The Call of Matthew; Sabbath Controversies

It's an 18 month period of time, the longest single time period of uninterrupted ministry in our Lord's life that is recorded in the gospels. And it's obviously in the region of Galilee. So let's take a look. I think we have a map. Don't we Greg somewhere here? We have a map of Galilee. There we go. Obviously the Sea of Galilee being the kind of the center of this region, at least from north to south. This colored region right here, blue colored region is Galilee. And Copernum is the town where Jesus is making his home. We have found that in the great Galilee ministry it really began with Jesus speaking in the synagogue in Nazareth and his hometown where he was. They attempted to kill him and so he had to leave Nazareth and made his hometown in Copernum. We have seen that there have been a number of miracles that have taken place in this time and ministry of our Lord because this is the time where he is establishing his credentials as the Messiah. And so there are a number of miracles that substantiate that throughout this time period of his ministry. And we've also seen that he initiated a tour of Galilee on the part of his disciples. He goes with four of his disciples to take a tour of preaching tour, ministry tour of Galilee. And he has just arrived from what Mark chapter 2 verse 1 says back home. He is back home in Copernum. He heals the paralytic that's dropped down through the roof. Remember that story. And we are at that point in our journey, the healing of the left or the healing of the paralytic takes place. And now we come to the call of Matthew, Matthew chapter 9. Okay, that's where we'll begin tonight. Matthew chapter 9. We'll let Matthew tell his own story of how he came to the Lord. Jesus is back home in Copernum. He has healed the man in someone's home who's let down through the roof. And then Matthew chapter 9 verse 9 says, as Jesus went on from there, if you compare Mark's Gospel in Mark chapter 2, you'll find that Jesus Mark 2 says goes out by the lake by the sea of Galilee. And as he is walking on the shore of the sea of Galilee, this encounter happens, which is described here. Matthew 9 verse 9, as Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. So Jesus calls another disciple. This one Matthew, who is added to the probably six, four to six, who are following Jesus at this time. And Jesus, this time calls what looks to be a very unusual prospect, a tax collector, one who works for the Roman governor or government, one who is considered a traitor to his own people, Israel. And Matthew will become now a part of the apostolic band, who's following the Lord Jesus. Now, in verse 10, while Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him at his disciples. This is an interesting dinner. This is evidently a dinner that is provided by Matthew with Jesus as the featured guest. And a bunch of other tax collectors are invited. There have been many who have referred to this, and I think probably rightly so, as Matthew's desire to introduce people from the same strata of society, people from the same occupation, people who like him are considered outcasts in Israel. So his attempt to introduce them to Jesus, who he has just begun to follow. Now, this is probably not the first time Matthew has met Jesus. Jesus has been ministering in cappernum for some time. Matthew may have heard him speak. In synagogue, he may have heard him in other places. He probably knew of Jesus, obviously because his fame has spread throughout the region. But now he's a follower and he wants to introduce some of his buddies to the Lord. And so he has a dinner and invites fellow tax collectors and other people who were considered sinners to eat with Jesus into the disciples. Now, look at what happens in verse 11. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? This is going to be a common refrain throughout the rest of Jesus' ministry. The Pharisees who are very self-righteous, who think themselves above the ordinary person that they consider to be a sinner, you know, the low life of society or somebody like a tax collector who is a traitor for the Roman government. The Pharisees consider themselves above them. And so they cannot understand why someone who claims to be a religious teacher who claims to be the Messiah would hang out with such people. They just can't understand that. And so notice what Jesus' response is in verse 12. On hearing this, Jesus said, it is not the healthy who needed a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. By the way, first of two times we'll see this verse from Hosea 6, quoted in tonight's study if we get that far. But just in a very short period of time, Jesus quotes this twice. And the idea is, what is God looking for? In Jesus' ministry, it was the same thing he was looking for in the prophets. When the prophets scoured the land to find people who had any sense of righteous character and concern for genuine godliness. All they were concerned about is, are we doing the sacrificial system right? Are we doing the duties right? Are we doing the external observances right? Does everything look good on the outside? And Jesus who has come to reach people who know their need says to these self-righteous Pharisees, you need to learn from Hosea 6 that God is more concerned about character, spiritual things, godliness, righteousness. In other words, he would be more concerned about your heart for these kind of people, these lost and dying people than the fact that you're doing all the religious stuff right. That's the purpose of that quote and that reference. Jesus ends by saying, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Jesus rationale for being