Like Father, Like Son
“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” John 5:17-19
On this particular day, there was a feast in Jerusalem, and Jesus attended. There was a pool called Bethesda in which on a certain day an angel went down and disturbed the water. The first sick person who could get into the water was healed. It just happened to be the day for this event to take place. Many sick and crippled people were gathered at the pool. There was one man who had an infirmity for 38 years but could never be the first into the water because he could not move by himself and had no one to help him. (We don’t know how he made it to the pool, but would speculate that someone helped him, but couldn’t stay with him. Perhaps his family or friends considered him to be a huge burden and resented having to care for him. Unfortunately, this happens.) Jesus, seeing this man and having compassion on him, asked him if he wanted to be healed. He did not answer in the affirmative but rather explained his reason for not being able to get into the water. Jesus told him to get up, gather up his bed, and walk. And that’s exactly what he did, and it just happened to be on the Sabbath. When the man told Jesus that he had no one to help him, he didn’t know that he was speaking to the Great Physician.
When some Jews saw the man walking and carrying his bed on the Sabbath, they were incensed. How dare he do this work on the Sabbath. Never mind that this poor guy was no longer crippled and now able to walk. Scripture doesn’t say, but this sounds like the self-righteous religious leaders who were berating this man for his violation of the fourth commandment. The man, in order to defend himself, told them that the One who healed him told him to pick up his bed and walk. The Jews wanted to know who this Man was, but the former crippled man did not know, and Jesus had slipped away from the crowd. Later on, Jesus found the man in the temple and directed the man to “sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee”. Some might consider Jesus’ statement indicates that the man lived a rather raunchy lifestyle, and his infirmity was punishment for his sin. The general consensus among the Jews was that a sinful lifestyle brought hardship and poverty while a righteous lifestyle brought blessings and prosperity. There is some truth to that in that a sinful lifestyle will eventually bring harm to the sinner either in this life or in eternity, but a righteous lifestyle, while giving the blessings of comfort and hope, doesn’t necessarily mean a life without suffering. In this case, Jesus was warning the man to not slip into a sinful lifestyle because sin would eventually be very detrimental to him spiritually and possibly physically. While he was crippled, he may have been less likely to sin, but now that he could walk, sin would rear its ugly head to tempt him.
After the man left the temple, he saw the Jews who had questioned him, and told them that it was Jesus who healed him. I doubt that this man had any idea how much the Jews hated Jesus. The Jews wanted to kill Jesus because He had healed on the Sabbath, at least this was their excuse for now. They began to persecute Him. Somehow, they met together, and Jesus began speaking to them. He told them that He works just like God, His Father, works. God doesn’t take a day off, and neither does He slumber or sleep. He is always awake, always active as He governs over the world. Thank God for that! Imagine if He took time off. There still is just the teeniest bit of restraint among the world’s inhabitants, but if they knew that God wasn’t looking, who knows what evil they would do. It is bad enough now.
As God is constantly at work either for all to see or behind the scenes, Jesus was and is always going about doing good every day of the week. The Jews were also furious at Him for claiming God as His Father. This meant that Jesus had no earthly biological father (which He didn’t), therefore He would have to be divine making Him on the same level with God–equal. Now, in the eyes of the Jews, Jesus was guilty of two crimes–breaking the Sabbath and bringing dishonor upon God by claiming equality with Him. Since Jesus is God, He will not do anything contrary to the will of God. As God thinks and acts, so does the Son. God loves the Son and doesn’t withhold any power from Him. Jesus used His power to show people who He is. His power is proof of His divinity. Folks who do not honor Jesus do not honor God. Any mistreatment done to Jesus, physically or verbally, is considered done to God the Father. If you had a friend who disparaged, mocked, or harmed your child in any way, I am pretty sure that he would no longer be your friend. God is a friend to sinners, but they must honor and receive Jesus Christ to be accepted by Him.