What does John 5:10 mean?
John often refers to "the Jews" in this book. This uses the Greek term Ioudaioi, and it refers to the religious leadership of Jerusalem. This mindset was dominated by the Pharisees, who took a legalistic, strict approach to the law of Moses. This involved adding layer upon layer of tradition, on top of the laws themselves. In the case of the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10), these laws included restrictions as specific as how many steps a man could walk on the Sabbath, where he could spit, and how much weight he could pick up.Jesus, however, has just healed a man, and ordered him to carry his bed and walk. This, according to the Pharisees, violated the commandment to honor the Sabbath by not working. At first, it would make sense for them to question the man. What makes less sense is their reaction to his answer (John 5:11). Rather than being amazed at the miracle, these men are upset at Jesus for healing on the Sabbath!
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus deliberately provokes the hard hearts of His critics. In the case of the Pharisees, this is often done by performing healing—or other works—on the Sabbath (Luke 4:31–37; 13:10–17; 14:1–6). Jesus seems to do this in order to show the hypocrisy and shallowness of their approach to God (Matthew 15:3–9).