among unbelievers and sinful people was those of the very people that need me. They're the sick. I came with the right medicine. I'm the doctor. Those are the people who need me. That will be his rationale throughout his ministry. That's the calling of Matthew and Matthew's reception that he gives for Jesus and invites his co-workers and friends to be introduced to the Lord Jesus. Comments or questions about Matthew's call and reception. Okay. Certain we have two examples here in this one story. The example of Jesus who wanted to reach out to the lost and the example of Matthew who uses his circle of influence to introduce people to Christ. You know, every one of us has a circle of influence. Are people you work with or people who are your neighbors. They're people who are friends from high school or from whatever associations you may have. There are there is a circle of influence that you have where you are and God expects you to be a Matthew in your circle of influence to reach out to people around you. And Matthew certainly was interested in doing that. You know, sad thing is that within two years of most people being saved, we have lost most of our contact with unsafe people. Because we become so immersed in contact with other believers, which is wonderful. We need fellowship. We need the body of Christ. All that's important. But within two years of most people getting saved, they have they have lost contact with most unsafe people. And most contact with unsafe people is very casual. Or even if it is at work, there's no attempt to really make an impact spiritually. And so, you know, we've really got to be more intentional to be like Matthew to try to reach the people that we can reach. Nicodemus may not be able to reach a tax collector, but Matthew can. Matthew can. And God has you in a sphere of influence where you can reach some people that others will not be able to reach. Okay, the next event then follows right along in Matthew's gospel. And that is Jesus defends his disciples for feasting. The question is going to be about fasting. And Jesus kind of turns it on its ear. Notice what happens for a 14. Then John's disciples came and asked him, how is it that we in the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? You know, I was reading this question again this week and thinking about how often Jesus is questioned about what he's doing. How often he is in a sense criticized for what he's doing. How often his actions are misunderstood. If you think about that as you read through the gospels, that is a very common thing in our Lord's life. How often he was questioned, how often he was misunderstood about what he was doing. And this is one of those occasions where John's disciples, this is not Pharisees now, this is John's disciples. John the Baptist disciples who come and say, you know, why are your disciples not fasting like John's disciples and like the Pharisees? Jesus brilliant answer, verse 15. Jesus answered, how can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, then they will fast. Now, we're not stuck right there and let's think about this for a minute. What does Jesus' statement teach us about fasting and by way of extension, any religious observance? What does Jesus' statement teach us about fasting? What do you think? Not a public thing, okay? All right, that is certainly true. Jesus will address that in other places as well where he says, you know, the Pharisees fast and make it look like, make it known, make sure everybody knows they're fasting. And he says, when you fast put on a happy face, don't look like you're suffering, make sure you don't communicate even non-verbally that you're fasting. Jesus will talk a lot about that. Fasting is a private spiritual discipline between you and God. Okay, what else do you think about fasting? What? Is there a time and a place for it? Yes. Jesus certainly seems to be saying that here. And there's a time and a place when it's not appropriate, right? Yeah. Okay, anything else come to mind when you think about what Jesus said here about fasting? Yeah, even the metaphor that he uses there about you don't fast while the bridegroom is with you. It does communicate joy, doesn't it? When there are situations of joy in your life, that's not the time for fasting. Fasting is for times of mourning, he says, when the bridegroom is taken away. So now let's dig a little deeper. What does that tell you about the purpose of fasting? What is what is fasting for? I'm sorry, go ahead. Time to meditate. Okay, I'm to meditate. Who else? That's a key. Has to be done for the right reasons. Okay, someone else said something. In times of sorrow, yes. That certainly seems to be at least in this case what Jesus is indicating about the proper time for fasting. Now there are other passages on fasting, particularly an extended section in Isaiah 58 that talks about different kinds of fasts, three or four or five different kinds of fasts mentioned there. But in this case, at least Jesus is saying, where the purpose of fasting is for times when you are sorrowing or could we say times when you're really spiritually burdened? What is the purpose of fasting anyway? I know it's been a while since we've talked about fasting as a spiritual discipline. What's the purpose of it anyway? Self-reflection, okay? Make yourself stronger spiritually? Yes, that's a really a major purpose of any spiritual discipline is to make yourself stronger spiritually. Draw closer to the Lord. Yes. I cannot be on the Lord. Acknowledging or need, certainly. Yes. Yes. Okay. All of what you've said about the spiritual implications and value of fasting, I think comes back to what Joe has said. The real purpose of fasting is