Sermon Tone Analysis

Trial of the Century

It’s nothing new that reporters and news casters like to use hyperbole to get people’s attention.

The phrase “Trial of the Century” has been used dozens of times in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries as a means of highlighting the significance of big, important trials.

Trials for treason, murder, custody, and beatings have all been categorized by some news outlets as “trial of the century.”

What if there was a trial that was of eternal importance?

Is there anything that could rise to that acclaim?

I would contend, yes.

In fact that trial has already happened and is continuing to happen.

That is the trial of the nature and identity of Jesus.

In some ways, we could look at the book of John as being a record of Jesus’ defense in favor of the title - “the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:30-31).

As we continue our look through the book of John we’re examining his arguments in favor of this verdict about the nature and ministry of Jesus.

As we come to chapter five, we get to see Jesus on trial in a sort of preliminary hearing.

Beginning today, we’ll get to examine a few elements of this trial.

First of all…

The Incident and Indictment (John 5:1-18) - today we’re going to look at what led to this initial examination.

Next week, Armal will continue with...

Jesus’ Defense (John 5:19-29) - as he looks at what Jesus has to say about himself regarding the charges before him.

The following week, we’ll consider...

Witness Testimony (John 5:30-47)- as we get to consider other factors and voices that speak in Jesus’ defense.

So, let’s begin where every trial begins...

The Incident: Healing on the Sabbath (John 5:1-13)

We’ve already read this portion of the text so let’s consider a few elements of this incident.

The scene:

around a festival - the festival is not noted by John, but only the day -

a pool in Jerusalem near the sheep gate - the pool was believed to provide some healing to the in-firmed

on a Sabbath - a day of rest

The man - one of many around the pool:

paralyzed for 38 years - at least 38 years old

Would likely have to be carried to that position by friends or family, or would have crawled there

Something to consider - some have noted that people with paralysis deal with so much more than just a lack of mobility

bladder and bowel control issues

likely resigned to begging or the generosity of others to survive

the interaction with Jesus:

It appears that there were several people around - and yet Jesus chose this specific man.

- it wasn’t his character or holiness that prompted Jesus to choose him.

- the same thing for us.

Jesus doesn’t choose us because we deserve it, but because he chooses us.

He asked if he wanted to be healed - (v. 6)

The man responded with an excuse (v.

7) - no one to help him.

Jesus said simply - Get up, take your bed and walk (v.

8)

So, here the tension begins to increase.

John gives us a brief aside noting that this was on a sabbath.

Jesus and the man part ways, but the man is seen by the religious leaders.

It’s quite possible they would have recognized this man.

In the very least, the nature of his attire and his aroma would have given them some clues as to his status - and yet the leaders are not impressed by his healing but by his breaking of the law.

There is a bit of back and forth.

These leaders want to know - not who healed him, but who told him to “take up your bed and walk.” - but the man did not know.

So the gist of this encounter is the man who was healed is accused of lawbreaking by the leaders and they want to know who gave him permission to walk.

Which brings us to the next part of the trial:

The Indictment: Breaking the Sabbath and Equality with God (John 5:14-18)

Sometime later - maybe the same day or another day, Jesus and this man meet again.

Rather than showing gratitude for his healing - or even any sort of transformation - the man moves to get out of the cross-hairs of the religious leaders.

John gives us a brief summary of the religious leaders’ conclusion:

Their initial claim was that Jesus’ healing work and the fact that he urged this man to pick up his bed and walk broke Sabbath laws.

This really begins to beg some questions - what is is the Sabbath and how was Jesus breaking these rules?

The Sabbath, one of the ten commandments, was initiated by God to be a day of rest.

God modeled the Sabbath in creation by resting on the seventh day.

In the 10 Commandments, God instructed the people of Israel this way...

So then, this begs the question, what is work?

It seems that in the mind of the religious leaders, healing a man on the Sabbath was work.

According to the Mishnah - a set of rules and guidelines designed to help people obey the commandments, picking up a mat was work (Stern).

I understand that even walking too far, was considered work to them.

In all, there were about 39 different categories of activities that were qualified as work.

All of them were prohibited.

In their mind, Jesus was breaking those rules.

But beyond that, Jesus received a second indictment, equality with God.

So this simple act of kindness and consideration gets turned into an indictment that included breaking one of the ten commandments and even blasphemy.

Next week, Armal is going to pick up the narrative with Jesus’ defense.

Before we conclude our time together today, I think it’s important that we reflect on some...

Contemporary Considerations

I think it is important to look at the encounter for what it is - because ultimately, this trial of eternity has huge significance for all of us.

But I believe there are also things that we can look at in order to apply to our lives today.

First of all,...

When left to our own devices, we corrupt God’s good gifts

If we were to place ourselves in the story as some of Jesus’ antagonists, we would find just how often we mess up the things that God has blessed us with.

Let’s think about the Sabbath.

Sabbath was meant to be a refreshing day for worship.

The religious leaders made it into an onerous legalism - letter of the law vs.

spirit of the law (they added 39 categories of activities that could be considered work.)

Jesus act of kindness and compassion paled in comparison to their view of how He broke the laws.

David Stern wrote in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, “Note, however that the Judeans ignored the miraculous healing and concerned themselves only with the infringement of their version of the Law; they could not see that the formerly crippled man’s ability to carry his mat attested to God’s glory.”

(p.

169)

How often do we take the good things of God and corrupt them?

We judge ourselves by our intentions and yet judge others by their actions - when in the end it should be Jesus doing the judging.

We might even place onerous burdens on people coming to faith, when Jesus calls us to repent and believe and then works his sanctifying work in us for the rest of our lives.

But in addition to thinking about the Sabbath, we can also see how we corrupt God’s good gifts in the way that...

The healed man threw Jesus under the bus - rather than showing gratitude or even a desire for healing, the man seemed to quickly tell the Jews just who healed him so that he could be justified for breaking the “law.”

He wanted to get the attention off of himself.

In many cases, that would be a good thing, but here, he seemed to be ungrateful and even fearful - but of the wrong people.

How often do we see life in Christ as a burden rather than a blessing?

instead of gratitude for all the Christ has done for us - our redemption, eternal life - we live in the gloom of thinking we can’t have any fun or enjoyment in life.

We equate sin with sickness - This has lessened in recent years, but we tend to be tempted to think that when someone is sick or suffering that it must be related to sin.

The two can be related but not always - John 9 (encounter of the man born blind - the disciples asked who sinned - Jesus said neither).

Sometimes God uses sickness, and struggle to display his glory - even the Apostle Paul noted that God’s power is “made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor.

12:9.

But I think that there is something else a play here.

Not only can we see ways that we corrupt God’s good gifts, but we can also observe that...

Jesus seemed to be instituting a proper perspective on work and ministry

Returning to the idea of the Sabbath - it seems that the Sabbath wasn’t intended as a day to do nothing, but a day to not work.

Many commentators have suggested that this work would refer to a means of livelihood.