John 5:13-18, Jesus is Equal with God

13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well!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  ere 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. 

How interesting that the miraculously healed man does not know who healed him because Jesus has slipped away, not staying around for applause or others to gather around him for a great display of healing. The man is like others who have seen signs of his divinity yet put no faith in him. With no intention to leave him in this state, Jesus purposely seeks him out later at the temple and warns him to sin no more. Unlike the woman at the well who had faith in Jesus and shared it with others, who then came to him in faith, this man gets Jesus into immediate trouble. 

Of course, the command to sin no more puts an immediate burden on anyone. How can each of us sin no more? We need divine help. Jesus offers him a new life and invites him to live into it. The choice is to live into an eternal Sabbath and rest in the Lord, who does all the work along with the Father for our salvation, or to reject Jesus and his offer and live in eternal banishment away from him. Jesus is working, offering his grace freely to undeserving sinners. He works alongside his Father, who brings people to him. They work in concert for the redemption of the world, even healing this unworthy man. This is sacrificial, divine love. 

Jesus shared his true identity with the man as he shared it with the Jewish leaders. Their response was even worse. They sought all the more to kill him because he made himself equal with God. This story prefigures an even more horrific event, the betrayal of Judas, who knew the true identity of Jesus and yet betrayed him unto death, even death on a cross. 

How do you understand Jesus’ identity, the one who offers you eternal life? Are you like the woman at the well who brings others to him? Are you like this man who betrays Jesus in carelessness? These are deep questions to bring to God in prayer.