The Pharisees Begin Persecuting Jesus (J19)

The man stood, well and strong, picked up his mat,
And walked; soon a hand stopped him with a jerk;
It was a Pharisee; “You cannot do that—
Toting your mat on the Sabbath is work!”
Jesus slipped away, not to debate here,
As the man answered, “The healer made me;”
“Who healed you? He broke the law without fear!”
“I don’t know,” he said to the Pharisee.
In the temple later, Jesus met the man;
He said, “Stop sinning, or you might get worse!”
“It was Jesus,” he told, soon as he can,
Which brought them against Him, like a vile curse!
The healed man did not believe in the Name,
God’s One and Only Son, from whom life came!

How far from the heart of God had the Pharisees strayed; they were Israel’s “most” righteous men, yet their man-made rules, called the “oral tradition” had become the strictest laws of the land. These laws so burdened the Jews that it was impossible for any to obey them all, yet the Pharisees paraded around forcing the common people to observe them or face fines or even imprisonment. There were two violations of ticky-tacky rules here: 1. The healed invalid had “violated” the commandment of not working on the Sabbath by carrying his mat; and, 2. Jesus had done the same by healing the invalid on the Sabbath!

The Pharisees had originated after most of the Jews were carried off to Babylon in 586 B. C., when Nebuchednezzar conquered Jerusalem and demolished Solomon’s temple. The Jews of the northern and southern kingdoms were scattered; the temple was gone; and even the copies of the Mosaic law were destroyed. So the self-appointed self-righteous Pharisees developed the “oral” rules to insure that Jews didn’t violate God’s law; but, in doing so, they perverted the spiritual meaning of God so badly that the very obedience of the Jews sent them to hell rather than to heaven. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) that unless a person’s righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees, Israel’s most righteous men (supposedly), that person would not enter the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the Pharisees became Jesus’ most bitter targets, and He became their most bitter enemy; they didn’t rest until they managed to have Him crucified.

The Bible scripture on which this poem/commentary is based is found in John 5:10-15. Please read it, to understand the context. I am continuing my series of sonnets in the gospel of John the apostle. This incident is in the aftermath of Jesus’ healing the invalid of 38 years at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. Now I can tell you why I believe John put this “miraculous sign” in his gospel; it was intended to instigate an audience with a large group of Judaism’s religious leaders in Jerusalem. Now that the unsaved (non-believing) man has told the Pharisees who it was that healed him on a Sabbath day, they have Jesus in their sights. He will have an opportunity to preach directly to Israel’s top religious leaders; some might believe in Him, like Nicodemus, but most will be so angry with Him that their rejection will result in His crucifixion and death. This, after all, is the reason He came to earth.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)