Verse 10, The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”  He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, Take up your bed and walk.” 

 

For real?  I've been laying here these 38 years...just laying here, unable to walk > oh and by the way, you have not helped me > and today a man sets me free, FREE, and you criticize?  Oh yes...and that is exactly what awaits the born again christian today...

 

Oh you're not coming to the party?  Oh you're not going to the movie with us?  What do you think you're better than us?  The bible is clear, if any man desires to be righteous he will face persecution from this world, but be of good cheer...Jesus has overcome this world! 

 

Just as Jesus has overcome this man, and set him absolutely free, healed him completely!  But the Jews, ingrained in their traditions did not recognize the healing touch of God.  I mean what a blessing for a man that has been lame for almost 14,000 days yet they condemned because they cared more for their tradition then they did that a man was healed!  How blind!

 

Several places in the Torah, we read, “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  six days your shall work but the seventh day is for rest.”  The Jews had taken that commandment, as well as the others and they developed the Mishnah.

The Mishnah is a Rabbitical commentary on the law of Moses...and get this, some 23 chapters were devoted to interpreting what God meant by this one command...

 

They had it detailed down to the exact do's and don'ts for the entire day and somewhere in there, probably beginning from the first page to the last, the intention of pleasing God was lost and supplanted with the lust for self righteousness.

 

The sabbath today is still a holy day.  A day to meet at Dad's house and spend time with the family.  A day to count your blessings as it were...stop from your work and reflect upon God's goodness...oh how we do need that...but the Jews had gotten it twisted...

 

Jesus knew the Mishnah, Jesus knew what His command and even His healing work on this man's life would cause...yet He chose to stir the waters, if you will...why?  Why would he choose to upset the Jews and cause disrest?  Because He wants them to be healed also!  I wonder if His boy Nick was there....maybe...I wonder if any of the Jews were impacted internally...you betcha...and that is exactly why God's grace sometimes is so shocking I believe...so that others might come to the Lord.    

 

Consider, Raul Ries > grew up in a difficult home that left him violent and furious...he joined the military just to lawfully murder people...years later he was prepared to kill his wife and kids and ends up getting saved...

Consider Paul the Apostle!  And here, this man, 14,000 days, 336,000 hours he has been lame...in a moment > he has received strength...yet the world finds a reason to denounce the miracle...

 

Listen how the man answered the Jews, Verse 11, He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'”  I love it!  Fearfully and wonderfully made > made specifically > God has fashioned you just how He wants you to be to bring Him glory and show forth His power!  Why is it that I bring this up?

 

What was this man's response to Jesus?  Sir, my condition, it ain't on me because everytime the waters are stirred another beats me to the pool!  Remember his excuse which did not bring the Father glory.  Then, he encounters Jesus, he is set free by Jesus and look still > he's the same dude...he says to the Jews, who ask him, “why are you carrying your bed” look homes, because He told me to! 

 

Now his excuse...from I have no man, to I obeyed the Son of Man, brings God glory!  I love it!  Yes God washes you clean, yes God gives you a new heart, a new nature and makes you a new creation but that doesn't totally obliterate or negate God's first creation > God created you fearfully and wonderfully even when you weren't born again > He doesn't say ok, to be saved you must now be uniformed to the poster-board Christian sterotype, NO!  He brings you into unity with His people!  Uniformity and unity are very different.

He says come as you are!  I used to struggle with this because when I got saved, I quickly realized that I don't fit into my perceived mold of a christian.  I like hip-hop and upbeat uncorny music...I can't play the guitar...I don't wear tight jeans!! HA!  But man God has formed me in His very hand and made me exactly as I am so that I might bring Him glory...and so, freedom!!!  Freedom from stereotypes and societal expectations!  Free to just live unto Him and love Him and serve Him! 

 

Now please understand that is not a truth that can be applied to sin...The bible says that God tempts no man with sin, God doesn't lead any man into sin, and so your freedom in Christ, is not freedom to sin, its freedom from sin!

