Walking Through Ephesians
“The Claims Of Jesus”
Categories: A Month with JesusThe Claims Of Jesus - John 5
“Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years” (John 5:5). Jesus healed this man, but it was on the Sabbath.
The Jews held Jesus liable for breaking the Sabbath by healing and for His general attitude regarding their traditional Sabbath observance. To these fanatical Jews their own hatred, persecution, and murderous intentions were virtues. And, the mercy, the miracles of Jesus, and His showing them as signs and seals of his divine Sonship, mortal crimes.
We get the impression that they would have been happier if the man were still lame! At least that way he couldn’t have carried his bed on the Sabbath.
Augustine said, “They sought darkness from the Sabbath, more than light from the miracle.”
Jesus had not broken the Sabbath law. What He had broken was one of their 39 interpretations of the Sabbath law.
He said, “My Father is always at work, to this very day, and I too am working.” In other words, He’s saying, “Where did you ever get the ridiculous doctrine that God doesn’t work anymore? For six days He created and on the seventh day He stopped creating, but just because God stopped creating, do you think He stopped His work as Sustainer? Do you think on the Sabbath day God says, ‘Okay, I’m not going to hold the stars in place anymore’? Doesn’t the sun come up on the Sabbath day? Doesn’t it rain on the Sabbath day? And aren’t babies born on the Sabbath day? Are you telling Me that God stops working on the Sabbath day when it’s good for people? And when you cut your hand on the Sabbath day, does God say to Himself, ‘Well, you know, I designed that body to heal itself, I designed the blood to coagulate, but since it’s the Sabbath day I’m not going to, and He can just bleed to death. That’s what he gets for cutting his hand on the Sabbath.’”
In other words, Jesus was saying, “Common sense tells you that God is still doing good things for His people, even on the Sabbath day. That’s God’s work, and that’s My work! If it’s the Sabbath day, and somebody needs help, it’s the work of God to help him, and that’s what I’ll be doing.”
That makes a lot of sense, but they didn’t hear what He said. They never heard because they were determined not to. All they heard was a second indictment. They said, “Ah-Ha! We knew He was a Sabbath breaker, but now He’s a blasphemer!” And they were determined to kill Him. They were continually plotting His murder from that day forward. A Sabbath breaker and a blasphemer, they couldn’t let such live.
The claims of Jesus were far more than that of being a prophet. The works that He did were not His alone, but He duplicated and continued the Father’s work. Even greater works than these would be done. The Jews scorned the claim that He was equal with God, but Jesus affirmed that the Father had not only given Him power to perform miracles but committed all judgment to Him.
Prayer: Father, Your Son still works today upholding this world by the power of His word. You still work to bring us back to You. Please help us keep from building our own walls that keep us from You. Amen!
