In 5:10-16 we see religion’s opposition to life. “The Jews then said to the one who was healed, It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to pick up your bed” (5:10). Life’s enlivening breaks religion’s ritual. Religion is offended by life and begins its opposition to life from this point. The Sabbath is for man (Mark 2:27) and should be a rest to man. Religion’s law-keeping did not bring rest to the man sick for thirty-eight years, but life’s enlivening did it in one second. Yet, the religious people cared only for the ritual of Sabbath-keeping; they had no concern for the sick man’s rest. What a life we have! We do not need any religious things. As long as we have Jesus, all religious things mean nothing. As long as we have Jesus, we have life. Let religion with all its things go. They could not give us life, but Jesus does. Jesus enlivens us. Jesus gives us life. Life brings us joy. Life brings us rest. Life brings us light and everything we need. Praise the Lord!
The real significance of this case is the difference between religion and Christ, which is the difference between the law-keeping of religion and the enlivening of Christ. Religion’s law-keeping is good, but we are weak. Religion’s law-keeping may be effective but we cannot meet its requirements. There is no requirement with Christ, for when He comes to us, He speaks His living word so that we can hear His voice. If there is any requirement, it is simply to hear His living word. When we hear His voice, we pass from death into life. The contrast in this case is that religion requires, but Christ’s word quickens.
The law-keeping religion could not give life to the impotent man. When Christ enlivened this man with life, that religion persecuted Him, trying to quench life, because He did it on the Sabbath (5:16). That religion cared for the keeping of its Sabbath at the sacrifice of the impotent man’s rest. But Christ cared for the man’s rest at the sacrifice of their Sabbath-keeping. This surely offended that religion. In principle, the situation of today’s religion is the same. The religious people still care for their religious rituals at the sacrifice of people’s life matters. The Lord is still the same, caring at any cost for people’s life matters at the sacrifice of all religious rituals. This is why we who have been enlivened by Christ are opposed and persecuted by the people who cling to their religious rituals.
The religious Jews persecuted Jesus because on their Sabbath He worked to enliven the impotent man. Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (5:17). In their religious concept, they were resting in keeping their Sabbath. But they did not know that there was no rest for the Father and the Son as long as the poor sinners were not saved. While they were resting in keeping their Sabbath, the Father and the Son were still working that the sinners might receive life and have rest. This not only offended the religious Jews, but also caused them to consider that Jesus was blaspheming, because, according to their concept, He “not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (5:18). In their consideration, that was a blasphemy to God. Yet, it was this “blaspheming” One who enlivened the impotent man. His enlivening of that man testifies that He is equal with God the Father in giving life to people.
Although God’s work in creation was finished (Gen. 2:1-3), the Father and the Son were still working for redemption and building (John 5:17, 19-20). The religious Jews kept the Sabbath of creation. They did not know that because of man’s fall the rest of that Sabbath was broken. Neither did they know that the Father and the Son were still working for fallen man’s redemption in order to fulfill God’s original purpose, which is the building of God’s eternal habitation. What God did was the old creation. What the Father and the Son are doing is the new creation through redemption for God’s building. This work includes the Son’s life-giving, which is manifested in this case. In this matter, the Father and the Son are one. Whatever the Father wants to do in the matter of life-giving, the Son does it accordingly.