Jesus at Bethesda
111
wonderful a miracle. He answered boldly, “He that made me whole,
the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.” The Pharisees
were not delighted at the cure which had been effected upon this
poor invalid of thirty-eight years. They overlooked the object of the
wondrous miracle, and, with their characteristic bigotry, seized upon
the act as a violation of the Sabbath law.
They excused the restored man from blame, but appeared shocked
at the guilt of him who had assumed the responsibility of ordering a
man to take up his bed upon the Sabbath day. They asked him who
[160]
it was that had done this thing, but he could not enlighten them on
that subject. These rulers knew very well that only one person had
shown himself able to do this deed; but they wished to get direct proof
that it was Jesus, for they then hoped to be able to condemn him as a
Sabbath-breaker. They considered that he had not only broken the law
in healing the sick man on the Sabbath, but had committed an act of
sacrilege in bidding him take up his bed and bear it away.
Jesus did not come into the world to lessen the dignity of the
law, but to exalt it. The Jews had perverted it by their traditions
and misconceptions. They had made it a yoke of bondage. Their
meaningless exactions and requirements had become a by-word among
all other nations. Especially was the Sabbath hedged in by all manner
of senseless restrictions which made that holy day almost unendurable.
A Jew was not allowed to kindle a fire upon the Sabbath, nor even to
light a candle on that day. The views of the people were so narrow
that they had become slaves to their own useless regulations. As
a consequence, they were dependent upon the Gentiles to do many
services which their rules forbade them to do for themselves.
They did not reflect that if these necessary duties of life were sins
they were full as guilty in employing others to perform them as in
doing them themselves. They thought salvation was restricted to the
Jews, and the condition of all others, being entirely hopeless, could
neither be improved nor made worse. But a just God has given no
commandment which cannot be consistently kept by all. His laws
[161]
sanction no meaningless usages nor clumsy restrictions.
Soon after, Jesus met the man he had healed in the temple. He
had come to bring a trespass-offering, a sin-offering, and a thank-
offering for the great mercy he had received. Jesus, finding him among
the worshipers, made himself known to him. The great Physician