John 5:9-17
The controversy the Pharisees chose to raise with Jesus was over the meaning and authority of the Sabbath day. They considered themselves to be the ultimate arbiters of what constituted “keeping the Sabbath”. They were not prepared to consider Jesus’ claim to authority (Matthew 12:8) even though it was backed up by miraculous healing. Commentator Matthew Henry wrote, “hypocrites often cover their real enmity against the power of godliness with a pretended zeal for the form of it.” The Pharisees pretended to be upholding the law of God but really they were protecting their own power.
In the beginning, when God had completed the work of creation, He rested (Genesis2:1-3). In this way the seventh day was set aside as a special day of rest (Exodus 20). It was a day when no one was to carry a burden (Jeremiah 17:22). This pointed to the time when the work of God at Calvary would be complete and the way made for people to lay down the ultimate burden of sin and death. Romans 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
When Jesus was on the cross his last words were, “It is finished”. The work of salvation was complete in that moment. As it says in Hebrews 1:1-3, “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”. Unlike the Jewish priests who had to work every Sabbath (Matthew 12:5) Jesus’ work is complete and completes the picture of perfect rest that the Sabbath day had foreshadowed.
In healing on the Sabbath Jesus was claiming authority over the meaning and execution of “keeping the Sabbath”. How could Jesus’ authority supplant the authority of the Pharisees if they were following God’s law? Who could claim a higher authority than that? Jesus did claim that his authority to adjudicate the law was higher than the Pharisees. In fact Jesus claimed equality with God, thus claiming to be God.
The Pharisees knew that Jesus’ claim to be God’s son was not in the generic sense of God being creator or even in the more specific sense of being part of God’s chosen people but a radical claim to unique equality with God. That they understood and rejected his claims is evident in their actions. They tried to find a way to kill him.
I find myself sometimes resistant to rest. There is always more to be done and accomplishment appeals to my ego and pride. When it comes to the work of God shouldn’t it be a bigger undertaking than anything else? Shouldn’t it be hard and take up time and resources? But what did Jesus say? John 6:29 “The work of God is this, to believe in the one He has sent.” Just believe, trust, rest in, the finished work of the cross.
brotherpayne 