At Work

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

AT WORK

John 5:16-18

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."  18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

NIV

From the very beginning when God instructed the people of Israel, when he provided manna from heaven he established the Sabbath and told them that on the sixth day to gather two days’ worth and it would not spoil so they were not go gather on the Sabbath day, not working as it were. Then when giving the Commands to Moses, the one was specific about not working on the Sabbath, keeping it Holy. Although it was the command of God these Pharisees had taken it to a whole new level, adding many rules and regulations regarding what was considered work. But Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and that just would not do as far as they were concerned. Rules were more important than doing what was the right thing to do. Yet Jesus most likely knew how the Pharisees would react and what they would accuse him of, so we might consider he did this purposely so as to be able to make this statement about his Father is always at work and so is he. It was difficult for them to grasp the concept that Jesus was the Son of God. They could not open their minds past their own thinking. Man had made the Sabbath something God had not intended it to be and Jesus was making that very clear. This truth reveals two points for us. One is that Jesus is equal with God as he is God, and the second is that we should not be so rigid about rules and regulations about the Sabbath, which of course we are not as all the church staff work on our Sabbath, all the people who serve us breakfast after church work on the Sabbath and we who have shift work employment work on the Sabbath ourselves. We might even say we have completely disregarded the Command of God about the Sabbath, except we think we keep it holy by attending church, if we are not working that is or we have some special reason why we aren’t in church. Jesus was doing the work of God even to this day, even on this day. Why do we pray to God on the Sabbath for him to do something, if we think we should rest from all our work on the Sabbath and keep it holy? Why are we asking God to answer our prayers on the Sabbath if we expect him to rest from all his work on the Sabbath? God is always at work doing good for his creation, Jesus is always there making intersession for us before the Father, even on the Sabbath, and we should always be ready willing and able to assist those in need, even on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is about God at work.