that you are so concerned about something spiritually, that it is more important for you to spend time with God than it is to eat. So it really does come out of a time of great spiritual concern or sorrow or desire to draw closer to the Lord or as you've said spiritual reflection meditation, something that is causing you spiritual concern. Okay. And for you is more important to set aside something that may be a normal activity of life in order to pursue God a little bit more deeply in order to spend more time with Him in a little more concentrated reflective fashion. Okay. That's the purpose of fasting. And what Jesus is saying is fasting is not just a religious duty. That's the way the Pharisees did it. I mean, they did it good times, bad times, joyful times, sorrowful times, just because it was the regular set time for them to fast, that's when they would do it. Remember the Pharisee who prayed in the temple along with the public and I fast twice in the week. Okay. There were set times where they would fast and no matter what's going on, it was just a religious observance. At certain times of the week, you fulfilled that religious observance. Jesus is saying that's not what fasting is about. Fasting is for times when the bride room isn't with you. Fasting is for times when you are spiritually burdened, sorrowful, something is really on your heart that you need to cry out to God about. And so you give up a normal, ordinary provision or pleasure of life in order to spend some time crying out to God. Okay, that is a major purpose, the major purpose for fasting in the Bible. Is fasting still legitimate for today? Yes, for those reasons. Again, I don't see in the Bible the kind of fasting that is just a scheduled religious observance kind of thing, but certainly there's a time and a place for it. Okay. All right, great. Thanks. Let's move on to see what Jesus says by way of an overall principle in verses 16 and 17. He says, no one shows a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment for the patch will pull away from the garment making the tear worse. I am no seam, seamster. Would that be a male seamster? Is that what you'd call a male guy who, okay, I'm no, I'm no good at cloth at that kind of stuff. Okay. So does that kind of stand on its own? Do I need to explain that? That's clear. Okay. All right, ladies, thanks. I'm glad. All right, verse 17, neither do men pour wine into old wine skins. I must confess I have to complete ignorance here too. I just want you to know that. Okay. I figured if I said ignorance about the other, I better say about this one for sure. Neither do men pour new wine into the old wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst. The wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined. No, they poured new wine into new wine skins in both of preserve. I do understand a little bit of the cultural history here because wine skins were basically made out of animal skins. And if they had a little age on them and they had wine in them several times, they would tend to dry up and and kind of shrivel. And maybe crack if you put new wine into them, which was still fermenting and that process was still going on, the expansion process could cause an old wine skinned burst. Now, what do you think Jesus is talking about when he follows up this reference to the Pharisees kind of religious fasting compared to real genuine biblical spiritual fasting. With two examples that have to do with combining something old and new, what do you think Jesus is getting at? Out with the old in with the new. You know, that would be a good heading for your Bible right here. I think that's probably as good a way as any to say it. Out with the old in with the new. What do you think that means? What do you think Jesus is referring to here? Okay. I think we're on the right track there, Old Testament, New Testament, but it's even a little maybe a little more specific than that. Of course, we all know that Old Testament still has great value. A new dispensation. Okay. Steve. Law versus grace. Okay. I think we're getting really warm here. I think we're on the right path. Okay. Pharisees had a lot of older ideas about how things should be done. And basically what Jesus is Jesus is characterizing the Pharisees way of religion as the old piece of garment that's for aid and torn and the old wine skin that's that's ready to burst. It really does not serve its purpose anymore. He's he's referring to really the Pharisees kind of religion. And the Pharisees kind of religion was an aberration, a twisting of what the Old Testament really intended. It was not it was not Jesus was just saying the Old Testament laws bad. Obviously there is a difference now between the dispensations of law and and the church that he's going to be talking about here to some degree. But basically I think he's talking about what the Pharisees have done to the Old Testament by adding all of their traditions and all of that kind of stuff. And they've made their religion so rigid that if you put something new in it, it can't contain it. And what I've done is I've come to bring something new. Obviously I think he is talking about the new dispensation of grace and of the church. There's a new program going to be introduced. It's not going to fit in the old wine skin of Judaism. And it's not going to fit on the old cloth of Judaism. And particularly what the Pharisees have done to Judaism. The two are not going to fit. So I'm bringing something entirely new, he's saying, which will not fit in the old structures of Judaism. It's really kind of a first hint of the great change that's coming about after Jesus' death and the introduction of a new dispensation, the