 

And so this man, blaming others sinfully to crediting others righteously...total 180 degree turn from his sinful ways yet still so characteristically him, I love it.

 

Verse 12, Then they asked him, “who is the Man who said to you, “Take up your bed and walk?”  (classic example of a sucker question as they ask to know Jesus but not with the intention of honoring Him but rather with the intention of killing Him) But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

 

Later Jesus will find him again tho look, verse 14...

 

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple (pretty neat place for this guy to go right?  Never been welcomed there before, maybe even never been there...but now here he is, in God's very house, healed by God's very Son) and said to him, “See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

 

This may have been an indication that whatever caused this man to suffer for so long was actually as a result of some type of sin.  So this man was probably well older than 38...I say that because not all ailments are caused by some sin in someone's life.  Consider Paul or Job...and remember Job's lousy friends who counseled him to confess his secret sin and God would remove the suffering but they were wrong, Job had no secret sin...

 

Jesus also must have spent some more time there with him because we read in the next verse, verse 15,  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  In the previous verse we have no indication that Jesus revealed Himself to this man but He obviously did as the man then goes and says, it was Jesus.  Jesus set me free!

 

Verse 16, for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  This persecution reveals the utter carnality of the Jews.  We have a man that has been lame, suffering for 38 years, and because of their tradition, they would rather have him left in agony. 

There was another time when Jesus and His disciples were walking through a grain field on the Sabbath and as they walked the disciples were plucking and eating the bits of grain, and the Jews asked them why do you do what is not lawful?

 

Jesus answered reminding them of David, their king...when David was hungry and running from King Saul how he went into the temple and ate the bread reserved only for the priests...pointing out to them that their extrapolation of the Sabbath, their 23 chapters, were man-made, tools of bondage rather than true representations of God's grace, and then Jesus said to them, I am the Lord of the Sabbath!  You'll find that in Luke 6.

 

Their whole idea of God had become so twisted...so centered on man and man's ways and man's righteousness...so twisted.  It still exists today...

 

And so here again, the carnality of the Jews...as they were so offended, John says they even wanted Him dead!

 

Verse 17, But Jesus answered them, My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.  Jesus stuns them!  He says My Pater (Pate-ar)!  My Father!  That doesn't cause us to gasp but to the Jews this was something never before said by a man...because the implication was that Jesus was making Himself equal with God.  Look at the next verse.

 

Verse 18, Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal (isos) with God.  (an isotope is the same element simply with a different number of electrons)  (Jesus was saying My Father and I are the same, in a separate persons)

 

There are groups today that will say that Jesus never said that He was God.  Let me tell you, there are numerous verses as clear as this one.  Jesus clearly stated right here that He and the Father are equals...again, One God in separate and distinct Persons. 

 

Paul wrote in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ”  We must not allow the enticing logical argument of a nonbeliever, of one that is deceived, to turn us from the simple and clear teachings of scripture.

 

And here we learn that Jesus in the open air of the city, in front of the Jews and recorded for all eternity in His word which shall by no means pass away, from the mouth of the the Lord Himself, comes truth, I and the Father are One.  The matter is settled.

 

 

 

Verse 19, Jesus continues, Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 

 

The Oneness of God is displayed in Jesus' statement.  Jesus is not saying that He is limited but rather that He and the Father are united.  He and the Father are One.  So as the Father wills, He wills...as the Father does, He does...cloned desktop, not extended. 

 

And there's even deeper truth here...Verse 20, For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

 

You see when Jesus set the woman at the well free, it was indeed God the Father liberating His daughter; When Jesus healed the man by the pool of Bethesda, it was the Ancient of Days, the eternal Father that called out to His poor and suffering son!  Jesus says here that those works, He Himself, God in heaven does because He Himself, the Son on earth is One with Him who is Spirit and above all powers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Jesus says, greater works than these are coming!  He continues in Verse 21, For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  The phrase here in the Greek for “gives life” can also be translated “He quickens” and a neat way to consider that or understand that is to think of smelling salts.  He makes them aware of what is really going on...

