Why Were They Angry?

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.