Choosing Rules over the Redeemer (Matthew 12; Mark 2; Luke 6; John 5)

A miracle happens in plain sight, and the people who should celebrate it do the opposite. We head to John chapter 5, where Jesus walks into the pain and disappointment at the pool of Bethesda and heals a man who has suffered for thirty eight years. One command changes everything, but because it happens on the Sabbath, the moment turns into a confrontation about authority, worship, and what God actually desires for His people.

From there, we slow down and listen to Jesus’ words that ignite the strongest reaction: He calls God “My Father” and speaks as One who works with the Father, gives life, and holds final judgment. These are not vague spiritual sayings. They are direct claims about the deity of Christ, and John 5 lays out why the early conflict around Jesus wasn’t just about rule breaking, but about who He is. We also look at the witnesses Jesus brings forward John the Baptist, the Father’s own testimony, and Moses and why a love of tradition can blind us to the Redeemer those Scriptures point to.

Then we connect the dots with Mark’s Sabbath scenes: disciples picking grain, Jesus declaring the Sabbath was made for man, and a withered hand restored in the synagogue. The question underneath it all is painfully current: are we using religion to control, compare, and perform, or are we living in the freedom, forgiveness, and rest Christ gives by grace? If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find the show.

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Transcript

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At this point in our wisdom journey through the Gospels, Jesus has been ministering for about one year. The news about Jesus has spread like wildfire, but let me tell you, as his popularity has been growing, so is the jealousy of the Jewish leaders against him. Well, at this time here in John chapter 5, Jesus and his disciples have gone to celebrate a festival there in Jerusalem. The Lord goes over to Bethesda. There's a natural pool of water there surrounded by a covered colonnade. Verse 3 describes

Bethesda And The Broken Man

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this scene. Near this pool lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. Now some translations put verse four as a footnote stating that people would wait for the moving of the water. This was actually a superstition that the pool was stirred periodically by some invisible spirit being, some angel, and the first person to get into the moving water would be cured. Well, you might notice in the text that Jesus completely ignores that superstition. He doesn't validate it. He simply walks up to the man who's been an invalid for thirty eight years, and he speaks to him here in verse six. Do you want to be healed? The sick man answered, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going down, another steps down before me. Well, Jesus ignores all of that and simply says, Get up, take up your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now this miracle takes place on the Sabbath, and when you know it, some Jewish leaders are going to show up. They've they've heard the commotion, they see this healed man whom they all knew had been lying out there all those years. He's now walking and carrying his little mat on his shoulder. Well, they stop him, demand to know who healed him and and and who told him he could carry his mat on the Sabbath day. Well, the man hadn't caught Jesus' name, so he can't answer them. Now verse 14 tells us that Jesus a little later on crosses paths with him in the temple area. And so now this man knows who the miracle healer is. We're told here in verse 15, the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. Now verse 16 tells us the Jewish leaders begin persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Never mind this stunning miracle. Well, Jesus only adds fuel to the fire by telling them here in verse 17, my Father is working until now, and I am working. In other words, you know, you religious fellows ought to know that only God can heal like this. Well, he's my father, and he and I are on the same page. We're working together. The next verse explains this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, get this here, he was even calling God his father making himself

Jesus Claims Equality With God

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equal with God. Listen, anybody who says Jesus never claimed to be deity, never claimed to be anything more than a prophet, well they haven't been reading the Bible. These leaders wanted to kill Jesus for that very reason. He was claiming equality with God the Father. And in case they didn't hear him correctly, well Jesus keeps talking here in verse twenty one and says, For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. Jesus now claims equality in power with God the Father. He says here in verse twenty two, The Father has given all judgment to the Son. Wow, these are stupendous claims of deity. And one day, beloved, the world of unbelievers, according to what Jesus just said, will be judged by none other than God the Son, Jesus Himself. So here he claims equality in position, authority with God the Father. Now Jesus goes on to claim equality in receiving praise with the Father. Here in verse twenty-three, Jesus says that all judgment has been given the Son so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. You can't possibly miss these claims. The claim that Jesus is equal in power, position, and praise with God the Father. Well, with this, Jesus continues to speak, and he backs up his claims with witnesses. Here in verse 33, he cites the prophet John the Baptist, who said that Jesus was able to forgive sin. Secondly, here in verses 36 and 37, the Lord adds the witness of God the Father, whose voice was heard at Jesus' baptism, saying, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. And third, now Jesus adds Moses as a witness. He says here in verse 46, if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. In other words, the law and the prophets, the writings of Moses, whom they revered, all pointed to Jesus, the Redeemer. The trouble is these Jewish leaders, well, they'd rather have their rules and their regulations a lot more than they'd ever want a redeemer. Now, Mark picks up the narrative here back in chapter 2, and at verse 23, he takes us to the very next Sabbath day event. Now, this time the Jewish leaders object to Jesus' disciples picking and eating grain as they walk along on the Sabbath. Here in verse 25, Jesus points out that even David and his men ate the loaves of bread from the tabernacle in order to survive when they were on the run from King Saul. The Sabbath law wasn't meant to deprive people of what was necessary.

Sabbath Conflicts And Lordship

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Jesus sort of sums it all up here in verse 27 when he says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. So Jesus is clearly saying that the Sabbath law was for the benefit of people, to give them a day of rest, to focus on worship. But Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, and what that means is that Jesus has the authority to determine how the Sabbath regulations are to be applied. Now let me say here, in the New Testament dispensation of grace, our Sabbath rest has been fulfilled in Jesus, the risen Savior. And that's why we worship on Sunday. Frankly, you can worship any day, any hour of the day that you want, because we have found rest in Jesus. Now, with that another Sabbath event is going to take place. Mark chapter 3 tells us that a man in the synagogue has a withered hand. The religious leaders are sitting there on the front row. Jesus just sort of puts it out there, and he asks them here in verse four, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? Well, of course, they're silent. So he continues here in verse five. Jesus looked around them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Well, with that the Pharisees get up out of their seats and march out. They are furious. They know they've just been put in their place. And they begin, verse six says, plotting how to destroy him. Well, Jesus, however, doesn't slow down one bit. Matthew and Mark give us the summary of the days and weeks that follow as Jesus continues demonstrating his divine power, claiming divine praise. So what does all this contention between Jews and the Jewish leaders and Jesus mean for us today? Well, it gives us an illustration of the bondage of man made religion. These leaders are sincere, but they're actually bound by religious ceremony, man made rules and traditions that have absolutely no connection with Scripture. During these days here in the gospels, and even to this day, religion can get stuck in rituals

Barbecuing Sacred Cows For Freedom

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and rules that make people feel better than other people, but they never address the issues of the heart. Maybe you're holding on to something today because, well, well, that's just the way you were raised. Or maybe that's how your spiritual leaders demanded that you live. And frankly, if you're honest, you know it's just a list of rules. There's no relationship to the Bible with those rules or regulations or traditions. There's no connection to the Redeemer. Let me invite you to go out there and take some of those sacred cows and barbecue them. You know, have a celebration with some good barbecue. The gospel, beloved, invites you to trust Christ alone, to rest in Christ, to enjoy the freedom that you have, the forgiveness you have, the fulfillment you have in him. The gospel invites you to rest in Christ alone. Well, we're out of time for today. Until next time, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.