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Commentaries
English
John
  
21Jesus answered them, "I did one deed, and you all marvel at it.22Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man upon the Sabbath.23If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?24Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."


Jesus did not directly reply to the Jews’ charge that he had an evil spirit, but showed the crowd gathered that the sentence passed on him of death was a trivial one and unjust. He reminded them that the leaders’ judge against him was due to his healing of the cripple at Bethesda on the Sabbath. That day Jesus ordered him to take up his bed and go home restored. This was a great wonder, and that miracle deserved a dismissal of the charge against him.
Then Jesus affirmed that the legal experts had themselves not kept the law perfectly. This law has its contradictions: Circumcision is the sign of the covenant with God, while the Sabbath speaks of fellowship in the rest of the Holy One. People had to circumcise their children on the eight day after birth, but this might fall on the Sabbath. Is not the circumcision a work?
Since illness is deemed a result of sin, the cure meant salvation, body, soul and spirit. Thus Jesus urged people to use their minds, to distinguish a service of mercy from circumcision on the Sabbath, which was more vital? He thus used logic as a means of awakening them to grasp the measure of his love and power and salvation. The effort was in vain; their ears were deaf and their spirits hardened – a just decision and good judgment was impossible for them.