05.14.2014 New Testament: John 5.17–18

To read the Bible in a year, read John 5.1–24 on May 14, In the year of our Lord 2014

By Don Ruhl

The Jewish leaders condemned Jesus because He healed a man on the Sabbath, but He said to them,

“My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5.17).

God never sleeps. He never takes a day off. He never goes on vacation. Instead, He keeps working, even for us who often need time off, and He worked for the Jews, whom He commanded to take a day off every week.

How would you have understood the statement of Jesus? Do you see Him as placing Himself on a plane with God? That is how the Jews understood it,

Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5.18).

While disciples of Christ are sons and daughters of God, and He is our Father, it is not the same as what Jesus and the Father have with one another. Yes, Jesus is equal with God.