John 5 records the details of a Sabbath healing. Jesus was in Jerusalem and passed a pool called Bethesda which was believed to have healing power for the first person who stepped into it after there was a bubbling in its waters (John 5:3-4, KJV). He saw a man there and just as he knew Nathaniel had been under a fig tree (John 1:48), and that the Samaritan woman had five husbands but was then living with a man who wasn’t her husband (John 4:17), He knew this man had his infirmity for many years. After a brief conversation with him, Jesus said, “Arise, take up thy bed and walk” (John 5:8) — and he did so. From this incident a great controversy arose between Jesus and the Jewish rulers.
Jesus worked miracles every day of the week, including the Sabbath and He healed this man on the Sabbath. Sabbath healings included a man with a withered hand (Matthew 12:9-13), a man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1:21-26), a woman who had been unable for 18 years to straighten up (Luke 13:10-14), a man with dropsy (Luke 14:2), and a man who had been born blind (John 9:1-8). But while this miracle occurred on the Sabbath, it was not initially the point of controversy. Jesus had told the sick man to arise, take up his bed, and walk. This was the first point of conflict. John records, “And for this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus because he did these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them my Father worketh even until now, and I work. For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God” (John 5:16-18). Did Jesus make Himself equal to God? Yes because He was (Philippians 2:5-10). Did Jesus break the Sabbath? Yes, in a sense He did, but He did not sin. Jesus could not have been the sacrifice for sins of the whole world had He sinned. Also remember He asked on another occasion, “Which of you convicteth me of sin?” None did. The Scriptures are clear: “Him, who knew no sin, he made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus was confronted many times for His Sabbath healings. When He was, He answered different men with a number of different reasons. On one occasion He asked the accusers, “Which of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath Day, will not lift it out?” (Luke 12:11). Of course, all of them would. On another occasion, He asked, “Which of you, if he has an ox or ass tied in a stall on the Sabbath Day will not loose him and lead him to the watering?”(Luke 13:15). Again, not one would have failed to water that animal on the Sabbath Day. In addition, on another Sabbath His disciples had walked through a grain field, and because they were hungry, plucked ears of grain and ate them. Jesus was asked by His accusers why His disciples had done so and He responded by reminding them what David did when he and his soldiers were hungry. They came to the tabernacle and asked the high priest Abiathar if he could feed his hungry men. The high priest had nothing but the shewbread to feed them which only the priests were allowed to eat. But Abiathar gave that bread to David and his soldiers to eat.
Why did Jesus answer in such a manner? Did He seek to justify disobedience on His part by the disobedience of others? Such is a common practice on the part of many. But that was not why Jesus answered as He did. The old adage, “Two wrongs never make a right” was as true then as it is now. Jesus answered as He did because what He had done was right.
The truth is, often two things which are both true and right may “collide” with each other. One asks, “How can that be?” Jesus answered that question. He reminded those who opposed Him that priests worked on the Sabbath and were guiltless (Matthew 12:5). There were daily functions for priests when they served in the tabernacle: there were morning and evening sacrifices to be offered; morning and evening incense to be offered; the candlesticks were to be lit; and, the continual sacrifices which the people brought had to be offered. That included the Sabbath as well as the other six days. Did the priests cease to function on the Sabbath? Of course not. They performed the daily tasks Moses had commanded them. When a male child was born, his parents were commanded to circumcise him on the eighth day. What happened when that eighth day fell on a Sabbath Day (John 7:23)? They circumcised their son.
On this occasion He told His adversaries, “My Father worketh until now, and I work.” God did “rest” on the Sabbath Day from His work of creation, but He did not cease from all activity on that day. God works every day. There are billions of humans whose needs He fills on the seventh day as well as the first day. The needs of the world’s creatures are provided by God every day.
Jesus said, “Wherefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Mark 3:4). What Abiathar had done was right. Those who lifted a sheep from a pit on a Sabbath Day were right. When a man released a captive animal and lead him to water on the Sabbath, he was right. When the disciples ate grain they had plucked, they were right. Finally, it was right for the lame man to pick up his bed and carry it home — even on the Sabbath.
Jesus did break the Sabbath, but He was not wrong. He did not sin. He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 12:8), and in the multiple times when He was confronted by those who felt that what He did was wrong, He established this eminent truth: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
Jim McDonald
