Breaking the Rules (John 5:16-18)
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jeremy_2_05-12-2025_143711: [00:00:00] How do you think Jesus would be received if he were to attend most churches in America today? Like can you imagine? What would be the reception if Jesus physically were to walk in? If Jesus were to walk onto the stage, stand behind the pulpit. What would be the reception? Now, the way we answer that question says a lot about our view of Jesus and obviously our view of the church today,
what if Jesus were to walk in during the State of the Union address and take their microphone and begin speaking about the kingdom? Of God. What would be the reaction to that? See, I suspect in both examples, it probably wouldn't go well because Jesus wouldn't do what we might expect Jesus to do.
Just wouldn't necessarily follow along with the ways that we have come to make sense of the world, and we would find that Jesus doesn't fit neatly into any of [00:01:00] these environments. Now, last week we looked at a story of Jesus healing, a paralyzed man, which is an incredible story. The problem was the day that Jesus decided to do this, it was the Sabbath.
And so the religious leaders are bothered that Jesus is doing something on the Sabbath. But in addition, Jesus told the man who was healed to carry his mat, and that was work on the Sabbath. Now, this was just too much for the religious leaders and we saw a little bit of this in the passage last week, but today we're gonna look at a few verses where they doubled down on their reaction, not okay with Jesus doing things the way that he's doing them, and so just follow along.
This is truly a bizarre reaction we find to Jesus doing supernatural things. In John chapter five, verse 16 says This. So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus [00:02:00] for breaking the Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, my father is always working and so am I. And so the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him for he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his father, thereby making himself equal with God.
Can you imagine watching someone who has been paralyzed for 38 years of his life, watching him suddenly healed in a moment, and then you're mad about it. I mean, can you imagine watching that this guy that you have seen for 38 years can't walk and then suddenly he has this encounter and he's able to walk, he's miraculously healed.
And you are pissed. I mean, can you imagine that is the reaction? This is a massive [00:03:00] example of missing the point. They are so bothered by how Jesus has decided to do this, that it's on the wrong day, that they completely miss that this guy's life was forever changed, that Jesus did for him what he had wanted done for 38 years.
Now we gotta remember here, in a story like this, the Sabbath wasn't just a day off. We think of it like, oh, it's just part of my weekend. I try not to work as much. I try to take a little break from email. That was not the way in which Jewish culture saw Sabbath. This was a boundary marker of sorts. This was a defining element.
Of who they were. It was a way for them to prove faithfulness in a world where Israel constantly felt threatened by other influences and other nations. And so breaking the Sabbath didn't just feel like it was irreligious, it felt probably [00:04:00] traitorous. Like, this is who we are, this is how we do it. And then here comes Jesus doing it his own way.
And yet Jesus seems to understand something I. That they don't understand about God. He reminds me of something Pablo Picasso has said. He said, to learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist, right? That before you can truly bring something new, you have to learn what already is, and Jesus fully knows the rules.
He fully knows how this system works. He has an understanding of that is deeper than anyone else. It's just why he can break it the way he is, which is why he is artistically healing this man in a way that everyone else can't seem to wrap their heads around. This is not only healing someone, but he's doing it in a way that they just don't have a box to put it in. They don't have a way [00:05:00] to make sense of how Jesus is doing this.
Religion prioritizes rules over people. It's the way that religion has always worked, and when you find yourself caught up in religious acts, you'll see that this is indeed the way it always is going to lean. But Jesus puts people first. And so there's this inherent tension between Jesus and religion.
Now notice the argument that Jesus makes to these guys. He says, look, God doesn't practice Sabbath anymore. God is always working and I'm always working and I'm always bringing good out of this. I mean, this is just a blatant disregard for the way in which God made sense to them. And you can just imagine them just irate with what Jesus is saying here, and as a result, they are literally now trying to kill him.
I mean, the [00:06:00] entire system is going to rise up against Jesus when grace. Breaks the system. The system will always attack grace, and we see it in this story and we see it over and over again. Religious systems have a long history of getting nervous when Grace shows up with without permission. As long as the religious system says you can do it this way, it's fine.
But the moment grace shows up without permission, religious systems and the people that love running them inherently take issue. And that's what we see in this story. But this is continuing even today. So I want you to reflect on where might we be attacking Grace today because it's coming without permission.
I was thinking of a few ideas of maybe where we do this. How about women in ministry and the [00:07:00] majority of churches, even today in America, women have limited roles of what they're able to do, that they can do this role or that role, or they can go this high in leadership but no higher and there's certain things they can be called and other things they can't be called.
It's because it's grace without permission going, no, no, no, you can't break the rules. We've got rules around this, and yet we realize there's a tension there. Or how about people who are on a deconstructing journey, people who are asking questions that we think you're not allowed to ask that question or stop asking that question.
Just go along with what everyone else is saying. Do they have room? To have that grace within the community, or do they have to go elsewhere? Do they have to go outside of it for that journey? Or people with mental health struggles, do we have the grace for that when it doesn't fit into our systems? Or we say, look, you gotta play by our rules before we're willing and able [00:08:00] to help you.
Or maybe the one I've seen most obvious recently is people in the L-G-B-T-Q community. We go, no, no, no, no. There's no grace for that. You didn't get permission to do that. And we see this inherent tension with people and religion. Who have we decided is too far gone or too complicated or too different for us to include because we may be battling Jesus in this same tension today.
Jesus is not a servant. Of religion. He is the revelation of God. And God thankfully, is not a gatekeeper. God thankfully, is someone who prioritizes people over religion, who chooses to break the rules for the sake of love. I want to close with something that Rachel held. Evans wrote. She said, this is what God's kingdom [00:09:00] is like.
A bunch of outcasts and oddballs gathered at a table. Not because they are rich or worthy or good, but because they are hungry. I love this quote. I use it all the time because it reminds us what the kingdom is about. It's not about those who the religion has said you fit and you have our permission.
It's people who are hungry, gathered at a table, and Grace makes room for all of 'em. Love is big enough for all of them. Will we be the kind of people. Who join Jesus in breaking the right rules for the sake of love. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
