John Chrysostom
Catena Aurea · Johannesevangelium 7
did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision: (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers:) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
(Hom. xlix. 2) The Jews brought two charges against Christ; one, that He broke the sabbath; the other, that He said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. The latter He confirmed first by shewing, that He did nothing in opposition to God, but that both taught the same. Then turning to the charge of breaking the sabbath, He says, did not Moses give you a law, and none of you keepeth the law? as much as to say, The law says, Thou shalt not kill, whereas ye kill. And then, Why go ye about to kill Me? As if to say, If I broke a law to heal a man, it was a transgression, but a beneficial one; whereas ye transgress for an evil end; so you have no right to judge Me for breaking the law. He rebukes them then for two things; first, because they went about to kill Him; secondly, because they were going about to kill another, when they had not even any right to judge Him.