church. Okay, it's really quite an interesting way to put it. All right, any other question comments about that analogy or Jesus talking about the question of fasting and feasting? Yes. Good example in Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus is contrasting or comparing the Old Testament command and the way it was understood again by the Pharisees and the real meaning of the law that he has come to introduce. Yeah, you've heard it said, but I say unto you. Yes, Joe. Yes, I believe they were. He was just John. He wasn't really an Essene. The Essens were around, alive and around. And John was very similar to them in his kind of ascetic lifestyle out in the wilderness and that kind of thing. But the Essens were really people unto themselves. Didn't mix with the rest of Jews. Didn't even go to the temple or anything like that. John might be considered by some people to be kind of in that camp, but I think John the Baptist is still alive. He's not yet dead. That won't happen. I think until Matthew 14. If I remember correctly, but he's still alive. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. The Herodian temple, the symbol of Judaism, that's going to be destroyed within 40 years of this statement. It will be destroyed and the gospel will be what? That will be the new wine spreading throughout the world. Yeah. Good point. Okay. Anything else before we move on to the next? Okay. What is recorded next in the gospels is a series of three Sabbath controversies. Now, scholars have debated for years whether or not these are three consecutive Sabbaths. We don't really know for sure. Like this happened three weeks in a row. It's quite possible that these are three consecutive Sabbath day controversies with the Pharisees because they are all mentioned as the next events in the gospels. And they all happen very close together in this time period of our Lord's life. So it could be three consecutive weeks, but at least on three Sabbaths, they're going to be controversies with the Pharisees. And this after these three Sabbath controversies, the opposition against Jesus is set. I mean, it is in stone. It is. There's no turning back. There will not come a real defining moment of that till Matthew 12 and the what Jesus were for to is the unforgivable sin. But their opposition is really being hardened with these three Sabbath controversies. Okay. The first one we're going to look at is in John 5. And that is the healing of the man of the pool of Bethesda. John 5. This is in Jerusalem now. And so Jesus is leaving Galilee making a trip to Jerusalem. Verse 1 says, sometime later Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. We don't know for sure what feast this was. It's a major source of debate. There are three Passover's mentioned by name in the gospels. If this is a fourth one, then the ministry of Jesus is a little longer than maybe three and a half to four years. If there are only three Passover's, it's around three to three and a half years. So there's a lot of debate about that. But we don't really know what which feast it is, but it's a feast. Okay. It's one of the feast of the Jews. Just to remind you of where we are, there's the sea of Galilee, the province of Galilee. And Jesus will travel to Jerusalem right here in Judea for the feast. So he's going south to the capital city of Jerusalem. Now what happens when he gets to Jerusalem is verse 2. Now there isn't Jerusalem near the sheep gate. A pool which an air make is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. I want to show you a little bit about where this is in Jerusalem. Here's a diagram of the city of Jerusalem in Jesus time. This is north here. This is south, east and west. The temple area. Here's the temple courts. Okay. You'll recognize some of these Solomon's porch is the area along the outside of the temple. The actual temple proper. These these outside courts are areas where Gentiles could go. This is the temple proper where only Jews could go. And this is the actual holy place and holy of holies. The actual where the sacrifices were offered and so forth. Okay. So that's the temple. Here's the Mount of Olives over here. Garden of Gethsemane. Okay. Right up here. Here's the pool of Bethesda. Actually two pools as we'll see in a moment. Two pools just north of the temple mount. Okay. Let's look at another drawing a little different perspective but really the same type thing. Mount of Olives. Garden of Gethsemane. Kidren Valley. Here's the temple mount and here are the pools of Bethesda. All right. The next three pictures give you what they look like today. This is the archaeological expedition around the pool of Bethesda's area. And you can see it's pretty deep. Now please get some perspective here. The pool would not have been that deep. In Jesus day, remember we're talking almost 2,000 years later where civilization is built on top of the past 100 years and 500 years and whatever. So the pools would have been down in this area somewhere and all this has been built up since the first century. But you can see probably down in this area they've excavated down to the time of the first century. Be down the pool. Be down in this area. This all has been built up since then. You can see the size, the magnitude, the depth of this part of Jerusalem where the pools of Bethesda were. Okay. Next slide. This is a model of the city of Jerusalem. Which is that if I remember correctly the Holy Land Hotel on the outskirts of Jerusalem houses this to scale model of the city of Jerusalem in the first century. It is a fascinating site to see. You can walk all the way around the outside of it and take all kinds of pictures. This is the temple mount looking from the