Scripture Reading: John 5:17-27
The people were angry at Jesus because He had healed the helpless man on the Sabbath. They claimed that He had done wrong by the working on the seventh day. The answer of Jesus was, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” In the History of the creation we read that god set the example of Sabbath-keeping. After six days of creating, He rested the seventh day. We are living now in God’s Sabbath. But the words of Jesus here show us that there is a sense in which God keeps no Sabbath. He never ceases to be active. The worlds do not stop in their orbits to rest when the Holy Day begins. The sun does not veil His face and cease His shining that day. The grass does not stop growing, the flowers do not cease to bloom, and the wheat does not pause in its ripening, when the day of rest comes. There is no Sabbath-keeping in God’s providence. Nor does His care for His children intermit when the Sabbath dawns. It would be very sad for the world if it did.
The people had found fault with Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. They said He had been working, and working was forbidden by the law. This was His answer, “My Father worketh hitherto” — has never ceased to work, is evermore blessing and helping His creatures. Then He added, “And I work.” This was in answer to the charge that He had broken the Sabbath in healing the man. For one thing, He put Himself alongside the Father in power and authority. It was an assertion that He was divine. We get here a suggestion of the kind of works that are right for us to do on the Lord’s Day. There is not in these words a shadow of defense for ordinary secular work on the Lord’s Day, but works of mercy, of religion, of obedience, we may do on the day of rest.
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