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Written by BJ Richardson for “The River Walk” @ http://tworiversblog.com/

Original site @ http://tworiversblog.com/2014/05/01/john-59-10-not-of-god/

John 5:9-10 (Not of God)
by BJ

Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”
(John 5:9-10)

Read: 1 Samuel 4:12 – 8:22

Relate: In the Old Testament there are 613 Mitzvot, commands. Apparently that wasn’t enough. There was an entire class of people whose sole occupation was to interpret, teach, and enforce these laws. Their intentions were noble, but the results… disastrous. For a good Jew today, you cannot teat toilet paper when using the restroom. You must either have it pre-torn or keep tissues in the bathroom for use on the Sabbath. If for some reason you forgot to unscrew the light bulb on your refrigerator then you cannot open that door. It would turn on that light, which is creative activity, which is work. For the same reason Scrabble is banned on the Sabbath. One cannot “create” words. I sure hope you have a pair of shoes with Velcro… tying laces would constitute “creating” a knot. It is a lot of work to make sure one is not “working” on the Sabbath.

What is true today was just as true in Jesus’ time. These teachers of the law had taken the simple command to not work and created 39 categories of work that are not permitted on the Sabbath. They are:

1.  Sowing
2.  Plowing
3.  Reaping
4.  Binding sheaves
5.  Threshing
6.  Winnowing
7.   Selecting
8.   Grinding
9.   Sifting
10.  Kneading
11.   Baking
12.  Shearing wool
13.  Washing wool
14.  Beating wool
15.  Dyeing wool
16.  Spinning
17.  Weaving
18.  Making two loops
19.  Weaving two threads
20.  Separating two threads
21.  Tying
22.  Untying
23.   Sewing two stitches
24.   Tearing
25.   Trapping
26.   Slaughtering
27.   Flaying
28.   Salting meat
29.   Curing hide
30.   Scraping hide
31.   Cutting hide up
32.   Writing two letters
33.   Erasing two letters
34.   Building
35.   Tearing a building down
36.   Extinguishing a fire
37.   Kindling a fire
38.  Hitting with a hammer

39.  Taking an object from the private domain to the public, or transporting     an object in the public domain.

React: It was this last one that got the recently healed lame man in trouble and Jesus for commanding it. But was he really working? Yes, sometimes carrying that mat around might feel like work, but right after being healed? Can you just imagine him holding it up over his head as he danced and skipped his way around town? Sometimes for me, writing this might be work. Other times it is pure joy. The task is the same, but the approach, the attitude is different. As Jesus said, God didn’t make man for the Sabbath but rather the Sabbath for man.

In what ways do I turn to legalism? For me, it isn’t the Sabbath but are there areas that I am sure I have to fight this tendency. Christianity is supposed to be fun. We should be the happiest and the most free people on the planet. Are we? Am I? Have I taken the rules and duties of being a Christian and turned them into a burdensome pile of regulations? Do I impose my religious preferences on others? God forbid that my passion for following Christ, my desire for purity and holiness, ever become a cause to turn others against the grace and love of Christ.

Respond:

God, let everything I say and do bring glory to You. Help me to live the way You want to live and do what You want me to do… but help me to do it out of love, not as obedience to a burdensome set of rules. Help me to not impose a pile of personal obligations that would drive You to the background and please, please keep me from trying to impose such obligations on others. I want to honor You. Even more, I want to live and talk and act in such a way that others would want to honor You as well.

About BJ

The River Walk, (tworiversblog.com) is a devotional/informational outreach for Two Rivers, a new church that launched in the Binghamton area February, 2013.