“Sabbath & Work”
[John 5:1-18]
July 12, 2015Second Reformed Church
Keep the Sabbath holy.
After Moses ascended Mount Sinai,
God gave him the Ten Commandments. The
fourth one – as Moses records in Exodus 20 – was a command about the Sabbath:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep
it holy. Six days you shall labor, and
do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your
son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your
livestock, or the sojourner within your gates.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is
in them, and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus
20:8-11, ESV).
God set a pattern for humanity in
Creation: we are to work for six days
and rest one day each week. And we are
to encourage others to work six days and rest one day each week, and we are to
refrain from making anyone or any of our livestock work on the seventh day.
Why?
For at least two reasons:
First, to have a day set aside for
the worship of God and the following after God in all His Ways – a day when we
are not called to our common, daily work, but put it aside to praise and thank
God for His Worth.
Second, that we would trust God for
our provision and not strive at all one day in seven, but trust that God will
provide for all of our needs, even as we rest in Him, not engaging in our
common, daily work, but believing that we will be provided for out of the
storehouses of Heaven.
This is one of the moral laws – it
is a law that applies to every person throughout time and space. All human beings are required to keep the
Sabbath and to keep it holy.
With this in mind, let us turn to
this morning’s text:
“After this there was a feast of the
Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”
Jesus again obeyed His Father and
turned back to Jerusalem, because there was a feast. It is not clear which feast this was, but
Jesus went back to Jerusalem with His disciples to celebrate it.
“Now there is in Jerusalem by the
Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed
colonnades. In these lay a multitude of
invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed.”
Archeologists uncovered this
location in 1888. There was a pool of
water, surrounded by large roofed colonnades so the sick could rest under them
in the heat of the day. They came to
this location because – from time to time –people were healed by descending
into the water. It was said that an angel
stirred the water, and when it became troubled, the first person who got into
the water was healed.
Here we see, first, Jesus exposes
our need.
“One
man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that
he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be
healed?’ The sick man answered him,
‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and
while I am going another steps down before me.’”
When
they came upon the pool, there was a man who had been an invalid for
thirty-eight years. We’re not told how
long he had been lying by the pool, hoping to be healed, but it was long enough
that he had lost hope that he would ever be healed: he told Jesus that he was physically unable
to get into the pool first when the water was disturbed, and he didn’t have any
friends or family who would put him into the pool first – there hadn’t even
been a stranger who took pity on him who would help him get into the water first
to be healed. He was physically unable,
and he didn’t have hope that anyone would help him.
And
Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”
That
sounds like a silly question to us, doesn’t it – maybe even insulting: “Do you really want to be healed? If you really wanted to be healed, you would
have found a way to get into the water so you would be well. Don’t you really want to remain an
invalid…?”
But
that wasn’t what Jesus was saying – when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be
healed, Jesus wanted him to realize that he had to give up on self-reliance as
well. Even though the man had no one to
help him, he remained at the pool.
Perhaps he thought there was still a chance that he – himself – could
will himself or merit himself into the pool.
Jesus
wanted him to give up on himself and understand that the One Who was speaking
to him was now raising a different hope before him: Jesus had compassion on him and wanted more
than physical healing for him; Jesus had come to raise him spiritually, not
merely physically.
One
of the great problems of our age is that most people don’t realize that they
are sick – in fact, spiritually dead.
And still, these spiritually corpses walk around saying they are fine,
they are “spiritual, but not religious,” that it doesn’t really matter what you
believe, so long as you don’t hurt anyone, “especially me.”
We
who have been raised to spiritual life can see that these people are the
walking dead – do not our hearts cry out, “Save them, Lord!”?Our hearts are
burdened and pained to see these rotting corpses believing they are well – or
at least, well enough! We know that we
are unable to raise the dead – that is the work of God – but we have been
empowered and commission by God to raise the question: “Do you want to be healed?” And then to say there is but One Way: Jesus Christ and the work that He did on
earth for our salvation.
Pray
for the opportunity, and God will open the door for you to say a word to your
family and friends and colleagues. I met
a Roman Catholic man this week who needed someone to talk with, and he talked
and talked – and I mostly listened – and I told him the name of our
denomination, and he said that he didn’t understand denominations – and there
was the door, so I said, I believe there are reasons for separate groups, but
we are united through Jesus Christ and His Gospel as the Only Way of salvation
– and he said, “That’s right.”
Others
of you have had the opportunity and spoken this week, and I praise God for that
and pray that we will have more opportunities and desire more opportunities to
tell people that Jesus and what He did is the Only Way we can be right with
God, and that God will work through us to bring people to Himself.
And
so, Jesus called out to this man – confronting him with his physical need – and
more.
But
Jesus could have quietly healed him or told him that Gospel – why did Jesus
call out among the sick and the crowds who were coming in for the feast?
