John 5:1-18 - The 'Problem' With Jesus

One cannot be saved without believing in the Trinity firmly and faithfully.

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Gospels: Week 3 - Jesus' authority to call, heal, forgive, and welcome sinners

John 5:1–16 (NASB95)

¹ After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. ³ In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered...

⁵ A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” 

⁷ The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” 

⁹ Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

Now it was the Sabbath on that day.

¹⁰ So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”

¹¹ But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’ ” 

¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?”

¹³ But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.

¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 

¹⁵ The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶ For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

¹⁷ But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” 

¹⁸ For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

Athanasian Creed

...Now this is the catholic faith:

That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,

neither blending their persons

nor dividing their essence.

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Anyone then who desires to be saved

should think thus about the trinity.

Summary

It didn't take long for the Jewish establishment to identify the 'problem' with Jesus. John spells it out plainly: it was for this reason: He not only was breaking the Sabbath - this was a problem, but one that their penal code was well equipped to remedy - but also He was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

The Jews held the entire Old Testament in esteem, but there's one particular verse that they cling to more than any other. It's the verse that they memorize and recite daily called the Shema:

^{Deut. 6:4} “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

So it's somewhat understandable at this point why it is that they're so upset with Jesus. It's certainly not because He's healing the sick, or in the case of today's passage, enabling the lame and withered to not just walk again, but to pick up his pallet. Other translations render that final word as mat, which isn't all bad, but the pallet was likely a bit more substantial than just a rolled up cushion, which is why it flagged the attention of the Sabbath police.

The whole thing might have just been a forgettable incident - one of numerous Sabbath infractions that likely got cracked down upon that day - but Jesus purposefully escalated it with His reply implicating the LORD God - the ONE and ONLY God - as being His Father, and that both of them were continually working.

Jesus here doesn't mention what it was that He and His Father were working on, but we now know that they're working all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

  Dig Deeper  

It's not that these Jews were wrong - the LORD our God most certainly is ONE! It's just that Jesus knew what this meant in a way that nobody had ever considered - that God is ONE in essence and THREE in person.

It's true that the word 'Trinity' isn't found anywhere in the Bible. We can't even turn to one specific passage that neatly unpacks it all. But once you understand it conceptually, the idea shows up on nearly every page of Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments.

This was the prevailing issue that the early church wrestled with. And it wasn't just a generation or two for whom this was a pet issue or hobby horse; this discussion and debate went on for centuries. Men devoted their entire lives to studying the Scriptures and choosing just the right words - even spending years debating one single letter in a word! - so that the Church might properly know and worship our Triune (three / one) God.

All so that you could know the full extent of what Jesus meant when He said so long ago that My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working... to sovereignly secure your eternal salvation.

All three of what we now call the Ecumenical Creeds center on the subject of the Trinity. We know the Apostles' Creed the best, and are somewhat familiar with the second - the Nicene Creed. But the third and final is called the Athanasian Creed, which was finished over four centuries after Jesus ascended, describes the Trinity in the most detail.

It ends with these words:

This is the catholic (universal) faith: one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would believe what the Bible teaches firmly and faithfully;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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