north. Okay. This is the north wall of the city. And this is a representation of what the city would have been like in the first century. This really would have been the city of Jerusalem in the first century. This would have been the outskirts. This wall added later. But here's the temple mount across this area would have been the mount of olives. So this is looking from the north right here are the pools of Bethesda. So you can see how close they would be to the temple area. Next slide shows it even better. Here's the temple area. There's the actual temple that where they would offer the sacrifices and Tony of Fortress. And then these are the pools of Bethesda. And this is as far as scholars can tell an accurate representation of what they would have looked like in the first century. Okay. So we're talking about these porch areas, two pools on two different levels. This was a very well known part of the city of Jerusalem in the first century. All right. Let's take a look at what happens. Verse three. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie. The blind, the lame, the paralyzed. If you have an NIV, New American Standard, ESV, you'll skip right to verse five at this point. You notice that. And if you have a marginal note at the bottom of your page, like I do, it gives you a little bit more of what's in verse three and verse four. After the word paralyzed is and they waited for the moving of the waters from time to time and angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each shuts disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had. Now the reason why that is not in some of your translations. How many of you were with us when we about a year ago studied the doctrine of the Bible. Okay. A lot of you were with us for the rest of you take this by faith. Okay. If you remember when you went through the doctrine of the Bible with us, we talked about the transmission of the text. How the text went from the original manuscripts down to where we have it today. There are manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, copies of the original documents that go way back to about the two hundreds, three hundreds, the earliest ones we have. When the King James Version was translated in 1607 to 1611, they used older manuscripts, most of them from the 13 and 14 hundreds. They did not have available the earlier manuscripts like we do today. The new international version, new American standard, ESV, most of the modern translations are based on the older manuscripts. In none of the older manuscripts, verse four is found. It's just in later manuscripts, it's how it got in the King James Version. If you remember from our studies, there are just a very few instances of that in the New Testament. And that's the reason why verse four is left out of most of the modern versions. Although it's put in a footnote, it does appear in some manuscripts, but none of the early ones. Most New Testament scholars believe that it was probably inserted by a scribe who was copying a manuscript to help explain verse seven. Okay, so let's pick up in verse five and read on. One who was there had been an invulner for 38 years when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time. He asked him, do you want to get well? Sir, the invulner replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. It's obvious that the people in Jerusalem, particularly the people who were sick and were at this pool, believed that an angel came down and stirred these waters, maybe how often once a year or whatever. And the first one in the water was healed. There's no indication that verse four, the explanation of that is actually found in any early copies of the New Testament. So it may not have actually been a part of the New Testament, the original copy, but it certainly represents what the people believed happened. Whether or not an angel really came down is open to debate, but it certainly represents what the people believed. Okay. Any questions about that before we move on to what Jesus does with this invulner, this man who cannot walk? When they were built, probably so, but I don't know. Yeah, there were, I know there were several pools, pool of salam, the stowa pool. There were other pools of water that were there in the city of Jerusalem. When they were built, I really don't know. I have to look that up. I don't know. I doubt that that would be in a study Bible note, but that probably could be found in some commentary or Bible dictionary or something like that. Now, I will say this that Solomon built a lot of pools in his day as he did a lot of construction around Jerusalem, but there are three large pools south of the city that are called Solomon's pools. And I've seen those. They don't have water in them today, but they are still almost in the same condition. They would have been in Solomon's time. They're huge. They built them for aesthetic purposes, but also for Solomon's pools were built three large holding tanks is what they were to then channel water into the city of Jerusalem. I don't think the pool of Bethesda was for that purpose, but I'm not real sure when it was built. The pool of salam was built for access to water. Hezekiah's tunnel brought water from a spring under the city walls into the pool of salam where water gathered there. That was a place where people got water. It was a water supply. But now the pool of Bethesda, I'm not sure what the original purpose for that was. Okay. Anything else? Let's see what Jesus does in verse eight. Then Jesus said to him, excuse me, well, yeah, verse seven, we've already read the envelope says, I don't have anyone to get me in the water. Then Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat