Crimes and Trials

John 5

We saw, in the first four chapters how, through Johns narrative, Jesus confronted the Jewish piety of the day by challenging the four main pillars of Jewish belief:

1- Faith in God was for the Jews only

2- The Jewish Temple was where you worshiped

3- Purification is what qualified one for Temple worship

4- God was only attainable by Temple worship

In John Five we now see Jesus disregard the “Traditions of the Elders” once again, by healing a cripple man on the Sabbath.

It is the beginning of several chapters in which the Jewish tradition of Festivals discussed.

Just as He did with the institutions of Jewish Piety, Jesus used the the Major Jewish festivals to direct focus on the Messiah, lending a deeper understanding to those willing to see past the surface imagery and pageantry and get to the true reason for the Festivals.

Even in the OT, the establishing of the seasonal festivals all point forward to the coming Messiah.

Our goal, for the next several sessions is to gain new insight into the religious and cultural habits as seen through the lens of John and his original audience.

By doing that we can apply a better understanding of what Jesus was attempting to present to that same audience.

Leviticus 23 provides the instructions given by God to Moses for the Feasts and Festivals.

It is an exhaustive study in itself, and deserves its own time of study and reflection. I encourage you to take the time and compare them on your own time.

The Festival in question in our text is the Sabbath- A special day in itself- set aside weekly as a day of rest.

All of the Jewish Feast and Festivals start on the Sabbath.

The sabbath sets the tone for all the other Festivals.

It establishes a environment of solemn respect and devotion meant to usher the people into a special time of worshiping God.

Jesus healing the crippled man on the Sabbath, cuts against every Rabbinic rule in regard to the expected behaviour and piety on the Sabbath.

John’s focus is that God established the Festivals and cycles of Feasts as a means of bringing good gifts to His chosen people-

Not as a way to set rules and control behaviour.

Of course this rejection of the Priests carnal understanding and the Holy understanding of God’s intent is what gets Jesus in trouble- Not only here but ultimately with the Jewish leaders of the Temple.

One significant difference between Johns Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels is that while Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell of the Trial and Crucifixion story in varying detail

John show here, starting in Chapter 5, Jesus is on trial non stop by the Jewish leadership, throughout His ministry.

He is constantly being challenged by the leaders and the hostile crowds, not willing to accept His teachings. ( Not much has changed in 2,000 years)

John sets up this courtroom like drama, perfectly:

Jesus’ forces the world (The Jurors) to take inventory of His claims of Sovereign Deity.

They must examine for themselves His claims and determine the Truth of His Mission and His Words.

The plot twist is that in the end, it is the World that is on trial.

As John had begun his Gospel “… The Light has entered the World, and the World has rejected it...”

The verdict is that man loves the darkness more than the Light, because their hearts were evil and their actions deceitful.

John chapter 5 plays out like a screenplay or a movie script:

1-15, The details of the crime

A crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda is healed- On the Sabbath.

Recent excavations of the site have confirmed that this pool was used as a healing site, dating back to the Antiquities.

The tradition was that the occassional stirring of the waters signaled a healing Angel was present and the infirm would attempt to enter the waters before they calmed again.

Johns account neither confirms or debunks the tradition, but only sets the stage for Jesus’ intervention.

Jesus asks a simple question, “Do you want to be healed?”

The man, offers reasons as to why he cant be healed- Jesus ignores him.

Jesus tells the man, “Get up, Take up your bed, and walk.”

Three distinct calls to action from Jesus to the crippled man

“Get up” He is a paraplegic- he cannot physically do this on his own

“Take up your bed” Another act of faith- Now standing he must bend over to collect up his blankets

“And Walk”- Final act of faith- Completed after the first two standards are met.

The act of faith completed, the man walks away.

It is interesting that there is no declaration, from Jesus or the healed man, as to Jesus divine nature.

The man makes no confession of faith or swears allegiance to Jesus

He simple obeyed and was healed.

The man is questioned by the Authorities

Now the story turns- It is the Sabbath, after all

The Jews held the sanctity of the Sabbath as the ultimate status symbol of their culture and religion.

The Oral traditions of the Elders, (The Mishnah) had taken the Original Ten Commandments given to Moses by God and expanded it into a list of over 600 rules to be followed by devote Jews.

Carrying something akin to garments or bedding in public on the Sabbath was forbidden.

The violator of the law is identified.

The Jewish leaders immediately confront the man for such a violation.

The Jewish leaders, in their pride and self-importance were more concerned with maintaining order than sharing in a miraculous healing.

This mans life was changed forever, and they want to find who did this to him so they can punish him.

He can only tell the authorities that a man of Authority healed him and told him to carry his bed away.

16-18, The Prosecution presents its case

Exhibit A- Jesus violated the Sabbath (by doing a good thing)

This becomes a recurring theme

Exhibit B- Jesus then claims divine authority to heal

John not only defines the increasing persecution of Jesus but also the fact that the Prosecution of Jesus has already begun.

19-47, Jesus’ rebuttal

Jesus describes His”Criminal” behaviour

His work is no different that “His Fathers work”

One allowance the Rabbi’s concede is that God is always at work maintaining the Universe so He, in fact, does work on the Sabbath.

Jesus likens His work to His Father work is equating Himself to God- This unacceptable to the Pharisees

Because the Father loves the Son, the Father show the Son things He is doing.

The Father then gives authority to the Son to be the Sovereign Authority over:

Life v-21, Judgement v-22

Those that wish to honor God, must do so by Honoring His Son.

To not honor the Son means you are already condemned,

But whoever hears and believes the Words of the Son, has eternal life

Unlike when teaching in Parables, Jesus, here, is very direct.

Vvs 24-30 are all attributes from the OT given only to God.

Jesus is clearly declaring that as God the Fathers Representative on Earth, He has the same attributes of God.

Witnesses for the defense

V-31 In Jewish law it was needed to have more than one witness to convict the accused.

Jesus’ claims, on their own only carry so much weight

Jesus claims the testimony of five other witnesses.

1- God Himself. Somewhat self serving still, but Jesus makes reference to His own Baptism where the crowd gathered at the Jordan River heard the audible voice of God from Heaven.

2- John the Baptist.

Jesus turns the case back on the Prosecutors

Jesus identifies their “Crimes”

Jesus rejects the “authority” to appeal.