16  So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17  Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18   For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19    Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

During our Nugget devotions last week, we discussed how Jesus healed the invalid sitting near the pool who bemoaned the fact he could never be healed because no one was available to get him into the pool when people believed an angel stirred the water. The first one in gets healed.

Jesus asked, “Do you want to get healed?” Faith is believing in Christ and results in obeying Him.

The Father did not stop working because it was the Sabbath. He is always working. The Sabbath was set aside to remember His work. Jesus was only doing what the Father told Him to do. The Father told Him to heal this man. Jesus obeyed. (Our weekly worship on the Lord’s Day points to the work completed by Christ with His death, burial and resurrection.) Far greater than the invalid walking for the first time in 38 years, he is walking, dancing, and praising in the presence of the Lord forever.

The Jews were upset because Jesus healed the lame man and happened to pick the wrong day of the week.  When God created the world, He rested on the seventh day.  When He gave the commandments to Moses, He told them to honor the Sabbath.  It was the day for the Lord, and no one was to do work on that day. 

When the people began to define work, the lists got very long. One of the things on the list of “no-no’s “ was to help someone get better.  You could prevent them from getting worse, but not to get better.  Jesus healed the man, but instead of being excited about this man, who for 38 years could not walk, the Jews were upset that Jesus did it on the Sabbath so they concluded he couldn’t possibly be from God. 

Jesus claimed to be doing the work of God. He also called God “my Father”, indicating an intimacy not expressed by Jews to God before.

How do we explain the concept of the trinity/divinity and humanity of Jesus - the duel natures that for mankind seem to be a contradiction?  We must remember that language limits our comprehension and God can only tell us things of which we have some knowledge in order to get a fuzzy, but incomplete understanding.

This unique relationship asserts that the Son will judge all people.  The Jews believed only the Father could judge, so in placing Himself in that role  He is making Himself equal with God.  The Jews caught on to it. That is why they tried all the harder to kill Him.  He not only broke Sabbath laws, but He was calling God His own Father.

Prayer:  Father,  You continue to remind us that we see in part now, but then we will see fully when we see your face-to-face. We will never understand and comprehend all the wonders of your creation and redemption story

Dale