“Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” (John 5:18 NKJV)

Jesus, moved by compassion healed a man who was lame for 38 years. A feat that surely was to be met with applause and joy, since someone had just had their suffering come to an end.

Everyone should have asked who was this Man who did such marvellous wonders, and then followed Him because that was surely a sign that he could be the Messiah.

Surely there was nothing negative to that whole event. Right? Well; you would have thought so…

But the pharisees thought it was more important that the man who was healed was found carrying his bed on a Sabbath, and that meant in their eyes that the One who performed the miracle should be put to death.

In one moment, it was no longer important that someone’s suffering of 38 years had just come to an end. It was no longer important that the Messiah had arrived.

After all, certainly someone carrying a bed was serious enough to kill the One responsible for the miracle (note the sarcasm).

The moral of the story is that even when you do good, there will always be someone who thinks you did a bad job (even though they just sat and did nothing).

Remember, if you don’t want to be criticised – JUST DO NOTHING.

Just ask yourself if that is the kind of person you want to be.