JOHN 5:10-15 PODCAST
10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” 11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. John 5:10-15
Today, we jump back into a context where Jesus had just healed a lame man of 38 years on the Sabbath. God gave to man the Sabbath for man's benefit. God meant for the practice of observing the Sabbath to be about observing Him. He didn't mean for us to have a relationship with the Sabbath, He meant for the Sabbath to serve us in relating with Him.
Yet, according to today's text, the religious community revealed they didn't get that this life isn't about all of the means, it is about the person. They valued the practice of observing the Sabbath more than the person of God and this man. The religious leaders came down on the formerly lame man for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. The real motive of their hearts is obvious when the man says to them, "The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.'" Their reaction, "Who is the guy who told you to disobey one of our regulations?" This reveals them for the religious bigots they were, intent on the letter of the Law, but totally unconcerned about the person made in the image of God.
According to the religious leaders' interpretation of the Law of Moses, stoning was prescribed for anyone caught working or bearing a burden on the Sabbath. This punishment was not often carried out, but still the man is in real trouble. Notice that the minute this man gets in trouble, according to v.13-14, the Lord Jesus sought him out and finds him in the Temple.
Now, the Lord Jesus healed and disappeared before the man could find out His name. He didn’t know who healed him. According to v.13, the reason the LordJesus walked away from the man was due to the large crowd. Had He stayed there after healing one man, many would have clamored around Him for a miracle.
The man had gone to the temple because the Law required that one who had been healed had to make a thanksgiving offering. The Lord Jesus knew he would be in the Temples He goes there to find him..
Notice what the Lord Jesus says to him in v.14, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." The Lord Jesus calls the man's attention to the fact that not only had he been physically healed, he had been spiritually healed. He was well, his sins had been forgiven; he had been cleansed; he was a new man, physically and spiritually. To that person who has received the gift of wholeness from God, without any merit or earning on his part, to that person, Jesus says, "Stopped sinning."
For 38 years some sin was sapping the life out of his life. We do not know what sin. Perhaps it was bitterness. The response of the Lord Jesus is not that the man sin should not more, the issue was that he no longer do certain sins that harms him. The goal of the healing was holiness or wholeness, not health. Jesus' aim in healing him was the healing of his soul, and the health of his soul influences the health of his body.
According to v.15, the man identifies the Lord Jesus as his healer to the religious leaders. Think with me. If the man had gotten into the pool and had been healed, who would have been given credit for healing him? Let's assume that most, including the religious leaders, believe God healed him. Here is the root of the problem with the religious leaders: they were not willing to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as God. Since the Lord Jesus is God He could heal and He is the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was not created for God but for man. This means He is not under that which He created. God has never rested from being God on the Sabbath. According to the Genesis account, God rested from creating, not being God.
The implications are great: IS JESUS GOD? IS HE OUR GOD? If He is, He must be the One who our lives are ordered around. He is the center of the universe and He is the One who gives life to our mortal lives. The problem is that instead of turning to God and letting Him fill our souls, we turn to other things, pleasure, fame, money, sex, or drugs and alcohol. Some people even turn to false sources, hoping these will lead them to the truth and fill the empty place in their lives. For a time, they may think they’ve found what they were looking for, but in the end, they’re just as empty as they ever were. Tragically, some will even discover that they’ve almost destroyed their lives.
Only God can satisfy our inner hunger, and He will, as we turn to Him and by faith open our hearts and lives to Christ’s transforming power. God doesn’t want us to wander through life, constantly wondering who we are or why we’re here. Instead, Christ came into the world to bring us back to God, and He will, as we commit our lives to Him.
