THE BATTLE BEGINS

“The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute Him. In His defence Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too, am working.'” John 5:13-17 (NIV).

The battle royal has begun, the oldest and fiercest battle in the world, the war between religion and truth.

Satan’s modus operandi is to ensnare people through deception to believe his lies which take many forms, so that he can control them through fear. Religion is one of his most potent lies — whatever form religion takes — that people are able to reach their god through their own efforts.

The Pharisees’ god was a demanding disciplinarian who could only be appeased through strict obedience to his rules (to which their rabbis had added a whole lot more to be on the safe side) and through the shedding of much animal blood. The Sabbath was a very important part of their rule-keeping ritual and they were incensed when anyone “broke” any of their prohibitions.

When Jesus healed the paralysed man on the Sabbath and instructed him to carry his sleeping mat, they found themselves up against an implacable enemy. Jesus refused to back down and compromise the truth that the Sabbath was a gift from a loving Father to allow them to rest, and not another day for them to try to appease Him by keeping rules.

God’s commandments were never intended to be restrictive, making life burdensome and unpleasant. He was regulating the lives of a group of people who only knew slavery and the abuses they had suffered at the hands of their cruel Egyptian masters. He had to teach them to be human again. He also had to teach them the meaning and consequences of sin and holiness so that they could show the world what their God was like.

God’s “Law” was a marriage covenant, setting the boundaries within which they would flourish in their relationship with their “husband”. He wanted them to live in union with Him so that they could carry out their task of having dominion over the created order under His authority as He intended from the beginning. The Hebrew word “torah” means “teaching”, not “law” as in dictatorial restrictions. God was teaching His people how to live again.

God wanted them to be a family of sons and daughters, living in harmony with Him and with one another, but they had made it into a slave-master religion, ruled by fear, not love. David was one of a very few of God’s people who really understood His intention and got past the rigmarole of rules and ritual to an intimate father-son relationship.

The strict rule-keeping of the Pharisees closed their hearts to the suffering of the fellow beings which angered Jesus as much as His rule-breaking angered them. God was not so callous as to ignore the needs of people and animals when they happened on the Sabbath. If an animal fell into a pit, they could not leave it there until the next day just because it was the Sabbath. They were to rescue it regardless.

Jesus was no less concerned about suffering people. When their need came to His attention, He did what was necessary to get them out of their “pit” but the Pharisees reacted against Him because He made God too “nice”.

Jesus’ response to the Pharisees was to inform them that, although God rested on the Sabbath, He was still working. That sounds a bit contradictory, doesn’t it? God rested from His creative activity but He is fully involved in the work of re-creation. Man messed everything up and God is busy putting things right again. Jesus was also involved by His mission and ministry on earth. The cross would be the defining moment, providing the motivation and the power to reconcile people to God and to set them on the new way to restoration and wholeness.

The Pharisees neither understood not die they want to understand. They preferred their way because they had status and power. They rejected the possibility of a new status, sons of God, and a new power to overcome sin and become imitators of God as dearly loved children. It was their choice.

What’s yours?