228 - Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
- Gwen Diaz
- Aug 16, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 31
AUGUST 16 - Nº 228 John 5:1-18
The Pharisees and teachers of the Law had to decide whether Jesus really was the Messiah (the Deliverer God had promised to send) or if he was an imposter. His teachings and miracles amazed them, but his actions appalled them. He certainly didn’t behave the way they expected him to.
“The Messiah would never hang out with tax collectors and sinners like this man does!” they reasoned (see #227 - August 15).
They began to look for ways to discredit him—and it didn’t take long for them to find some.
Jesus was in Jerusalem for one of the required feasts. There were several gates in the wall that surrounded and protected the city. One of them was called the Sheep Gate. It was the entrance that all the sheep that were going to be sacrificed at the Temple had to come through.
Near that gate, on the inside of the wall, there was a large pool called the Pool of Bethesda. It had five covered walkways surrounding it. It was where the Jewish pilgrims took ritual cleansing baths before they entered the Temple courtyard to make their sacrifices. It was also a place where many disabled people hung out hoping to be healed. It was believed that an angel would appear sometime during the feast and stir up the water. Then whoever stepped into the pool first would be healed.
So, the blind, as well as those who were lame or paralyzed, were brought to lie beside it every day during the feast. They were hoping for a chance to get in first.
When Jesus walked by this pool, a man who had been an invalid for 38 years was lying there. Noticing him, Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the man replied, “I don’t have anyone to help me get into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else steps in ahead of me.”
Jesus looked at him and said, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” The man was instantly and completely healed! He picked up his mat and walked away! This took place on the Sabbath day!
As he was walking down the street near the pool, some religious Jews spotted the man carrying his mat. This was a flagrant violation of their Sabbath regulations. They confronted him about it. And he replied, “The man who made me well told me to pick it up and walk, so I did!” They immediately wanted to know who had instructed him to violate the Sabbath. But the man had no idea who had healed him, and by then Jesus was nowhere to be seen.
Although Jesus had demonstrated his concern for the man’s physical health, he was far more concerned with his spiritual condition. So, he looked for him and found him at the Temple. It was a place the man had been forbidden from entering for 38 years due to his ailment, and it was the first place he had headed when he was healed.
“Don’t sin any more or something worse may happen to you,” Jesus said when he found him. The man suddenly realized who he was talking to. He went straight to the Jewish leaders and informed them that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Jesus had not broken any of God’s Laws when he healed the man on the Sabbath. However, he had violated one of the Pharisees' traditions. In addition, he had instructed the man to carry his mat—another breach of their Sabbath regulations! The leaders felt these infractions were grounds for prosecution.
Jesus defended himself by saying, “My Father is always at work—even right now on the Sabbath! And I am working too.”
The Jewish leaders now felt that they not only had a reason to prosecute him. They had a reason to put him to death! Not only had he broken what they considered to be God's Laws, he had committed blasphemy by claiming to be God’s son!
Jesus didn’t heal the paralyzed man just to make him well. Jesus wanted to make him whole! He wanted him to turn away from his sins and begin an eternal relationship with God.
When we help people, our ultimate goal should be to explain how they can have eternal life. Anything else we have to offer is only a temporary fix.
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