 

And Jesus here says to the Jews that before a man can react to smelling salts, he must first be made alive...and therefore God raises man from the dead...Now keep in mind, Jesus has not yet raised anyone from the dead...but He will.  He has however raised folks from their beds, from their situations, from their circumstances...

 

And He continues in His work still today...setting us free from the penalty of sin, eternal death > torture and anguish > but also from the power of sin, raising us from our addictions and spiritual poverty and sinful ways that hurt, destroy and isolate us...same as being alone, yet you are not alone...

 

Verse 22, For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment (crisis) to the Son, that all should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. 

 

 

 

 

He says plainly to the Jews who want to kill Him for making Himself equal to the Father, look ya'll better recognize...your desire is not to kill me, it is rather to kill God Himself!  He is the One who puts a damper on your self exaltation!

 

All that Jesus has done bears no inconsistency with God the Father yet the Jews, the people of God, desire not just to put an end to the works of Jesus, but John says they want Him dead. 

 

But here we see Jesus even making a plea to them to repent...His grace showing forth as He knows well and good that they want to kill Him...and so  He says I do nothing of Myself...I only do what I see the Father doing...and I have the power to give life, He tells them, so you believe in God, believe also in Me and that will honor God.  He'll say later that they are not willing to come to Him that they may have life...

 

Before we finish up today, I want to just look at one other thing in this scripture set...It is an amazing truth that Jesus and the Father are One...completely consistent between the two and in constant communion, unity, oneness with one-another...

 

And so as we study Jesus, His earthly ministry, His teachings, His works, His miracles...we must keep in mind that as we see Jesus, we are indeed also seeing the pure characteristics, the pure heart, the love of God the Father.

Jesus said back in v17, My Father has been working until now and I have been working...what He is saying here is that He was and is a perfect and complete reflection of God the Father.  Fully man and fully God and in full communion with the Father...had been for all eternity and will be for all eternity.  

 

And so we ourselves, as we walk through our days, and as we face certain situations, our calling as Christians, as ones that are indwelt by the Holy Spirit are to be reflections of Jesus Christ...we are to be light and salt in a dark and dead world...so that we might be that conduit through which Jesus can do exactly what He says here to the Jews...give life...and exactly what Paul says in 1 Cor 1:4...bring forth God's grace through Jesus Christ.

 

 

1 Cor 11:3 > Paul said that the head of Christ is God and the head of man is Christ.  And so just as Jesus reflected the Father in all that He did, as we learn of Jesus and as we draw near to Jesus, we will also reflect His love, His grace, His patience and His truth.  This is not something you necessarily strive for, this is fruit of the Spirit...and it is a result of sincerely pressing in on the Lord.

 

Then we saw in v19 that Jesus says, I do nothing of myself...which means what?...He is wholly dependent on the Father.  His relationship with the Father is all that matters and takes absolute first place in His life...

Paul would say be anxious for nothing, but pray to God about everything > give it to Him...Solomon would say acknowledge God in all you do > commit yourselves wholly unto God...Jesus shows us here as He is the picture of perfection, that in everything, dependence upon the Lord is the ticket to abundant life...abundant life here and everlasting life after this age.

 

So Jesus is a reflection of the Father, Jesus is wholly dependent on the Father and have a look see at just one of the results revealed to us here in v20...He has security in the Father...utmost and proven trust in the Father.

 

And so we see the beginning of sanctification...I say beginning because this continues as we continue to study chapter 5 next time...we'll see Jesus submitted to the Father...

 

And so sanctification, to reflect God, to depend upon God, to be submitted to God...and then the results...you're out of this world, freed from the finiteness of this temporary tent and powerfully effective as a witness to the Truth! 

 

All made possible for you and for me because just as it was prophesied by Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus' birth, unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder (the Way).  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father...Prince of Peace!