John 5:17

Jesus defended Himself by stating that He was doing God’s work. The rabbis regarded God as working on the Sabbath by simply maintaining the universe and continuing to impart life. They did not accuse Him of violating the Sabbath. [Note: Carson, The Gospel . . ., p. 247.] Jesus, too, viewed God as constantly at work. Jesus claimed to be doing what God did. God did not suspend His activities on the Sabbath and neither did Jesus.

This was a virtual claim to deity. Jesus was claiming that His relationship to the law was the same as God’s, not the same as man’s. Moreover by speaking of God as "My Father" Jesus was claiming a relationship with Him that was unique from that of the Jews corporately. The work that Jesus had done was the same kind as the Father’s work. He provided deliverance and a new life for the paralyzed man as the Father provides salvation for those whom sin has bound. Obviously Jesus was arguing differently here than in the instances of Sabbath controversy that the Synoptics record.

"The most notable feature about Jesus in the Fourth Gospel . . . is the control He displayed over all persons and situations." [Note: Tom Thatcher, "Jesus, Judas, and Peter: Character by Contrast in the Fourth Gospel," Bibliotheca Sacra 153:612 (October-December 1996):448.]