John 5:10-18 says,...

Today's devotional verses are John chapter 5 and verses 10 through 18, which read,

v.10 - Now it was the Sabbath on that day.  So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet."

Our last study had Jesus at the sheep gate of Jerusalem entering for a festival of the Jews.  There is a pool of water there that attracts those with ailments and waiting for the water to be stirred for a superstition had arisen that the stirring was by an angel and if you were the first one in the pool, you would be cured.  Jesus comes up to a lame man who had been that way for 38 years.  Jesus asks this man to obey Him in the face of the world's superstition and he does.  He gets up, picks up his mat, and walks.  

All is good until we add this element.  It is the Sabbath.  There was to be no work done on the Sabbath and curing someone must have been work and carrying a mat back home also violated one of their man made laws.  The breaking of the man made law brought more attention than the miraculous healing that Jesus had performed.  The work prohibited by the 10 commandments given to the Jewish people was to cease from their regular jobs and focus on worship but the Jewish leaders had made it into any type of physical exertion like carrying a rolled up mat.  

v.11-13 - But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'"  They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk?'"  But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.

Some more of the story unfolds as the man gets to testify of his healing.  It was someone else who made him well and someone else who gave him the command to obey.  When the healed man was asked who the man was he did not have an answer at that point.  Jesus had slipped away so he could not point him out.  This action of Jesus may seem counterproductive in our world that is looking for a stage to promote our "patting our own back" of a good deed we have done.  We let others know of our "paying it forward."  Jesus does the opposite and slips away for a time and on purpose.

v.14 - Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you."

Jesus meets back up with the man.  The physical healing was one thing and now Jesus brings up the spiritual healing that needs to occur.  What was the man's sin?  Some would have loved to tie it to his physical ailment as some type of curse of God for some wrongdoing he had done.  In context, I think Jesus is responding to his life of living under a superstition for 38 years.  It is easy to fall back into the ways of the world even after hearing the words of Jesus.  When we don't follow the words of Jesus, we sin and therefore Jesus tells this man to keep following His words over the words of the world.

v.15, 16 - The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

Now the man had a name, Jesus, and someone to point to as the One who made him well.  The man is still focused on his healing rather than what day of the week it happened on.  The Jews were focused on what day of the week it happened on and not the miraculous healing.  Two very different responses to the same action from Jesus.  One is praising Him and the other is persecuting Him.  

v.17 - But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."

Jesus responses to this persecution because He did some "work," healing on the Sabbath, and He is justified in this action because God continues to make Himself known to the world through His works.  He and the Father are doing the same thing.  They are equal in their efforts.  Jesus is revealing that special relationship that He has with His Father, He says, "My Father," and making Himself out to be the Son of God.  This will pour more gasoline on the fire of the Jewish leaders against Jesus.  

v.18 - For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

The Jewish leaders understand clearly that Jesus is making Himself out to be deity.  He is saying that He is God.  He is the Son of God which is an equal representation of God.  The Jewish leaders are struggling with what we struggle with and every person who has ever graced this planet.  Who is Jesus?  Is Jesus God?  Jesus makes it clear over and over again, that He is.  Where will you fall on His statements?  Will be end up praising Him or will you end up persecuting Him?  Will you see the miracle He has performed in providing us salvation or will you see some man-made way to justify ourselves without Jesus being God?  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, how the sides emerge when it comes the question of Your Son Jesus.  Help us Lord to keep our focus on Your words and Your works.  May we see the miracle today and tell others of it and point to You as the Provider of it.  May we not venture into the avenue of sin of putting our faith in something other than You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam