John 5:16

16 And for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him: because he had done these things on a sabbath.

John 5:16 Meaning and Commentary

John 5:16

And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus
With their tongues, reproaching and reviling him, as a sabbath breaker, a destroyer of the law, and a sinful wicked man:

and sought to slay him;
either in a violent way, by setting the zealots, a sort of ruffians under the pretence of religion, upon him; or rather in a judicial way, summoning him before the sanhedrim, in order to condemn him to death for the breach of the sabbath, which by the law of Moses was punishable with death:

because he had done these things on the sabbath day;
because he had cured the man of his disease, under which he had laboured eight and thirty years, and had ordered him to take up his bed, and walk home with it on his back on the sabbath day. This drew upon him their resentment to such a degree, that they not only persecuted him with their tongues, but sought to take away his life. Nothing would satisfy them but his blood.

John 5:16 In-Context

14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.

16 And for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him: because he had done these things on a sabbath.

17 But Jesus answered them, My Father works until now, and I work.

18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.