“Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, And for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he hath broken the gates of brass, And cut the bars of iron in sunder. Fools because of their transgression, And because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; And they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, And he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.”
Psalm 107:15-20 KJV,https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.107.15-19.KJV
A Gift Worth Receiving
After Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for almost four decades, the religious Jews were angry with Him. This may seem strange, because healing is a good thing, but Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath—the day of rest. In the Old Testament, God gave believers a long list of rules to follow in order to stay right with Him, and these rules included honoring the Sabbath.
But in the New Testament, Jesus was sent to change our relationship with the Father. By sacrificing Himself on the cross, He gave us access to a relationship with God—so that long list of rules was no longer needed. Throughout Jesus' life, He shows people the nature of this new relationship. But because it didn’t line up with what the religious establishment believed, they were angry with Him.
In John 5, Jesus justifies these changes through revealing His true authority. By calling God His Father, He shared that He was equal to God. This angered the religious Jews, but it gives us a ...