“Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him,
“See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man
went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was
why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the
Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am
working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because
not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God his own Father,
making Himself equal with God.” (John 5:14–18, ESV, caps added to pronouns
referring to Christ)
We live in a time when we are seeing people go out into the
world to preform humanitarian service in the name of Christ among people who
don’t know Him and even among those who vehemently reject Him. This antagonism
is growing dramatically such that in this last group we have been seeing
increased reports of these humanitarians and growing numbers of Christian
people groups being taken captive, abused, threatened with their lives, and
even killed because of the country from which they come and the Lord which they
serve. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish whether this is happening to them
because of their national or cultural origins or because they are Christians.
America, for example, has a long tradition of helping those less fortunate or
in distress, and this tradition can be traced back to its traditional Christian
values—values that seek to do good to all people. It is this principle of doing
good that has opened the doors in many countries to Christian missionaries, and
it is the working of that good in practical and needed ways that has softened
many hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it is also the commitment of His
followers to stand for Him regardless of their nationality that has resulted in
much of the persecution we see. Though much good is being done, there are those
who are repulsed so much by Christ and Christianity that they cannot accept the
good being done by His people.
In this encounter with the man at the healing pond Jesus did
not identify Himself to the man when he healed Him. Instead He withdrew into
the crowd, and we saw what happened as the man was confronted because of His
breaking of their Sabbath rules. They were more concerned about their standard
and their ways than they were about the good that was done. This is not to say
that the ends justify the means, but that the rules they were enforcing were
man made ones which went way beyond what God had established. In this case the
particular rule was one which was established for the welfare of man.
We read from the Bible that Jesus came to fulfill the law
and give life. In the process of this He performed many signs and wonders.
Among them was His healing of this man who didn’t even know who He was. We see here
that not everyone who Jesus performed a miracle for believed in Him, but that
Jesus had compassion on them because of their need and responded to provide
them relief and in so doing evidence His power.
Our passage for today tells us that Jesus later went back
and found the man in order to identify Himself. The curious thing is that the
passage does not record the man dropping to his knees in worship of Him, but
rather it tells us that the man went and found those who had confronted him and
told them who it was that had healed him. But before he left to tell those who
it was that had healed him, Jesus did have something to say to the man. He told
him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” We
have no idea why the man was unable to walk for so much of his life and we have
no real reason to believe that it was a result of sin. But having made the man
whole Jesus instructed him to live as a whole man and not go back into a life
of sin which would have its consequences. We read this in passages such as
Galatians 6:7-8 which reads, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own
flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit
will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7–8, NASB95) There is no special
class of sinner. All who sin are in need of forgiveness and salvation which comes
from belief in Christ who is its grantor.
This is the last we hear of the man. The focus then switches
back to those who were seeking after Jesus because of the works that He had
been doing on the Sabbath. But as we read from our passage it was about more
than just the miracles, it was also about His message. When they confronted Jesus,
He responded to them saying, “My Father is working until now, and I am
working.” (John 5:17, ESV) He didn’t beat around the bush. He told them that as
God had been working up until that time, so is He (Jesus) working now. He
claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed to be the Christ—the sent One of God. As
such Jesus was a threat to them and the system they had put in place. The One
sent to seek and to save the lost and the One who had come as their eternal
Lord and King did not match their expectations and reinforce their practices.
He was a threat to all they held on to, and as such He had to be eliminated. It
didn’t matter what good He did, what mattered is what He stood for. In
rejecting Him they could not find good in what He did, but rather they sought
every opportunity to find fault and trap Him in some way. They could not accept
His claim, and thus they could not accept Him or anything He did.
As we continue to move through this encounter we’ll take a
look at the lengthy response which Jesus makes to them. But for now, this
passage serves for me as a great reminder that not everyone will accept the
good that we do as followers of Christ. In fact, there will be some who reject
us just because of who we are, and in rejecting us we are reminded that it is
because of Him in us that this is done. In Luke chapter 10 when Jesus was
preparing to send out seventy-two disciples to proclaim repentance He told
them, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me,
and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16, ESV)
The apostle Peter wrote, “Beloved, do not be surprised at
the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange
were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings,
that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are
insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory
and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief
or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him
not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” (1 Peter 4:12–16, ESV)
The apostle Paul wrote quite a bit about how we are to walk
in these times. In 2 Thessalonians 3:13 he exhorted us with, “As for you,
brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.” (ESV) And in Ephesians 5:16 he
reminded us of the importance of considering how we use our times because of
the times in which we live, “making the best use of the time, because the days are
evil.” (ESV)
Starting today with a focus on the persecution going on
around the world we are reminded in a very stark way of the reality of Paul’s
words. We are encouraged to stand with Him knowing the very real spiritual
battle in which we are engaged, and we can be drawn to pray for those even now
who lives are threatened because of who they worship. Our God is good. He is in
absolute control and He will bring to pass that which He intends even to the
destruction of evil and the salvation of all who believe in Him. And He will
never forsake those who place their trust in Him and suffer in His name.
Peter went on to say, “Therefore let those who
suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while
doing good.” (1 Peter 4:19, ESV)
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