Daily Reflections: John 5:16-30

John 5:16-30

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defence 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 honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour 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.

Monday 31^st October

Tuesday 1^st November

In verse 17 Jesus explained to the Jewish leaders that “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” Yesterday we reflected on how offensive it was that Jesus called God his Father but there was also a second liver blow of offense. Jesus is saying that he and the Father are at work to this very day. The Jews understood scripture through a certain lens. The Jews would understand Gen 2:2 as meaning that God rested from his work of creating and he remains in that sabbath rest until the present day. But Jesus is saying that he and the Father are at work and are working together. Jesus is doing what he sees his Father is doing. Jesus is healing on the Sabbath, so the Father is healing on the Sabbath. Jesus is working today, so this means God is not resting as you Jews might think, he is at work – he is on the move. I sense in these verses that the Jewish leaders would be so offended that their brains were probably on overdrive. All of us have God in some kind of box. We limit him to our understanding. Maybe we feel God is “resting” just now and not that involved. Let the words of Jesus challenge and encourage you. Let them blast apart that box of understanding. Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit are awake and alive today. They are working, they are moving, they are loving, they are revealing.

Wednesday 2^nd November

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 honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.

Jesus continues to bend the minds of the Jewish leaders and causes further offence. Jesus talks of judgment, resurrection, life and death. He is talking about the present but also an eschatological trajectory. He is now and will always be. He will judge at the end times.

We don’t really like to think of Jesus as a judge. Judgement sits uncomfortably. But isn’t it interesting how both the Jewish leaders and ourselves are often happy to make judgements. Jesus the Son has been entrusted to judge. He is an honoured judge. He is the judge who in that moment 2000 years ago had just healed a broken soul by the pool of Bethesda. He is the judge who was willing to be crucified for the least of us. He is the judge who reigns above us all just now and who is to come. A judge who causes some of us to honour him while others reject him. How do you respond to this entrusted judge?

Thursday 3^rd November

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.

Friday 4^th November

On first reading it is easy to interpret this passage in simplistic terms. The goodies go to heaven and the baddies go to hell. Or perhaps we are supposed to base our salvation on our good works after reading these verses. If I do a lot of good things I’ll go to heaven etc. But this is not the case. Perhaps it is helpful to be reminded of the verses in 1 John 4:19-20 “We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.”

We “do good” and we love others because he has first loved us. His love is not just a catalyst that gets things started but his love must be a constant flow in our lives. We are not actually able to love that well in our own strength. Our resources of love and own will power run flat before breakfast. What does it look like for the love of God to flow continually through us on this day. May this be a prayer. Jesus lives in a place not to please himself but to please the Father. We are invited into that place with Christ. Let’s stand in the flow.

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Sunday 6^th November