Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath,

so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! It’s illegal for you to pick up your mat.”

Honoring the Father and the Son

Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill Him: Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

“Consider this: Moses has given you circumcision—not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers—and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won’t be broken, are you angry at Me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath?

The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.

Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He doesn’t keep the Sabbath!” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.

Jesus’ Side Pierced

Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special day). They requested that Pilate have the men’s legs broken and that their bodies be taken away.