The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.
All Commentaries on John 5:10 Go To John 5
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
The Jews therefore, &c. As Nonnus paraphrases, "Clamorously they uttered an accusing charge, "It is the Sabbath, which every one ought to keep wholly in rest: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed."" Speaking generally, they say the truth; for among the Jews it was a matter of the highest obligation to keep the Sabbath. All work was then forbidden, as appears from Exodus 20:8. And especially the carrying of burdens on that day is forbidden by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 17:21, &c.). Christ, however, here says the contrary to the sick man whom He cured, because Hebrews , being Lord of the Sabbath, could dispense with its obligation. Moreover, what was forbidden by the Law upon the Sabbath was servile work, not a pious and Divine work like this. Christ bade the man who was healed take up his bed that the crowds of people who were flocking into the Temple on the Sabbath might become acquainted with the miracle, and acknowledge Jesus, its author, to be the Messiah, giving Him thanks.
