John 5 (2)
Why Were They Angry?
John 5:1-16
Why were the religious folks angry? This man had been paralyzed for 38 years. Jesus healed the man, and the religious folks were angry.
Can you imagine what would happen these days. The newspapers might not give Christianity credit. They might not praise the person who healed the man, but I imagine there would be a community interest news article talking about the miraculous healing. You go to check out at Publix, and there in the rack beside you is the Sun magazine with the headline, “Man, Paralyzed 38 years suddenly walks. Doctors Baffled”.
My word, here a man has been paralyzed. He has been dependent on others and on charity for 38 years. Now he’s healed. He’s able to walk. He’s able to support himself. He’s able to contribute to society and the religious folks are ticked. Why?
Because Jesus did it on the Sabbath. Because Jesus helped someone on the Sabbath. Does that make any sense to anyone? Let’s go back to the beginning and look at the Sabbath and its purpose.
In Genesis 1, we have the account of creation. God created everything in 6 days. And in case you’re wondering, I believe the Lord created everything in 6, literal, 24 hour days. If He can make something from nothing, if He can create light out of darkness, if He can make a great fish to swallow Jonah, I don’t have any problem with Him creating everything in 6 days.
God created everything. Then in chapter 2 beginning in verse 1 we read,
- Read Genesis 2:1-3.
At the end of verse 3 it says God rested. If you will look at the footnote, you will notice that a literal translation of the word means, “Ceased.” God ceased from His creative work. He ceased from what He had been doing.
God didn’t need to rest. He doesn’t need to rest.
- Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.
God didn’t stop to rest. He stopped to appreciate, just like an artist stops to appreciate a work of art he has just completed. Just like a writer stops to appreciate the story he has just written.
At the end of the 6th day, at sundown, the Lord had provided everything His creatures - including humans - would need to thrive and fulfill their created purpose.
God ceased His work.
Now, in the 10 commandments, according to Exodus 20:11, the Hebrew people were to stop all work on the Sabbath because the Creator ceased. God set aside the 7th day - the Sabbath, the ceasing-time”- to be a perpetual gift that commemorates the Lord’s creation of the world and celebrates His provision. He intended it to be a time of rest, feasting, enjoying family, and-more than anything-celebrating His provision and protection.
Animals don’t do that. For animals, one day is just like another. Everyday they do the same things. They get up. They spend the day looking for food, or building nests, or rearing children, or whatever. One day runs into another, with the only differences being the time of year, the temperature, and the age of the children. Everything else is the same.
God said, “I don’t want you to be like that.You’re not animals. You were created in My image. You are different. You are special. My Son will die for you. I want you to set aside a day a week to rest, to visit and fellowship, to spend time with family, to worship and spend time with Me. I want you to set aside a day a week to remember life is not all about work. It’s not all about what you are building in this world and in this life, but this is preparation for something more. This life is preparation for what’s coming next.
The Lord gave us the Sabbath as a gift. He ordered a day of rest to rejuvenate the bodies and minds of His people. More importantly, it was given in order to break the day-in, day-out cycle of routine so that people would not forget that God is the ultimate source of all we need.
We set aside a day a week as a time of ceasing and worship.
Christians in the first century, began worshipping not on the Sabbath, but on Sunday.
Now, in the first century, Christians, in the tradition of the Jews, set aside a day a week, for rest and worship. Eventually, though, we began worshipping on the first day of the week, on Sundays, to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, Who rose on the first day of the week.
> Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
> 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.
> Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.
So Christians began worshipping on the first day of the week, on Sundays, in recognition of Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday.
It was still a time of ceasing. It was still a time of resting, and worship.
I still remember the days when Publix would advertise that they were closed on Sundays so their employees could spend time with their families.
When I was in college, Brookshires, the grocery store I worked at, was still closed on Sundays but they transitioned to being open 7 days a week, shortly before I left.
Sabbaths, or Sundays are gifts from God given to us as times to rest, and refocus. They are days to cause us to remember who we are, and Whose we are, and to remember that we are more than animals working endlessly. We are unique creations, created in the image of God, by the hand of God, for the worship of God.
Here is a man, created in the image of God, who has been healed by the Son of God, on a day Hallowed by God. He is healed on the Sabbath, on a day designed to remind us that we are special and unique. What a great way to celebrate the Sabbath! Instead, the religious leaders are ticked. Why?
Why were they ticked?
1. They were ticked because they had replaced relationship with rules.
The Lord intends for us to maintain a relationship with Him, to walk with Him, and to fellowship with Him. In Psalm 46:10, the Lord says:
> Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.”
The Lord wants a relationship with us. He is our heavenly Father and enjoys spending time with His children.
When Drew and Danny decided they were going to travel overseas, Gladys decided that for his birthday, we were going to pay so Drew could call or text home as much as he wants while he was away. Why? Because that’s her baby and and she wants to talk with him. She wants to know what’s going on. It is important to her.
That’s the way our heavenly Father feels about us. He gave us the gift of the Sabbath, or the Christian Sunday, to spend time with Him.
Well, spending time with Him, being close to Him requires that we keep our sins confessed. It requires that we make Him a priority for we are told in James 4:8,
> James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you . . .”
These folks didn’t want to do that. They didn’t want to draw near to the Lord. They had no intention of examining their lives to see if there was sin or stuff in their lives that might interfere with their relationship so they replaced the relationship with rules.
