10: The Sabbath: My Father is working, I too am working. (John 5:1 – 23)

Healing and making the man carry his mat on a Sabbath aroused the religious leaders’ accusations. However, Jesus went further by saying, “My Father is working, I too am working.” Now, listen to Jesus’ rationale in saying that.

👉 Read John 5:1 - 23

Q1. This man has been disabled for (          ) years but has no one to help him get in the water of (            ). However, when Jesus told him, ‘(           )! Pick up your mat and walk,’ he picked up his mat and walked. Now, that day was a (           ).

This man has been disabled for ( thirty-eight ) years but has no one to help him get in the water of ( Bethzatha ). However, when Jesus told him, ‘( Stand up )! Pick up your mat and walk,’ he picked up his mat and walked. Now, that day was a ( Sabbath ).

Bethzatha: Beth-Hesed “house of mercy.” The mercy was only for the first person. The rest would say, in bitter regret, ‘I will go down first next time, before my neighbor.’ In the place so-called ‘the house of mercy,’ most of them didn’t experience mercy.

Now, the infinite source of mercy has come. Anyone who comes to Jesus, first or not, will receive one gracious gift after another from His fullness (1:16). 

Q2. When Jesus asked him, ‘Do you want to become well?’ he didn’t say, ‘Yes, I want.’ Rather, he said as in verse 7. What was his expectation from Jesus? 

He might have wanted Jesus to put him into the water. 

Repeated disappointment for many years made him so preoccupied with how to enter the water first, forgetting his goal of healing.

It is the same for us. We want to be happy and want money for it. Thus, we pray and desperately seek money. However, Jesus can make us happy without money, just like this man was healed without entering the water. 

He had been sick for so long and had no one to help him. He was hopeless until he met Jesus. No matter how hopeless we are, Jesus is the reason for our hope and the fountain of grace.

At His word, ‘Stand up,’ his muscles and joints were strengthened. He was healed ‘Immediately’ (verse 9). He didn’t need to wait for the stirring up of water.

Q3. What was Jesus’ answer to their accusation that Jesus broke the Sabbath?  

“My father is working until now, and I, too, am working.”

They thought carrying a mat was a work and, thus, forbade it.

The Sabbath was given to expect to enter God's rest by observing it. For the sick, the true rest is healing from the disease. However, the religious leaders at that time prohibited curing on the Sabbath because it would violate the Sabbath. When Jesus said, "My Father is working until now," He meant God was working to save sinners until now. In their standards, God also had violated the Sabbath, which shouldn't be true. Thus, their interpretation of the Sabbath was wrong. 

Q4. Why did they try to kill Jesus?

Not only did Jesus break the Sabbath, in their sense, but He also made himself equal to God.

He could have said, ‘Healing is not violating Sabbath.’ It seems that Jesus aroused their hostility more by telling them that He was the Son of God.

Q5. What is Jesus’ rationale that Jesus is the Son of God? (21)

Healing the disabled man was a part of the life-giving work. Just as the Father gives life, the Son also gives life.

The act of giving life contrasts with their intention to kill Jesus.

Q6. Verses 19 – 23 elaborate more about the Son and the Father relationship. The Father (          ) the Son and shows him (            ). The Son only does what the (           ) does. Just as the Father raises the (           ), so also the Son gives life to whomever he (           ). The Father has assigned all (           ) to the Son so that all will (        ) the Son just as they (            ) the Father.

The Father ( loves ) the Son and shows him ( everything ). The Son only does what the ( Father ) does. Just as the Father raises the ( dead ), so also the Son gives life to whomever he ( wishes ). The Father has assigned all ( judgment ) to the Son so that all will ( honor ) the Son just as they ( honor ) the Father.

“greater deeds than these.” Raising Lazarus will be greater than healing the sick.

Jesus is not merely doing the work of God. He is the perfect representative of God for us and the high priest for us before God. Every blessing and good gift of God comes through Jesus Christ. Honoring Jesus is honoring God.

Jesus warned them that they were acting against God when they tried to kill Jesus.

The religious leaders failed to recognize Christ as they focused on the law, not on the spirit of the law: love and life. The cross proves that He is the Son of God, the creator and giver of life.

He came to us and became the everlasting fountain of grace and life. Thus, we know He came from the Father.