Freedom To

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 

(John 5:8-12, 16)

In John 5, Jesus’ critics accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath. It’s a serious charge with grave consequences. God told His people to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. The Sabbath was inviolable.

So, why did Jesus tell the man to pick up his mat? If the healed man had simply walked without carrying his mat, the miraculous sign still stands. Why then Jesus’ command to “work” that apparently violated the Sabbath?

The answer lies in the nature of the Sabbath. It was a day of rest, without any work. God’s people were to enter the rest of His care. He was their King, with them and for them. He would provide. They didn’t need to strive as those outside His covenant care did.

The Sabbath meant that their God and King was with them. He protected them. He provided for them.

The Sabbath shocked the Israelite’s pagan neighbors. One day a week where you didn't work? That’s lazy and reckless. What if you don’t eat? Life is toil. Work is food! But God’s people were taught to be different. They were given the freedom to enter God’s rest, which brings us back to John 5. 

During the ensuing public trial, Jesus doesn’t defend His actions. He defends His authority, His right to command walking at any time, even on Shabbat. If the point of Sabbath is that God’s people are free to enter His rest, to enjoy His Presence unencumbered by any burden, work included, then it was a sign pointing to the time when Messiah would come and be among His people, when He would make all things good and new again. To usher in a Kingdom of perpetual rest. The sign of Sabbath’s command pointed to the promise of Malachi’s prophecy and the fulfillment we see in the Gospels.

A sign is only necessary when you're journeying to get somewhere, as New Testament scholar N.T. Wright reminds us. When you arrive, or more to the point, when God arrives among you, the sign ceases to function as it once did. In fact, it can become an encumbrance. Imagine you’re a block from Manhattan’s Battery Park with its sweeping view of New York Harbor. You stand behind a large building looking at a sign that reads “Battery Park this Way.” But you never step from behind the building. You never enter the park and gaze upon Lady Liberty on her pedestal. You miss the point of the sign entirely. 

That’s Jesus’ point in John 5. Listen:

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39-40)

Did you catch that? They were staring at the “signs” thinking they had the power to give life, all while the Author of Life, the One to Whom the Scriptures pointed, stood among them. 

Does a Sabbath practice offer some health benefits? Of course. Is it wise to adopt a helpful, biblical rhythm of work and rest? Yes. None of that is the point of the Sabbath commanded in Mosaic Law. It is about Jesus, and the freedom to enter His rest. Jesus is our Sabbath, and there is tremendous freedom in that truth.

So, let us ask God to pour out His Spirit so that B4’s people of all ages, and those they influence, would find freedom from the labor that binds them to this world’s grinding system, and this kind of freedom:

Freedom to trust: Isaiah 26:3-4 and Philippians 4:6-7
Freedom to rest: Exodus 33:14 and Matthew 11:28-30
Freedom to love: Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and John 13:34-35
Freedom to rejoice: Psalm 16:11 and John 15:9-11
Freedom to bear witness: Isaiah 43:10–12 and Acts 1:8

Love ya!

 Pastor Steve