To the simple command “rest” the Pharisees added a long list of specific prohibitions. And, just in case they overlooked something, they established 39 categories of forbidden activities: Carrying, burning, extinguishing, finishing, writing, erasing, cooking, washing, sewing, tearing, knotting, untying, shaping, plowing, planting, reaping, harvesting, threshing, winnowing, selecting, sifting, grinding, kneading, combing, spinning, dyeing, chain-stitching, warping, weaving, unraveling, building, demolishing, trapping, shearing, slaughtering, skinning, tanning, smoothing, and marking.
They had turned what God meant for good into a burdensome grind. Folks couldn’t do anything but perhaps listen to a sermon, and sit on their hands.
2. They were ticked because someone was questioning their authority.
You ever notice how some people will grasp onto any little authority they may have to try and feel good about themselves? You’ll see them when they are put in charge of a team at work, or are made a manager, or made the head of a committee at church.
At home they have no authority, playing second fiddle to a poodle puppy, so when they get a little authority, they make life miserable for everyone else.
By going against the embellished and expanded rules they had made, this man, in their eyes, was questioning their authority.
3. They were ticked because the man’s actions made them think.
Don’t you hate it when someone asks you a question, or when someone does something that makes you think? You make a statement, or express an opinion about a subject, and someone asks you why you feel that way, or why you think that.
A mother was preparing a pot roast for her family’s Easter meal while her young daughter helped. Knowing her daughter was very curious, the mother explained each step. As she was preparing to put the pot roast in the oven, the mother explained, “Now we cut the ends off of each side of the meat.” As young children often do, the daughter asked, “Why?” The mother thought for a moment and replied, “Because that’s the way it’s done. That’s how your grandma did it and that’s how I do it.”
Not satisfied with this answer, the young girl asked if she could call her grandma. The young girl called and asked, “Grandma, why do you cut the ends off the pot roast?” Her grandma thought for a moment and said, “Because that’s the way it’s done. That’s how my mom did it and that’s how I do it.”
Still not satisfied, the young girl called her great grandma, who was now living in a nursing home. “Great grandma,” she said, “Why do you cut the ends off the pot roast?” Her great grandma said, “When I was a young mother, we had a very small oven. The pot roast wouldn’t fit in the oven if I didn’t cut the ends off.”
Sometimes we do things because we have always done them that way, and we don’t think about the purpose or the reason behind our actions.
Why was it wrong for the man to be carrying His bedroll? Did the law say that? No. The law said, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.
Well, is carrying your mat home, after being healed, something that would not be a routine occurrence on the other 6 days of the week be work? And, what was the man supposed to do? That was part of the command given to him that brought about his healing.
You know, in my early days as a preacher, I thought I had an awful lot about the Lord, and had the Bible figured out. I thought I had church and God’s way of doing church figured out. The longer you walk with the Lord the more you realize there is an awful lot you don’t know. The longer you walk with the Lord, the more you realize that being a disciple of Jesus is a day-by-day thing. It is a listening and obeying everyday thing.
Despite recently opening a location inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons, the store sits empty during Sunday football games. While viral videos have expressed the impossible longing for the famous chicken sandwiches on Sundays, the company remains resolute.
Virtually nothing can cause Chick-fil-A to serve up nuggets and waffle fries on their day off. Over the years, Chick-fil-As in places like malls, have paid fines for not having their doors open on Sundays like all stores are required to do according to their leases.
But on a few special Sundays, employees heat up the fryers to help their neighbors.
“Having worked seven days a week in restaurants open 24 hours, Truett saw the importance of closing on Sundays so that he and his employees could set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose—a practice we uphold today,” the company says on their website.
Oh, but we remember the Pulse night club shooting which took place in Orlando in 2016. In spite of Chick-fil-As stand against opening on Sundays, the next day the closest restaurant was open, serving chicken nuggets and waffle fries to first responders and people who come to donate blood.
What caused them to open the doors on that day? Their walk with the Lord.
Religion can be easy when it is nothing but rules. It can be easy when it’s nothing more than tradition and habit. It’s more difficult when you have to think about what and why you’re doing something, and when you have to walk close enough to the Lord to sense Him leading you and helping you make decisions each day.
> Psalm 68:1-8 God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you; my body faints for you in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory. My lips will glorify you because your faithful love is better than life. So I will bless you as long as I live, at your name, I will lift up my hands. You satisfy me as with rich food; my mouth will praise you with joyful lips. When I think of you as I lie on my bed, I meditate on you during the night watches because you are my helper; I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings. I follow close to you; your right hand holds on to me.
Application:
1. Take time to be with the Lord. Don’t let one day run into another, and every day be like every other day. Put off chores. There will always be more to do.
2. Don’t substitute rules for relationship. My word, that is the very stuff Jesus addressed in the sermon on the Mount. You have heard that it was said, . . . but I tell you.
3. Start your day with the Lord, so you can know what He wants you to do that day, so your heart will be sensitive to His prompting and directing each day.
In John 10, Jesus says, “My sheep know my voice. . . “ Spend enough time with the Lord that you will be able to recognize His voice, that you be able to recognize His prompting when He’s directing you.
4. Don’t let other people’s convictions limit your freedom in Christ. Don’t let other people’s rule-living limit what the Lord tells you to do and where He leads you.
> Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
There is pain, and persecution, and self-denial that comes from being a Christ-follower. But the Bible also says,
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
If that is missing, you’re doing it wrong.
