Healing on the Sabbath: The 3rd Sign

So Ashleigh lost a master key to the middle school this week. and when she asked why we don’t have multiple copies, she was told “It’s illegal to make copies of that key.” Which is just the most bat-crap crazy argument I’ve ever heard. It’s true but it doesn’t apply here. It’s one of those keys that says “DO NOT DUPLICATE” on it. Because you can’t make a copy of keys to government buildings. That’s true. That’s absolutely a law.

However, that doesn’t really apply here. You’re not supposed to make copies of those keys because those keys are heavily controlled. They need to know who has them and how many copies there are. You can’t just have extra keys. You can’t just hand out keys to government buildings. However, that rule doesn’t really apply to the government office itself when they need to replace lost copies of their own keys to their own building.

I can’t make a copy of a key to a government building, but when the government entity that uses that building needs a copy of that key to keep on file, they need to copy it.

The rule doesn’t apply to those people. It’s about them, it’s not for them. It is a rule made for their benefit, not a rule meant for them to follow.

Schools have to be able to make copies of their own keys but they can’t have other people running around with copies. The rule is about them but it is not for them.

Look with me tonight to John Chapter 5. Here’s the main idea tonight. If you can’t manage to make yourself pay attention to anything else beyond this, understand this right here...

God provides for you, even when you can’t provide for yourself.

SO let’s read this whole passage and then we’ll go back and hit it piece by piece. John 5:1-19

John 5:2–19 (CSB)

2 By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

Now that day was the Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”

11 He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’

12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things.

Biblical Backgrounds

OK. Let’s get some background on that we’re talking about. The pool at Bethesda. Magic, healing water. Honestly sounds pretty incredible. Why are there not more stories of this magic water. Where did it go? Is it still there. Can we take people there now. Right.

So it’s not really as incredible as it sounds. It’s a geothermal spring. A natural hot spring. Hot springs have been used for thousands of years to treat polio. Most notably, President FDR. While he was president he had a house in Georgia near where I grew up. FDR’s “Little White House” because it has a natural hot spring behind it. The man had polio. He couldn’t walk. He used a wheelchair to get everywhere, but the hot spring relieved his polio symptoms and he could stand and walk. There is a massive multi-million dollar rehab hospital on top of this hot spring in Georgia to this day, because natural hot springs really do go a long way towards treating this kind of disability.

So don’t focus on the magic fountain. It’s not a magic fountain.

Second thing to know about the background here is Sabbath. Sabbath is a rest day. Jewish law required you to take Saturday off. It’s in the 10 commandments. God’s top 10 rules for living that He gave to the jewish people. This is straight from Exodus 20:8-11

Exodus 20:8–11 CSB

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 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. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

Right. and that’s still fairly vague. Work 6 days and take the 7th off. Because God is Holy. So the problem there is we get to ask the question, what is work? Depending on your definition of work, you could do a lot of things on the sabbath.

And over the course of the 3000+ years between Moses writing the 10 commandments and Jesus doing this healing, the Jewish people, particularly the pharisees had developed all kinds of rules to define work and to make sure that when the sabbath came, everyone was resting properly. Can’t cook food. Have to eat cold stuff or eat what you already cooked the day before. Can’t cary anything. Can’t start a fire, but you can keep a fire going. Can’t walk more than half a mile from your house except to go to the synagogue. If you know you need to walk more than half a mile you need to go put snacks out every half mile so you can count that as a temporary house and the half mile counter resets. Very rigid rules. Gotta make sure that everybody is resting properly.

Scripture & exposition

Ok. Now with that in mind let’s start at the top. Let’s go John 5:2-7

John 5:2–7 CSB

2 By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

So this guy has been unable to walk for almost 40 years. He’s laying by this hot spring.

Notice, he’s been disabled for 38 years, not he’s been sitting by this pool for 38 years. Don’t get that mixed up. And remember, this is not a story about the magic water. It’s not magic water. Ask me nicely and maybe we can take a camping trip to Georgia and see the hot springs. They’re not magic. Anyway.

He’s laying out, and Jesus says “DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL.” Not do you want to get into the well. Not do you want me to help you into the water. DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL? But the man doesn’t answer the question that Jesus asks. Jesus says do you want to get well and he says “I have nobody to put me in the water.”

If somebody walks up to you and says do you want a million dollars? do you say “yes” or do you say “I don’t have a job. I can’t get a million dollars”? Like, what? That’s not the question that was asked.

