#41.2
Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath
Please
first read: John 5:1-16
From very early in Israel’s history observing the Sabbath
as a holy day was a top priority for the Jews as a nation. The commandment to
celebrate the Sabbath was very definite and explicit. The holiness of the Sabbath
was a mark of the covenant between the chosen people and their God; a day of
rest and worship from ordinary toil which distinguished Israel from pagan
peoples; a national characteristic. Its roots went back to the creation … God
created the earth in six days (periods,) rested on the seventh, and blessed and
hallowed that day. This would be very notable to the pagan societies (menial
workers, slaves) for whom the seven-day week was seven days of work.
Also, during Israel’s exodus the seventh day was set
apart as one of rest. (Manna was received each day, with a double portion on
the sixth day, for the Sabbath.) The required observance was the very opposite
of affliction and burden. It was consecrated for rest, spiritual feasting, and
righteous enjoyment. “It was not established as a day of abstinence.”
Apostle James E. Talmage:
Long before the birth of the Savior, “the original
purpose of the Sabbath had come to be largely ignored in Israel; and the spirit
of its observance had been smothered under the weight of rabbinical injunction
and the formalism of restraint. In the time of the Lord’s ministry, the
technicalities prescribed as rules appended to the law were almost innumerable;
and the burden thus forced upon the people had become well- nigh unbearable. Among
the many wholesome requirements of the Mosaic law, which the teachers and
spiritual rulers of the Jews had made thus burdensome, that of Sabbath
observance was especially prominent. Even trifling infractions of traditional
rules were severely punished, and the capital penalty was held before the eyes
of the people as a supreme threat for extreme desecration.”
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie:
Jesus seems to have “deliberately sought out a man
worthy to be healed so that he might exercise his curative powers on the
Sabbath day. The interest and animosity resulting from this Sabbath miracle
were such that our Lord gained an attentive, though largely disbelieving
congregation of hearers.”
“No doubt the pool of Bethesda was a mineral spring
whose waters had some curative virtue but any notion that an angel came down
and troubled the waters was pure superstition … healing miracles are not
wrought in any such manner.”
“Few things illustrate more pointedly the direful
apostasy of the Jewish nation than their perverted concepts about Sabbath
observance. What had once been a holy and sacred law, which stood as a sign
identifying the Lord’s own peculiar people, had been turned into a hollow
mockery of the original intent. The Scribes had elaborated from the command of
Moses, a vast array of prohibitions and injunctions, covering the whole of
social, individual, and public life, and carried it to the extreme of
ridiculous caricature.”
Many of the restrictions centered on the definition of
“work.” By Jesus’ time many volumes had been written by Jewish teachers,
scholars, and leaders in defining and fine-tuning various rules and definitions
as to what constituted work. It seems that this subject was always open to
further study and refining. One list had thirty-nine principle types of work
forbidden on the Sabbath. Eleven of
these had to do with preparing bread. Can medicine be given to a sick person?
Can a lame man use his crutches? Can an author write a single sentence? How
much is one allowed to read, walk, etc.? If a man stumbles and falls must he
lie prone until the Sabbath’s end? Can anyone help him get up? A radish could
be dipped into salt but if left too long the person was guilty of making
pickles. Carry no burden greater than the weight of a fig and no food larger
than the size of an olive. To kindle or extinguish a fire on the Sabbath was a
great desecration of the day, nor was even sickness allowed to violate
Rabbinical rules. It was forbidden to set a broken bone, or put back a
dislocated joint. If a house caught on fire it was forbidden to put it out. There were different degrees of severity of
penalty on all such issues, depending on who was the authority making the
ruling.
Jesus violated Jewish law by:
- Healing on the Sabbath
- Telling the healed to carry his bed
- Forgiving sin
- Making himself the equal of God
The Jewish leaders wanted to put Jesus to death for
healing on the Sabbath. There was no violation of law for speaking on the
Sabbath, and that was all Jesus did to heal the man, so where is the violation?
Belief in miracles was very much a part of Jewish
history from the beginning. This had evolved into superstitions which were
common in Jesus’ day. The Jews believed in many kinds of angels and what was
unexplained was attributed to the supernatural.
Glenn R. McGettigan
October 2015; Revised November 2015
References:
“Jesus the Christ.” Talmage
“Doctrinal New Testament Commentary.” McConkie
“Gospel According to John.” Volume 1. Brown
“Our Lord of the Gospels.” Clark
“The Life of Christ.” Farrar
“The Sermons of Jesus the Messiah.” Howick
“Book of Jewish Knowledge.” Ausubel
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