Who Works on the Sabbath?

July 11, 2016

Who Works on the Sabbath?

But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

John 5:9b-10

Recently I was enjoying watching a Wimbledon tennis match at five in the afternoon at my house. I noticed a clock on the scoreboard indicating the local time in London was 9PM. Through the wonder of modern electronics, I was experiencing two different time zones at the same time. My text for today illustrates that Jesus was operating in a different theological time zone from the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Jesus knew it was the Sabbath when he healed the man. Jesus knew that for the Jews, it was a day of rest, as commanded by God; but Jesus said he was working because his Father was working. Isn’t God resting on the Sabbath?

I think Jesus wants us to see that God is working again. This time He is doing a new work to birth His New Creation through the life of the Messiah. Jesus was operating in a completely different sphere of time than the Jews.

The healing at the Pool of Bethesda is sign number three in John’s Gospel. There will be a total of seven signs, the perfect number in the Bible, and the same number of days in God’s original creation story. John’s seventh sign was the birth of God’s New Covenant. The symmetry of the scriptures, to all of God’s creation, is astonishing.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.