Jesus has the capacity to do for him more than anyone or anything else can. Jesus can do more for him than he can imagine but all this man is focused on is what he can do for himself. He has his plan for how he will get the things that he thinks he needs and Jesus is standing in front of him asking “Do you want all your problem’s solved” and this guy is like “I can’t solve all my problems the way I have planned.”

and let’s not belittle this guy for this because you do it to. I know I do. I’ve got my 5 year plan. and my 10 year plan. I know what I want and have a plan for how to get it.

but if God want’s to put me somewhere or in some situation, He is not going to be blocked by my qualifications. God is not going to start working on His plan for my life and then go, aww crap He didn’t go to school for that. There goes my plan.

I love decision making video games, where the choices you make along the way have a genuine effect on the outcome of the game. Ashleigh and I played through Assassins Creed Odyssey, and we got different endings because of some stuff that we had done differently way way earlier in the game. Certain characters were dead so we didn’t get to meet other people or open up other quests. Ashleigh got down to the end, and reset the game like 3 times trying to choose the right dialogue option that would make her not have to fight this final boss. But there was no way around it because of something she had done much much earlier. She couldn’t make what she wanted happen because of something that she did wrong several days before.

Please understand that, God is not limited in His options by your choices. He never gets to the end and can’t get the ending He wants fro your life because of something that happened wrong already.

If God has a plan for me then He is going to take care of it. If God has some intention or design for your relationships, He is not going to have his plans messed up because you were running late, didn’t have time to shower and made a bad first impression by showing up stinky. If God has a plan for your friendships, He is not going to have His plans messed up because you said something dumb. If God has a job or a career in mind for you, you cannot ruin His plans by taking the wrong classes or going to the wrong college. Whatever plan you have for your own life, is all well and good, but Gods options for where to send you will not be limited by your ability to get yourself there. God’s options for what to do with you will not be limited by your own skillset.

God’s plans are not limited by your ability to make it happen.

Back to the story. John 5:6-16

John 5:6–16 CSB

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” 8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” 11 He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ 12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

Right so Jesus heals this guy, and then he gets in trouble for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. and these Jewish leaders demand to know why he’s breaking their laws. Not God’s laws, their laws. Remember what the 10 commandments actually said. No rules against picking stuff up and carrying it, that’s all something that other people came up with later.

Through a series of events, this guy is able to explain that it is Jesus who healed him and told him to pick up the mat and walk. and the Pharisees and Jewish leaders are UPSET that Jesus is out here healing on the sabbath.

Right, they had put all their own restrictions on the sabbath to make sure that everyone is resting properly, but they seemed to have gotten the cart in front of the horse here. They lost track of what the sabbath is all about.

Remember the whole idea is that you’re not supposed to work. and these guys fixated on that and never thought to ask why they weren’t supposed to work.

Jesus is going to explain for us why He would go heal somebody on the sabbath and that’s going to put into perspective for us what the sabbath is all about.

John 5:16–19 CSB

16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God. 19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things.

So here’s the question I want to ask you, is Jesus breaking the sabbath laws?

I sure hope not. If Jesus is breaking God’s laws then we are in trouble. Right. If Jesus sinned here then nothing else He did matters. If Jesus sinned here then His death was not good enough to save us. So we know that can’t be true here. Which means we have something about the sabbath that we’re misunderstanding.

I think it may help us to hear God explain the sabbath laws a little more fully. See, we know about the 7th day thing, but there’s more. It’s way more than a 7 day cycle it’s a 50 year cycle. watch this.

Leviticus 25:1–22 (CSB)

Leviticus 25:1–22 CSB

1 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you, the land will observe a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 You may sow your field for six years, and you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce for six years. 4 But there will be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land in the seventh year, a Sabbath to the Lord: you are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You are not to reap what grows by itself from your crop, or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. It is to be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 Whatever the land produces during the Sabbath year can be food for you—for yourself, your male or female slave, and the hired worker or alien who resides with you. 7 All of its growth may serve as food for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. 8 “You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to forty-nine. 9 Then you are to sound a trumpet loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement. 10 You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan. 11 The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines. 12 It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee; you may only eat its produce directly from the field. 13 “In this Year of Jubilee, each of you will return to his property. 14 If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, do not cheat one another. 15 You are to make the purchase from your neighbor based on the number of years since the last Jubilee. He is to sell to you based on the number of remaining harvest years. 16 You are to increase its price in proportion to a greater amount of years, and decrease its price in proportion to a lesser amount of years, because what he is selling to you is a number of harvests. 17 You are not to cheat one another, but fear your God, for I am the Lord your God. 18 “You are to keep my statutes and ordinances and carefully observe them, so that you may live securely in the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat, be satisfied, and live securely in the land. 20 If you wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t sow or gather our produce?’ 21 I will appoint my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest. You will be eating this until the ninth year when its harvest comes in.

So the sabbath is more than a weekly cycle. It’s supposed to be something that effects whole calendar years. and Even people’s lifetimes.

