March 20, 2023

John 5: 17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” (NIV)

Jesus viewed the Sabbath as a gift to mankind, not a restriction.*

Jesus had just healed a man – on the Sabbath – and the Jews were incensed with him over it, and to make things worse, after  making this statement, he called God his Father. It isn’t clear which offense they found the most offensive but I’m guessing that they were just glad to have found such good excuses to persecute him. While I feel like he could have expounded a little in his response to them, his Jewish hecklers were quite aware of the context and subtext of his answer. 

Some facts about the Sabbath that they were well aware of: 

• God rested from the work of creating after six days but not from the work of being God. 
• The Lord gave them the Sabbath (Exodus 16: 29) as a reminder of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. 
• God had not instituted any Sabbath regulations against what Jesus had just done.* (See Mark 3: 1-4 for another instance of Jesus’ Sabbath-breaking and what he had to say about it.) 

Jesus was always tying the past to the present while setting the stage for the future. He frequently mentioned prophecies and foreshadowing that predicted his birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection. In his ministry, he established his authority and divinity; and he alluded to the establishment and mission of the church. With this statement about God’s work, Jesus does both: refers to his credentials and to the church. But the Jews may have missed the subtext: “The Sabbath was given to Israel, not the church.”* 

God’s work of creation is complete. On the cross, Jesus completed the work of salvation when he proclaimed, “It is finished.” But Jesus and the Father are still working on our behalf. Jesus has gone on ahead of us to his Father’s house where he is making preparations for us (John 14: 2); and he is at the right hand of God interceding for us (Romans 8: 34). Always on the job!

We make room for him in our hearts, and he makes room for us in his house!*