Session 7 John 5:5-16

LEGALISM EXPOSED (JOHN 5:9b-13)

what caught the Jewish leaders’ attention in these verses.

9b Now that day was the Sabbath,
10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed,
“This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”
11 He replied, “The man who made me well told me,
‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked.

13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was,
because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

ASK:

• What made the Sabbath such a sticking point to these Jews?
• Why did John mention the man’s mat?

HIGHLIGHT:

In picking up and carrying his mat,
the man at the Pool of Bethesda had committed a violation
that was listed in The Mishnah’s
“carrying goods” category.
Jews likely based this in part on Jeremiah 17:21-22,
which prohibits carrying a load through the city gates or out of one’s house on the Sabbath.
Though the Jews had been taught that the law prohibited “labor,”
like picking up his mat, it actually did not specify such minor matters.
While it did exclude most forms of work,
it focused more on the holiness of the day than on the minor tasks of living (Ex. 20:8-11).

STUDY:

Discuss the final two questions in the Bible Skill:

• How do the Old Testament and New Testament teachings on Sabbath complement each other?
• How did Jesus’s actions in John 5 demonstrate respect for the Sabbath and the rightness of acting on that day?

ASSERT:

The Jewish authorities drew their power and authority from the law.
So, they wanted to make sure everyone kept the law as they defined it—
no exceptions. In this case, they were so focused on their rules
that they failed to recognize the miracle in front of them
and failed to show compassion.

ASK:

• How can religion become an excuse not to show compassion to hurting people? (p. 63)
• How might legalism hold us back from celebrating the work of Jesus in someone’s life?