How Do You Spend Your Sabbath? John 5:11-15

John 5:11=15

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 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. 

The Pharisees, looking to discredit Jesus, start interrogating the paralytic man who had just been healed by Jesus.  They twist the Third Commandment to say the man was violating the Sabbath by carrying his mat. Any rational person would conclude that this was not work for te man to carry his mat (actually his bed) around town.  With the broad nature of the commandments, there was a lot of room for rabbinical interpretation. When the Jewish leaders made their interpretation it had authoritative power in the Jewish community and those who violated it could be punished.  

It is so ironic if Jesus had not healed the man, he would have to be carried home, which was a lot more WORK on the Sabbath then the man carrying his own mat. We see the lunacy when God's Word is used for one's own power not based on the plain interpretation of the teaching. What is even more ironic is that the purpose of the Sabbath was not only for the people to connect with God, but rest their bodies from labor. 

"To the religious leaders Jesus was the man who broke the Sabbath. To the healed man Jesus was He who made me well." (Guzik)

The man did not know it was Jesus who healed him, because Jesus had slipped back into the crowd. He felt it was wiser to mix back in with the crowd then be part of the drama the religious leaders were creating. 

When Jesus meets the man back at the temple he says something interesting. He says, "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."  The question is, "In what way was the man sinning?"  Some have gone as far as to assume the man's sin is what caused his disease.  The is a big assumption with not much merit in the rest of scripture. Some think he lived his life according to the flesh which ravaged his body and was why he needed healing.  While this is a possible interpretation, it is not the only one. 

A better interpretation would be that now that Jesus had healed him physically. he went back to make sure he had found spiritual healing. Healing that would last for eternity. The "something worse" would then be eternal separation from God.  While we don't know what happened to the man in the future, we know he told the leaders it was Jesus who had healed him. 

How do you spend your Sabbath? For most Christians it is Sunday, though it doesn't have to be. The bottom line is that Sabbath is a ime for anything that honors God and builds up the body of Christ.  Therefore if you were going to church and there was a person who needed help, you certainly wouldn't say, "Sorry I can't help you, I need to go to church!" As Jesus will say later, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man made for the Sabbath!"