John 5:14-18 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶ And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Jesus Is Equal with God

¹⁸ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

My question at the end of yesterday’s blog was if the lame man obeyed a man he did not know. I have an opinion on the matter that I will keep to myself. Opinions are not doctrine. We saw the man do that which was unlawful to do on the Sabbath and his motivations are in question. We can only see what the man did, not why. Then he meets Jesus and now knows Jesus. Now he has a testimony of what Jesus did for him and he witnesses for Jesus. We who believe are seen in the same way.

These Jews, not called to be Pharisees or Sadducee. These Jews now hear this witness as an accusation of guilt. According to Jewish law it takes two or three witnesses to convict a man of breaking the law. So they call on Jesus to testify against Himself. Jesus answers, “My Father did it and I will do it.”

Herein is the largest single difference in all religions of the world. Only in Christianity is Jesus Christ declared to be the Son of God. All other religions refuse to believe that God would stoop so low as to become a man. That refusal blocks out every prophecy that identifies how God the Father chose to deliver salvation to mankind.

John 5:8-14 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. 

¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

I want to point out one very important issue here. Verse 13 says the lame man did not know Jesus.

I can relate to this in ways many do not. My first encounter with the power of God happened very much like this. I was angry, I was troubled and I wanted to change. God touched me personally and took away the anger. I was left with this overwhelming wonder. What just happened? I did not know Jesus.

This flies in the face of nearly every sermon I have ever heard. Then just as with this lame man, Jesus found me and talked to me. His words were simple direct and powerful. He did not condemn me for my past condition, my sinfulness, but warned me that sin has consequences that may be worse for me.

Did the lame man obey someone he did not know?