<p>5:16 <i>And for this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath</i>- Some manuscripts add &quot;and sought to kill him&quot; (AV). They were seizing upon the Mosaic commands to kill the Sabbath breaker (Ex. 31:15; 35:2). This is the blind anger of those who think their religious organization is the only one God recognizes, and cannot cope with someone operating successfully outside of it. The same mindset is still seen today within Christian groups. &quot;He did these things&quot; translates an imperfect tense in the Greek which suggests the Lord habitually did miracles on the Sabbath. He was certainly seeking to provoke the Sabbath issue with the Jews, because here most clearly, they had hijacked God's laws and made their own fences around them equivalent to Divine law, thus playing God.</p>