# Day 237

# Jesus Ignores the Sabbath

Part One
John 5:1–18

Jesus went up to the Passover festival. There, near the sheep gate, is a pool called Bethesda. Many blind, lame, and paralyzed people waited there for the water to bubble up because of its healing power.

Jesus asked a man who’d been sick for thirty-eight years if he wanted to be made well.

“Someone always gets into the pool ahead of me.”

Jesus said, “Stand up, take your mat, and walk.” Instantly, the man was healed, picked up his mat, and walked away.

Someone said, “Today’s the Sabbath. It’s against the law to carry that mat.”

“The man who healed me said to pick up my mat.”

“Who was that?” the Pharisees asked.

“I don’t know.”

Jesus had left the area. Later, when the man saw Jesus in the temple, he told the Pharisees, and they harassed Jesus because of the Sabbath healing.

“My Father works every day, and so do I,” Jesus replied. The Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus for this. He’d made himself the same as God.

Questions: How did the healed man break the law? Why did the Pharisees want to kill Jesus?