For
two reasons:
First,
Jesus wanted the crowd to notice Him and watch for what He would do.
Second,
Jesus wanted the Pharisees to notice Him, as well, so Jesus could set them up.
The
man told Jesus he had no one to help him – yes, he wanted to be well, but he
couldn’t become well by his own efforts – he was an invalid and could not get
to the place where he could be well.
Second,
this morning, we see that Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
“Jesus
said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk. And at once the man was healed, and he took
up his bed and walked.
“Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been
healed, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your
bed.’ But he answered them, ‘The man who
healed me, that man said to me, “Take up your bed, and walk.”’ They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to
you, “Take up your bed and walk’?” 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.”
Jesus healed the man and then
disappeared into the crowd to set the Pharisees up – to show their sin in
caring more about their interpretation of the Sabbath Law than in the spiritual
health and salvation of the man.
The man was instantly and completely
healed by Jesus, and Jesus told him to pick up his bed and to go home. Now, that sounds like a wonderful miracle –
nothing that anyone could be upset about, but the Pharisees saw the man
carrying his bed on the Sabbath and believed him to be working and breaking the
Sabbath Law – which,as we saw to begin with, says that we are not to work on
the Sabbath.
The Pharisees likely took their
point from Jeremiah, who records God as saying, “Take care for the sake of your
lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it into the gates
of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 17:21b, ESV).
So, the Pharisees stopped the man
and accused him of breaking the Sabbath by carrying his bed.
The man told the Pharisees that the
Man Who healed him told him to get up and carry his bed away.
And the Pharisees realized they had
a bigger fish to fry and demanded that he tell them Who the Man was that told
him to carry his bed away – but he couldn’t – the Man – Jesus – purposely snuck
away into the crowd so He could confront the Pharisees later.
Do we notice anything missing from
this conversation?
The man who had been an invalid for
thirty-eight years had been instantly, completely, and miraculously healed and
told to get up and take his bed home – on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees accused the man of
breaking the Sabbath by carrying his bed and demanded to know Who told him to
carry his bed on the Sabbath.
What’s missing?
The Pharisees didn’t rejoice with
the man that he had been completely healed after thirty-eight years.
The Pharisees didn’t join with the
man in raisingthanks to God for his healing.
The Pharisees completely ignored the
reasons to praise and thank God in worship and rejoice with the man and focused
only on what they understood to be the breaking of the Law in carrying his bed.
Where was the compassion and care –
the love for neighbor – the leading of the people of Israel in the right
worship of God for all His wonderful mercies?
Some people have this image of God,
Himself – that He is sitting on a cloud somewhere, just waiting and watching to
see if we sin so He can punish us – that is not our God!
When the Pharisees were complaining
that Jesus was eating with sinners, Jesus said, “Just so, I tell you, there
will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine
righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7, ESV).
Our God is the God Who rejoices with
His whole Kingdom when a single person is reconciled to Him. Shall we not join with God and the angels in
rejoicing when a brother or sister believes and repents, having been saved by
God? The Pharisees, likewise, should
have been rejoicing with this man and giving thanks, as God was.
Let us not neglect to rejoice and
give thanks, praising God for all the good that comes from His Hand, and especially
as He saves a people for Himself.
Third, we see that Jesus is the Lord
of the Sabbath.
“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.’ The man went away and told the
Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing
these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus
answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’”
Jesus
caught up with the man in the Temple and called him to belief and repentance –
telling him that he was still in his sin – unbelief – and if he did not
believe, something much worse was going to happen to him than being an invalid
for thirty-eight years.
So
many people say that we live and we die, and that’s it, or we live and die and
we become part of the “great whatsit,” or we live and die, and everybody is
received into God’s Kingdom, because God is love, so He could never be just and
holy.
If
what we believe – and, therefore, what we do – doesn’t matter – if there is no
point – no meaning – then there are only two responses that make any
sense: do everything you can to
experience the most pleasure you can, not matter what it takes, or, commit
suicide.
The
atheist, Albert Camus, said the only real question in philosophy is “why
shouldn’t you commit suicide?”
It
is only in Christianity that we have real hope and meaning and purpose – we
understand that we are all born at eternal odds with God, and in the Gospel, we
come to know that the Only Way we can be right with God is through God’s coming
to earth in the person of Jesus, living, dying, physically rising, and
ascending back to His throne.
Then
there is joy in living lives that follow God in faith and obedience. Then we can rejoice with our brothers and
sisters in Christ and be one together with Him.
Then – and only then – can we be assured that we will escape the worst
judgment and, instead, are received into the Kingdom of God.
The
man believed, and he told the Pharisees that Jesus was the One Who healed him.
The
Pharisees were delighted to have more evidence against Jesus – He healed on the
Sabbath – sin! He had told the man He healed
to carry his bed – sin! And they
persecuted Jesus because He had – in their understanding – sinned on the
Sabbath.
