Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews[a] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Introduction
Rules v. 9b-13
Whose Rules?
It was unlawful to carry a burden on the Sabbath, as Jeremiah 17:21-22 says, “Thus says the LORD: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.” Clearly, this was no burden, his bed. Rather, quite the opposite. His bed was no longer a burden, but a banner of God’s power and grace in His life. For Jesus’ yoke is easy and His burden is light. The Pharisees had a thing for adding man made traditions to the law of God, and particularly to the Sabbath. The issue of the Sabbath was a recurring point of consternation for the Jews and Jesus as we see here in our text today. The Pharisees loved all their additions to the outward keeping of Sabbath laws, but they missed the True Sabbath. Here they are critical of a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, who has been miraculously healed on the Sabbath and is carrying around his bed to prove it. Their hearts are so hardened that they cannot rejoice with this man, but rather are upset that he is violating their own traditions, or their own wrong interpretations of the law.
Certainly actually breaking the Sabbath would have been a very serious thing; no doubt about that. Was this man really breaking the Sabbath? By what standard? Who says? By what authority? Though this man did not know who it was that healed him, until Jesus found him again in the temple, this man was who took up his bed and walked on the Sabbath was standing on the authority of Christ. It was a divine command that he take up his bed on the Sabbath. Though he doesn’t know that it was Jesus who said this to him, he appeals to the authority of the one who told him, to take up his bed and walk. The Jews recognize this appeal to a higher authority, and thus their interest and rage switches from this man, to the one who told him to take up his bed and walk; and rightly so. Not their rage, but the new aim of their rage. Their issue is with Jesus, not with this man. This now becomes an issue of man’s law versus God’s law.
Obeying Jesus
Obedience to Jesus often means disobedience to man. The Jews are mad because this man is disobeying their rules, so they need to go after the One whose rules this man is obeying. The fact is that while we live in a world that is filled with opposition to Christ, we must be willing to disobey man, if we are going to obey Christ – and be willing and ready to pay the consequences. This could be a tyrannical government or those who seek to bind the Christian’s freedom of conscience, and many things in between. Obedience to Jesus often comes with a price.
To be sure, the standard for obedience to Jesus is and must be the Word of God, otherwise we’re no better than the pharisees and it becomes our word verse the next man’s word. We must appeal to a higher authority in God’s Word.
Disobeying Pharisees
On the other side of it, let us be sure we don’t make the mistake of the Pharisees – putting rules and expectations on people that God does not, and in so doing end up opposing God. Even if we don’t have the vile intent of the Pharisees, it is still such an easy temptation to fall into.
Righteousness v. 14
Was sin the cause of his sickness?
It’s very difficult to answer conclusively one way or the other. The possibility is certainly opened up to it, but Jesus doesn’t necessarily indicate that here.
I briefly mentioned this connection between sin and sickness last week, and I’ll briefly mention it again here. Was sin the cause of this man’s sickness? Is sin still the cause of sickness today? All sickness is a result of sin in a general sense – all suffering exists as an effect of the fall. That does not mean that someone’s specific suffering is tied to a specific sin that they committed, or that because someone is suffering they must have committed a sin to bring that on. Sometimes it is true though that God sends physical judgments because of specific sin. A quick example that comes to mind are the poisonous serpents that were sent upon the camp of the Israelites in Numbers 21 due to their rebellion. There are many other examples throughout the Scripture we could give of this, but suffice it to say that this is something God has done and can do. Generally speaking, it is not a wise thing to tell someone that they are sick because they have a specific sin in their life. In fact I would say generally, that is not the case, as judgments are special things from God. Also generally speaking, we often see these type of judgments from God in the form of natural consequences of sin. The most obvious example being diseases that are spread through sexual sin. Yes, it’s a natural consequence, but this is God’s world and He made it to operate a certain way. In one sense, it is a built-in judgment for that type of sin. So, was this man’s sickness caused by a specific sin? Maybe, we cannot say for sure.
