¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰ By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Jesus isn’t a life-coach— He’s the Source of Life.
Thoughts
- In-Your-Face Equivalence (16-18): We saw last week that God made Sabbath as a pattern for humanity—He doesn’t “take five.” [e.g. A Farmer’s Christmas]. The leaders pursue Jesus for doing these things on the Sabbath. Jesus shocks them: My Father actively maintains the universe, and I ‘m working right beside Him. Christ is Creator, but also Sustainer, of the cosmos. Col 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. The self-existent I AM, being uncreated (without beginning, and without end) needs no rest. Ps 121:4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
- Like Father, Like Son (19-20): The force of Jesus’ words Very truly I tell you (Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω \= lit. Amen, Amen I say) is buried in translation. At most, a rabbi might pronounce Amen, the Lord says - one amen only to assert a Word from God. Jesus intensifies (2x) and declares—unmistakably—not as one speaking on behalf of God, but as God Himself speaking. He draws on a scene from village life—a son working his trade beside his dad.
- The Source of Life (21-26): To experience the work of the Son is to experience the Father—cf. Joh 14:9 Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” To hear the Son is to be roused from spiritual deadness into the fullness of trinitarian life—the Father and son life picture that Jesus paints. Joh 1:9 pp. MSG The Life-Light was the real thing: / Every person entering Life / he brings into Light… But whoever did want him, / who believed he was who he claimed / and would do what he said, / He made to be their true selves, / their child-of-God selves.*
- He Frees Us to Do Good (27-30): Soon and very soon, we are all going to see the King. We waste our lives when we don’t live in this truth. Mat 24:37,38 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. The Good News is not a call to do what is good to be accepted by God. Instead, it is a call to grab hold of Christ’s work that has made us right with God: He lived the life that we should have lived, and died the death that we deserve. When the Spirit awakens us to call God “Abba, Father” we then seek what is good* not from the fear of His wrath, but from the overflow of His grace. [e.g., I-beam]
Reflections
- Today: where could you rest in the Father’s delight, rather than seeking His approval?