and walk. Once the man was security picked up his mat and walked the day on which this took place was a Sabbath. And so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath, the law forbids you to carry your mat. Did the law of Moses forbid him to carry his mat? No. Again, this is an example. The law of Moses forbade any work on the Sabbath day. And obviously the intent is your normal occupation. There has to be a day of rest for you to stop your farming, tending to your animals. But the Pharisees said, now we have to define what work is. So work is and they develop all these categories. One of the categories was carrying burdens. And one of the categories under carrying burdens was carrying a mat. Okay. It shows you a little bit of how ridiculous it's called casual history or case law that the Pharisees developed extensively. Remember Jesus said you bind men's, you bind burdens on men's backs that you're not willing to carry yourself when he was talking about the Pharisees one time. This is an example of that. They had so many interpretations of the law that nobody could ever hope to know them all or live by them all. And this is an example. The law of Moses said nothing about carrying a mat. That was the Pharisees law. Okay. So they tell him you know law forbid you to do that. First 11, but he replied, the man who made me well said to me, pick up your mat and walk. So they asked him, who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk? The man who was healed had no idea who it was for Jesus and slipped away into the crowd that was there. Let me stop right there. In our last meeting, which was two weeks ago, two months ago, who can remember? But I think it was in our last meeting. A question was asked about are there any examples of healings in the gospels where there is no mention of forgiveness. There's no mention of faith. And I think on that night I had set my brain for 40 minutes and it was already 45 and so he did shut off already. And I couldn't remember anything. But this is a great example right here. There are several by the way, the healing of gyruses, raising of gyruses, daughter, the healing of the nobleman's son, others where there's no mention of faith or there's no mention of forgiveness of sin. But this is maybe the best example of all. This man doesn't even know who Jesus is, much less trusting. He doesn't even know who the guy was at telling to pick up his mat. So he has no clue who Jesus is. He has no clue that he's claimed to be the Messiah. All he knows is the man told him to pick up his mat and walk and all of a sudden he's healed and he can do that. This is a beautiful example of the main purpose of Jesus' healings and that is simply to serve as credentials of his message and ministry. This is just a work of power that serves to show who he is. Okay, so this man doesn't know who Jesus is. He's about to find out or at least get a little more information verse 14. Later, Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, see you are well again, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. Now what's involved there, we don't really know. Was this man involved in some kind of sinful activity? Was he an unconverted man who now that he was healed was starting to do some things? Who knows? We don't know. But Jesus warns him. He needs to deal with the spiritual need or something worse may happen to you, which obviously means God's judgment. Eternal judgment is worse than temporary even lifetime paralysis. Right? So that's what Jesus is referring to. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Okay, now I got his name. It's Jesus. And so he goes back and tells him it's Jesus. Now notice what happens and our time is up. But let's just notice this real quick. Verse 16. So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted. Now Jews here, obviously that's a reference to the Jewish leaders, the religious leaders. The average person in the street doesn't have any power to persecute Jesus, but the Jewish leaders do. Verse 17. Jesus said to them, my father is always at his work to this very day and I too am working in that one statement. There are two claims to deity. First of all, you're first to Jesus as my father, which the Jewish scholar, Joachim Jeremiah has said, no Jew would ever think of saying there's no no record of any of that in the Jewish literature. No one would think of calling God my father father, our father, maybe not my father. This was a special reference to the fact that I have a special relationship with God. That's claim to deity number one claim to the number two. I'm doing the same work he's doing. See, he's working and I'm working also. Obviously referring back to the healing. Verse 18. For this reason, the Jews tried all the harder to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, which was bad enough in their eyes, not only was breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father. And notice how they see that making himself equal with God. I mean, the Jews knew that to make that claim, my father was claiming a special relationship with God, which was basically the equivalent of saying, I'm equal to God. I am God. They knew that. And so they want to kill him because they think he's being blasphemous. So from this point on, and the next two Sabbaths, they're going to be more controversies with the Pharisees. The Pharisees' opposition is really hardening to Jesus. It's really becoming firm and settled. They are out to kill him now. They want him dead. And this miracle is the first evidence of that. Okay, our time is up. If you have other questions, maybe we can deal with those personally or you can bring them back with you next week. Okay? Let's pray.