jesus, His miracles, and what He is doing all around us. We can get caught up following our own rules rather than following Jesus.
Family discussion:
What miracle has Jesus performed in your life?
How can we not make our life a checklist of good deeds/behaviors?
Meditate:
10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” 11 He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” 12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
John 5:10-13
Pray:
Father, help me to not fall into the trap of putting anything I do above Your Word. I know I fail you by thinking that my way is sometimes better. Help me to always have You before everything.
In Jesus name, Amen.
About the author:
Jose Aguilar Jr. is an Associate Pastor at FBC Weslaco and has served in this capacity for the last 12 years. He and his wife Blanca have served faithfully at FBC Weslaco since 2001. They are the proud grandparents of Lilyana Faythe and Trinidad Esperanza Aguilar.