They tried all the more to kill him for calling God his own Father. Today’s Gospel reading picks up from where we left yesterday. Jesus’ healing of the man by the pool side of Bethesda had not gone down well with the Jews. Not only had the healing taken place on a Sabbath, but the healed man had also broken one of the Sabbath laws by carrying his mat (as proof to his healing, Jesus had ordered the man to rise and pick up his mat). Upon hearing that it was Jesus who had performed the healing and ordered the man to “break” one of the Sabbath laws, the Jews began to harass him (vs. 16). In response to the Jews, Jesus situated his healing of the sick man within the on-going work of creation. If his healing of the man constituted a violation of the Sabbath because it was considered “work,” then Jesus did not have any regrets. He was glad that he was able to “work” on a Sabbath because God his Father is still at work. It was a claim that only served to upset the Jews the more. How could Jesus claim God to be his father? How dare he? 
Why were the Jews upset that Jesus referred to God as his father? By calling God as his father, Jesus was not only making himself equal to God (a blasphemy in itself), but he was also dethroning Israel. Up until then, the nation of Israel had been regarded both as God’s first born son and as God’s favorite. Had God not begotten Israel as God’s own son? Had God not elected Israel from among the nations of the earth and put her on a pedestal as a light to the nations? For Jesus to come from nowhere and lay claim as God’s son, there could only be two rational explanations: either God had sired another “beloved” son, which would then bring with it competition and doing away with Israel’s monopoly as God’s only son, or God had rejected Israel as God’s son. Whichever explanation it was, the Jews were not happy about it since it reminded them of the story of Saul’s rejection by God. Israel had failed, and Jesus had assumed the responsibility that had been given to Israel: of making God known to the other nations. 
It is in Jesus that the promises made to humanity through Israel are getting to be fulfilled. It is through Jesus that those who have not heard about God (those in the tombs) will hear God’s voice and be given life, for in the Son, the Father continues to create. Jesus was right to refer to God as his Father because God was dwelling in him. As a matter of fact, anything that Jesus was doing was not his own. It was the Father who was at work in him.