What worse could happen?
Jesus admonishes this man to “sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” Now what worse could happen to this man than being invalid for 38 years? Jesus could possibly be referring to a worse physical judgment than this man was just healed of. Jesus could also be referring to the eternal wages of sin. Jesus could even be referring to both/and. The ultimate consequence and judgment for sin is far worse than any suffering we experience on this earth, physical or otherwise. This man was an invalid for 38 years, but was healed and brought relief. There is a place of judgment that there is no relief from. There is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the worm does not die and the flames are not quenched. Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose on of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
The lesson here is that sin is more serious than sickness. Whatever ailments or physical sufferings we may endure, they are not the most pressing or serious need that we have. Our greatest need is not relief from physical suffering, but our greatest need is relief from our sin. What good is it to have both eyes, two hands, and a healthy body if you’re just going to be thrown into hell? How much better it is to live your life as an invalid, but be validated before God in Christ as forgiven and righteous and thus receive a new and resurrected body one day.
We talked about last week how the invalid represented life under the law. He was unable to get up and fulfill the laws demands. The wrong response that people sometimes have to this, is that it does not matter then if we break the law or not. Jesus refutes that in telling the man not to sin that nothing worse may happen to him. It is only through Christ that we are forgiven and given righteousness and made a new creation to obey.
The Ruler v. 15-18
Claim to deity/authority
Jesus had the authority to work on the Sabbath because His Father does…and He is God – one with the Father. So the man who was healed appealed to a higher authority when questioned. Now we have Jesus here appealing to a higher authority, while at the same time indicating that He is that higher authority. This infuriates the Jews. Murderous intents rise up within them. They want to kill him.
Purpose for Healing on the Sabbath
Jesus does nothing by accident or happenstance. He healed this man on the Sabbath on purpose.
I love what Herman Ridderbos says here: “He [the sick man now healed] did not just carry ‘a’ mat, but ‘his’ mat, that is, the mat on which he had lain so long as a powerless person. And he carried it not because of any urgency to stow it away, but as a demonstration of his healing. Which was how Jesus intended it: not as a challenge to the sabbath commandment but as a sign of victory over suffering and death and thus of the glory of God… at issue between Jesus and them [the Jews] was not merely a stricter or more relaxed view of the sabbath but… Jesus’ authority as the one sent by the Father… that makes this seemingly banal conflict over carrying a mat on the sabbath the occasion for the self-revelation of Jesus as the Son of God.”
Jesus’ intention of healing the man on the Sabbath was to glorify Himself as one with the Father and Lord of the Sabbath. Here we see an example of how God’s glory and our good work together.
In making himself equal with God, Jesus is showing his divine authority, not just over the Sabbath, but all things. The Jews hated that Jesus was breaking their own Sabbath rules and traditions because it undermined their own authority.
Is this not why people hate Christ to this day? His divine authority demands lordship over every area of your life. That necessarily undermines your own authority and autonomy.
Are there any areas of your life that you don’t want to hand over to the authority of Christ?
The Pharisees did not like the way Jesus did things. He didn’t fit into the plans and rules they had for their lives, and demanded more of them.
Conclusion
As God, the all-authoritative one, Jesus demands Lordship over every area of our lives. He demands obedience from us in all things. Unbelievers of course hate this; but for the believer this is an occasion for joy and true sabbath rest. For His Lordship is not one like the Pharisees. The Lordship of Christ is not one in which he piles burden on top of burden. His Lordship is one in which His yoke is easy and His burden is light. For the Lord of all became the servant of all and took our burdens upon Himself. Most of all He took our burden of sin off of our back, carried it in His body to the cross, dealt with it there and nailed it there.
thank you. its been six years agonizing with this 5:1-15. But with what you wrote, i have found some answers to this text which has assisted me in preparing a soon to be article and short devotional class