After many miracles, such as the ones explained in my previous post, Jesus continues with his quest and mission of spreading the word of God. He surprised many people, but as well, he created enemies; the Jews. The Jews grew angry with him after he tried to cure a man at the pool of Bethesda. But why did they feel so much hatred for him if he was only trying to help someone? The problem was that Jesus committed a sin by breaking Sabbath. For us Jews, Sabbath is something sacred and knowing that one broke it, would be taken as an offense. It is a total misdeed for one to do this, and it is unexpected for one known as so sacred and right to break it. It is upsetting and totally disappointing that Jesus did this. But after all, I am Jewish and this is only what I think.
Surprised that Jesus had done this, the Jews began to persecute him. "After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him." (John 7: 1) How could Jesus be the son of God if he is sinning every now and then? This is a question that was spread by the Jews in those times, or at least that's what they were really wondering. The breaking of Sabbath did not only happen once, but it continued for other various times. Jesus kept on curing people but he did it by ignoring the concept of Sabbath completely, and as this continued, the Jews got more and more furious. The madness accumulated and it came to a point in which the beneficial side of the curing was no longer even considered. Jesus gave back the sight to a man that was born with blindness. With no doubts, this is seen as a miracle but taking into consideration the fact that it was done during Sabbath, it no longer is. I would like to recall that I am not trying to offend Jesus and much less discriminate Christianity. I am just sharing my point of view of the story as the person that I truly am. Maybe when reading my post, you will think I am a racist, but that is completely wrong. Put yourself in my position and now try to interpret the story. Hard right? For me, my religion goes first and the importance of Sabbath may not be understood by all of you since you don't follow it. So lets try to analyze both points, since I can also understand the Christian perspective of the story. I would say that Jews were terrible by persecuting Jesus in such manner, since what he was only tying to do was help those in need. He was trying to impress others in order to make them believe that he was the son of God and for them to follow his word.
"This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath. "But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." (John 9: 16-17) I had previously said how many might have made conclusions that Jesus wasn't the son of God, since he didn't keep the Sabbath. In this quote, this is actually confirmed and you can see how it completely makes sense. Others were also wondering that how could a man that sinned so much, do such miracles. Jesus had created a whole topic of controversy that could have remained unclear forever. Many thought of him in one particular way that sounded absolutely ridiculous to others. But those that were cured saw him as a prophet. Sad that no Jew could have been cured in Sabbath in order to have changed things up a little. A little? Actually a lot. Think of it in this way: If Jesus didn't cure during Sabbath, there had never been such a problem, and if Jews could have been cured during Sabbath, they would have thought of it differently. So why did things happen in such complicated manners?
There are two ways of interpreting this story. Those two sides would be that of the Christians and the one of the Jews. I can see how both make sense and how they can each be discussed. The Christians obviously thought of him as the son of God and they couldn't see why the others didn't believe in him as what he was. They couldn't understand how they denied Jesus after all the miracles that he had performed in the Lord's name. Why did the Pharisees think that an evil person could perform actions of such good?
Then, comes the side of those Jews. They were all wondering and found it ridiculous that the son of God, the most powerful and correct being in the world, committed sins. Why did someone that knew everything as it should be and what was good to do and what wasn't, do such bad acts? This is why they didn't believe that Jesus was God's son and they kept on denying him.
However, they never came to agreements and the different "groups" weren't able to convince one another. They tried to stone Jesus various times, but he kept on resisting and never gave up. Why did he do this if he knew that there was nothing he could do and he wasn't going to be able to convince them? After all, what he really wanted was to continue with his mission no matter the obstacles he had to confront. He had been prepared for everything to come. "Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." (John 13: 1)
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