But
Jesus explained to them: “My Father is
working until now, and I am working.”
What
did Jesus mean?
In
Exodus 20, we are given this rationale for the Sabbath Law: God created everything that is in six days
and rested on the seventh. Likewise, we
ought to work six days and rest on the seventh.
But
Jesus said that God was working and has never stopped working. How do we understand that?
What
did God do for the six days of Creation?
He created everything that is.
What
did God do on the seventh day? He
rested.
So
the question that is left to us is, on the seventh day, God rested from what?
God
rested from creating. However, God did
not stop doing other things – like sustaining all those things He had created.
When
we are told that God rested on the seventh day, it does not mean that God did
nothing – it means that God stopped doing something and continued doing other
things.
Likewise,
when we are told that we are to work six days and rest on the seventh, God does
not mean that we should do nothing on the seventh.
That
should make sense, because we are told that the seventh day is to be a day that
we especially spend in the worship of God and doing those things which God has
called us to do. We are to be in
worship. We are to fellowship with our
brothers and sisters. We are to learn
and obey and rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who
mourn. We are to pray and be prayed for.
The
Pharisees wanted to draw very distinct, thick lines saying that this was “ok”
and this was not. The problem was that
God said that no one is to work on the Sabbath, and the priests – ministers,
pastors – work on the Sabbath.
The
general rule is that we are not to engage in those things that we normally do
to make money and take care of our day-to-day living. We are to spend the day in worship and
fellowship and following after the things of God.
But
that means that it is ok for pastors to work on the Sabbath – because we need
them to preach the Word of God. It means
it is ok for some police and firefighters and doctors and nurses, etc., to work
on the Sabbath, because emergencies happen on the Sabbath and we need those God
has gifted to intercede with the gifts God has given them to protect and heal
us – not to the neglect of finding time to worship – but not as sin either.
Those
things which are necessary and merciful – those things which turn the eyes of
men and women to the Gospel – are permitted on the Sabbath.
So,
it was not sin for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath, because it was a good thing
which drew attention to God and His salvation.
It was not a sin for the man to carry his bed home, because it brought
attention to Jesus as the Savior Who heals.
That
is not to say we should make excuses to do things on the Sabbath – on
Sunday. We are to be in worship and
spending the day doing those things which bring glory to God – trusting Him for
our lives.
The
point is that Jesus did not sin, just as God the Father does not sin, because
the rest was not total inactivity, but resting from something and doing other
things.
And
notice that Jesus said that the Lord God is “my Father,” so Jesus is also the
Lord of the Sabbath, with His Father.
And
so we see, fourth, Jesus is equal with God.
“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.”
The Pharisees heard Jesus’ words and
condemned Him now for blasphemy – He claimed to be God – that He and God the
Father – the God of Israel – are equal.
(This is the charge they would eventually have Him crucified for.)
Jesus chose His words carefully and
spoke them at the right time in the plan of God. He spoke these words to open the ears of
those who would believe and incite these Pharisees to plot against Him. Jesus stated in what was plain language that He
is the God Who created everything that is and then rested – stopped creating,
but continued to do what was good and right and necessary, so, He, of all
people, knew what was right and wrong to do on the Sabbath. And, most importantly, this act of healing on
the Sabbath, to the glory of God, was done to reveal that Jesus is God the
Savior.
As John said, this is the whole
point of what is recorded in this Gospel:
“Now Jesus did many other signs which are not written in this book, but
these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31, ESV).
John’s goal in writing his Gospel
was that each person who reads it and hears it would believe that Jesus is God
the Savior, repent of his sins, and be eternally saved and brought into God’s
Kingdom.
This morning, we understand that
knowing Jesus exposed our need of salvation, and we have received salvation
through the work of Jesus applied to us.
Jesus
healed on the Sabbath, so it is always the right time to do God-glorifying
works.
Jesus
is Lord of the Sabbath, so He is the One Who makes clear the work that is
acceptable to God on the Sabbath.
And
Jesus is equal with God. The necessary
truth that the world doesn’t want to hear – that we hear and rejoice in: Jesus called out to us, as the Holy Spirit
worked in us, and we responded in believing through faith alone, and now we do
those works which show Jesus to be God the Savior.
May God help us to use one day in seven
to rest from those things which are for our survival, that we would trust Him
and seek to proclaim the Gospel and do good in His Name that He would be
glorified.
Let
us pray:
Hear
us, O Lord. We come before You,
rejoicing in the gift of salvation that You have given us. We rejoice in the healing that Jesus performed
for this man as he came to faith. Help
us to understand that being obedient to You does not mean we have a day to be
inactive, but we have a day to rest from our hectic pursuits and to focus on
You and Your worship and the work You have called us to. Revive us.
Raise us up. Fill us with Your
Joy. And may You be glorified in all we
do. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray,
Amen.
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