This was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. John 5:16
When the man Jesus healed by the pool took up his bed and walked, he was challenged by the religious leaders of the day for carrying a load on the Sabbath day.
Then the man reported that it was Jesus who told him to do it, so the religious authorities went after Jesus with the accusation that he was breaking the Sabbath.
The Sabbath day was instituted in the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…” (Ex. 20:8-10).
But the principle of the Sabbath went all the way back to Creation, where God rested on the seventh day. In six days, God did his marvelous work of creation and on the seventh day God rested from his work of creation, because his work of creating was completed. It did not mean that God ceased from all activity.
God’s people clearly understood that God was exempt from his own Sabbath law. How else could the universe continue? The sun rises and the rain falls by God’s power and command. So it was commonly understood that while everyone else rested on the Sabbath, God alone was working. Only God works on the Sabbath.
What does the fact that God works on the Sabbath tell us about him?
