Jesus at Bethesda
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to the salvation of souls or the removal of physical pain. Such work was
in harmony with that of God’s angels, who were ever descending and
ascending between Heaven and earth to minister to suffering humanity.
Jesus answered their accusations by declaring, “My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work.” All days are God’s, in which to carry out his
great plans for the human race. If the Jews’ interpretation of the law
was correct, then Jehovah was at fault, whose work had upheld and
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quickened creation since first he laid the foundations of the earth, when
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy. He who pronounced his work good, and established the institution
of the Sabbath to commemorate its completion, must a period to his
labor, and stop the never-ending routine of the universe.
Should God forbid the sun to do its office upon the Sabbath, cut
off its genial rays from warming the earth and nourishing vegetation?
Must the system of worlds stand still through that holy day? Should
he command the babbling brooks to stay their course from watering
the fields and forests, and bid the advancing and receding waves to
still their ceaseless ebbing and flowing? Must the wheat and corn stop
growing, and the ripening cluster defer its purple bloom for a single
day? Must the waving trees and the delicate flowers forth no bud nor
blossom on the Sabbath?
Surely in such a case man would miss the fruit of the earth and the
blessings that make life desirable. Nature must continue her unvarying
course; God must not stay his hand a single moment, or man would
faint and die. And, in a like proportion, man has a labor to perform
on this day. The necessities of life must be attended to, the sick must
be cared for, the wants of the needy must be met. God does not hold
him guiltless who stays his hand from relieving the suffering on the
Sabbath day. The holy Sabbath was made for man, and acts of mercy
and benevolence are always in order upon that day. God does not
desire his creatures to suffer an hour’s pain that may be relieved upon
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the Sabbath or any other day.
Jesus sought to impress upon the narrow minds of the Jews a
sense of the folly of their view of the Sabbath. He showed them that
God’s work never ceases. It is even greater upon the Sabbath than
upon ordinary occasions, for at that time his people leave their usual
employments and spend the time in prayerful meditation and worship.
They ask more favors of him upon the Sabbath than upon other days,