How insanely hard does that sound? Let’s work this thing backwards. I think it’s easier to get the main idea if we start with the big thing and work our way back to the little thing.

The idea of the jubilee every 50 years basically means that if you’ve been working your whole life and investing properly, this is your retirement plan. And you’re just supposed to give it back? What are you going to do? If all of your investments get wiped out after 50 years, who is gonna take care of me?…and I’m just supposed to trust that? That seems pretty crazy.

What about this, with the sabbatical, I’m supposed to just take a whole year off every 7 years? I’ve still got bills to pay. If I’m just not working, who is going to provide for my family?…and I’m just supposed to trust that everything is going to be ok?

Ok, now with that in mind maybe we can start to see a pattern. So for the weekly sabbath, I’m supposed to take a day off every week and not use it to catch up on work or chores and not try to get ahead for next week? What possible reason could there be for this? What is the point of the sabbath?

God did not institute the sabbath because He thinks it’s important for you to take a break every now and then.

God instituted the sabbath, for the same reason that He started the Sabbatical year and the year of jubilee— to force you to trust that He is going to provide for you.

The lesson of the Sabbath is...

God provides for you, even when you can’t provide for yourself.

You are supposed to rest, and not just because you’re tired. You’re supposed to rest because you can. You can relax and know that while you’re resting God is protecting and providing.

You don’t have to do everything for yourself. You don’t have to work constantly. The rise and grind culture is the complete opposite of what God designed.

Read this again, from John 5:16-19

John 5:16–19 CSB

16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God. 19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things.

You can take the day off on the sabbath and rest in the knowledge that God is taking care of you. That’s the true meaning of the sabbath Charlie Brown. Trust that God will take care of you. You do not have to do everything for yourself.

So was Jesus breaking the sabbath laws here? No absolutely not.

Jesus is not subject to the sabbath because Jesus is the subject of the sabbath.

The whole point of the Sabbath is that God is still working so that you don’t have to. So of course Jesus works on the sabbath because God always works on the sabbath and Jesus is God.

Jesus is not bound to the sabbath rest laws the way you and I are.

For the same reason that it is illegal for me to go make a bunch of copies of keys to the school, but it’s not illegal for the school to make copies of keys to the school. That law applies differently to the school itself. Of course I can’t make a bunch of copies of keys to government buildings. Of course they have to be able to make copies of their own keys to their own buildings. The school has to be able to make have keys to it’s own property and make sure that nobody else does. That’s the whole point. They are not required to follow that particular law the way that you and I are.

So no. Jesus did not break the Sabbath laws by healing on the sabbath. He did exactly what He was supposed to do. He used the sabbath day to provide for someone who could not provide for himself. That’s what He is supposed to do, because that’s what God does.

God provides for you, even when you can’t provide for yourself.

So Jesus can work on the Sabbath to take care of others because Jesus is God.

What do we do with this tonight?

You need to learn to rest, knowing that God will provide everything you need

You need to stop acting like you have to make God’s plans for your life happen.

You need to give your life to the God who provides, even when you can’t.

Maybe you have been convicted by the Holy Spirit tonight and you feel like you need to make a sabbath a part of your schedule, not because you’re tired and need a day off. but because you know that you struggle with anxiety and you feel like if you stop working you’re gonna fall behind and fail all your classes and not be able to pay your bills, and everyone is gonna know that you’re a failure. If that’s you, please learn to rest and rest well, knowing that God is going to provide everything that you need and if He doesn’t provide it, you didn’t need it.

Maybe you have your 5 year plan 10 year plan 25 year plan. You know how your life is supposed to go and you’re doing everything you can to make sure it happens. You feel like it’s your job to make sure that you end up where you’re supposed to be. You know God has a plan for your life and all you want to do is figure out what it is so that you can get to work on it. You’re terrified that you’re gonna choose the wrong sport, club, classes, school, boyfriend girlfriend, choose the wrong career. Your biggest fear is accidentally missing out on what God has planned for you because you decided to go to South Alabama instead of UAB. Please stop. Please take a breath. How little do you trust God that you think you’re gonna mess up His plans. There is nothing you can do that will catch God by surprise and throw a wrench in His plans for your life. You may throw a wrench in YOUR plans for your life, but whatever God has planned for you, He will put you in the right situations, the right relationships, and the right opportunities to make it happen. Will you please just trust that He is in charge of your life and will put you where He wants you to be? You don’t have to make sure that you’re qualified for God’s plan, you just have to trust that He will prepare you for it.

Maybe you tonight need to trust Jesus with your whole life for the first time. Because none of these first 2 things matter until you’ve got the 3rd one down. He will give you everything you need, and even some of the things you want. Just trust Him with everything and He will take care of it.