John 5:7-12, Healing on the Sabbath

7 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." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 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." 11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 

The man’s answer to Jesus is really no answer. One expects him to say, “Yes”. Instead, he complains there is no one to help him. Jesus turns the situation on its head. Ignoring the expected popular cure of the stirred-up water, Jesus issues a command: “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” We are reminded of the days of creation in Genesis. God spoke, it happened, and it was declared good. Jesus says the command, healing occurs, and it is good—unless you happen to be an expert of the law! 

In a surprising twist, the account’s main focus changes from the healing itself to the day of the week Jesus healed him, the Sabbath. The man supposedly worked by picking up his bed, according to the Jews. (The term “the Jews” refers to the authorities in the temple precincts where this healing occurs.) Strictly speaking, God’s command not to work on the Sabbath in Exodus 20 is not contradicted. Not to work means not to continue with your daily job. Unless he was a furniture mover, he was not working! 

Jesus very well knew what day of the week he performed this miracle. Again and again, he chooses the Sabbath to heal people. Why? The answer most likely relates to the fact that in these healings Jesus is re-creating the world that has been corrupted by sin, which points to the ultimate Sabbath of eternal life. God has entered the human situation to clean up our messy situation, to reassert his authority over creation, and to reconcile us to himself. Tomorrow we shall see how he begins to do this. 

How do you keep Sabbath? What does it mean to you? Have a conversation with God about it.