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. John 5:16-23
According to v.16, in response to the Lord Jesus healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, the religious leaders persecute Him. In v.17, the Lord Jesus responds to the religious leaders of Israel by saying, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” Here, He is saying that He is on par with the Father, and they are livid.
According to v.18, "the Jews sought all the more to kill the Lord Jesus, because He not only broke the Sabbath, He also called God his Father, making himself equal with God." Due to their investment in the study of the word of God, these Jewish religious leaders should have been poised to recognize the Messiah. Yet, they missed Him. They missed Him because He didn't bow His will to theirs. Despite the fact that they had witnessed a man who had been lame for 38 years healed and made whole by the Lord Jesus. Their reaction to the Lord Jesus was that of disgust and anger.
Through the answer the Lord Jesus gives in v.19-23, we are given the key to discovering meaning in life. The key is finding out what God is doing in any context and cooperating with Him, as He does His work. In fact, the believer must be in the habit of entering a room and within his heart ask God, "how are you working here and how do I fit in with what you are doing?"
Through the answer the Lord Jesus gives in v.19-23, we are given the key to discovering meaning in life. The key is finding out what God is doing in any context and cooperating with Him, as He does His work. In fact, the believer must be in the habit of entering a room and within his heart ask God, "how are you working here and how do I fit in with what you are doing?"
In v.19, the Lord Jesus mercifully engages these hard-hearted, lifeless leaders in a conversation. In doing so, He leaves open the possibility that they may come to faith in Him as the God who created everything.
He begins by saying, "the Son can do nothing by himself." This statement gives us the first step in being in sync with God in this world. Here, we learn that a recognition that any effort made to use God's resources for our own benefit will leave us lacking substance, hollow and empty. But, when we yield our will to Him, the sky is the limit. It is at this point that we discover our greatest desire: the desire to bring glory to this One who has opened our eyes.
He begins by saying, "the Son can do nothing by himself." This statement gives us the first step in being in sync with God in this world. Here, we learn that a recognition that any effort made to use God's resources for our own benefit will leave us lacking substance, hollow and empty. But, when we yield our will to Him, the sky is the limit. It is at this point that we discover our greatest desire: the desire to bring glory to this One who has opened our eyes.
The Lord Jesus never chose to exercise His resources for His own benefit. God gives His resources to those who will not use them for their own benefit. That is one of the most profound secrets in the Scripture and in life. Jesus starts there: "the Son can do nothing by himself."
According to the latter part of v.19. the Lord Jesus gives us the key to walking in the Spirit. He says He observes the Father and follows suit. What we learn from His words and the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians is: Nothing comes from us, everything comes from the Father. And, we have the same relationship with the Father as the Lord Jesus. God's leading is like the wind on the sails of a sailboat. When we set our sail His wind will move us rapidly over the water, according to His will.
In v.21-23 we see the Lord Jesus' explanation of the "greater works" mentioned in v.20. His claim is life belongs to Him. He only loans it, for a while, to us. Our lives are not ours. We were handed it by God. He claims not only to possess the power to give physical life, but spiritual life as well. The Bible calls this spiritual life, "eternal" life, which is a quality of life that has the touch of eternity on it. It cannot be diminished by circumstances or ended by death. It is described by the Apostle Paul, in the book of Ephesians, as the life with the view from the spiritual realm.
The Lord Jesus alone has the power to give eternal life. Since the Lord Jesus gives "to whom he pleases," that makes Him the arbiter of the destiny of human beings: He is the Judge of all men. If the Lord Jesus gives us life, then we are on our way to a personal relationship with the Father which will culminate in heaven. If He gives us eternal life we will never taste the emptiness and awful loneliness of death. We will immediately have a fuller experience of life than we have ever had before.
The religious leaders were resistant to the Lord Jesus because they were not willing to bow their will to the will of God. They also were not ready for someone to capture their hearts to the point that they were willing to let Him make them uncomfortable. They did not want to be filled with an awe which is so captivating that would have led them to consider a wild, unpredictable and dangerous life worth living.
Unlike them, are we ready for the opposite of the dull and boring? Are we ready for a faith that is considered “dangerous” by our predictable and monotonous and self-centered culture? Let us set sail and ride off into the unpredictable, the scary, the unknown with a God who is worth the pursuit of our hearts.
Corrie Ten Boom put it this way, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
