seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 5:16 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."
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Here's the link to the commentary I read. Seriously, go read the commentary I left out. It's good for you!
For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him: Remarkably, the healing seemed to make no difference to those who persecuted Jesus. All they could see was that their religious rule was broken, a rule that went beyond the command of Scripture itself.
“Inciting others to break the law (as they understood it) was worse than breaking it oneself. Therefore they launched a campaign against Jesus which was not relaxed until his death some eighteen months later.” (Bruce)
The absolute devotion to the traditions of man surrounding the Sabbath can’t be understated. For example, Deuteronomy 23:12-14 tells Israel to practice good sanitation when their armies are camped. Ancient rabbis applied the same principle to the city of Jerusalem, which they regarded as “the camp of the Lord.” When this was combined with Sabbath travel restrictions, it resulted in a prohibition against going to the bathroom on the Sabbath.
And sought to kill Him: The anger and hatred of the religious leaders is difficult to explain, apart from seeing that it had a spiritual root. They did not like Jesus, and therefore they did not like God the Father (but also said that God was His Father).
But also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God: The religious leaders did not miss the fact that Jesus claimed to be equal with God. They knew clearly that when Jesus said that God was His Father in this unique way, He declared Himself equal with God.
The Son can do nothing of Himself: Jesus explained that He, as God the Son, does nothing independently. He was and is fully submitted to the Father’s will. This submission comes by choice, not by coercion or by an inferior nature.
Relevant to the Sabbath controversy discussed in the previous verses, this was Jesus’ way of telling the religious leaders that He did not tell the healed man to carry his bed on His own authority; He did it in complete submission to God the Father in heaven.
He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel: The religious leaders were stunned by what Jesus told the formerly paralyzed man to do. Jesus here told them that they would see even greater works, ones that would make them marvel.
As the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will: Jesus used the work of resurrection as an example of the shared work of the Father and the Son. Here the Son has the power and authority to raise the dead and give life to them just as the Father does.
That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father: God the Father gave this work of judgment to God the Son so that people would honor Jesus as they should, and that they should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Failing to honor God the Son means that it is impossible for one to also honor God the Father who sent the Son.
He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life: Jesus explained to the astonished religious leaders that those who heard his word would have everlasting life. They would have the life connected with eternity, and have that life now.
Shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life: This is one aspect that is essential to everlasting life; to escape judgment for sin and to pass from the position of death to the position of life.
Has passed from death into life: “Has changed his country, or place of abode. Death is the country where every Christless soul lives. The man who knows not God lives a dying life, or a living death; but he who believes in the Son of God passes over from the empire of death, to the empire of life.” (Clarke)
The resurrection of life… the resurrection of condemnation: Jesus explained this to the astonished religious leaders to explain who He was, the nature of His authority and deity. At the same time, it tells us something remarkable about humanity; that everyone, both those who have done good and those who have done evil will live forever, far beyond the physical and material life they know on this earth in this age. Jesus will command them to rise on that day, in bodies suited for eternity.
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Those Pharisees and Sadducees had been hunting Jesus since Jesus made the venders and the money-changers in the Temple angry. The venders and the money changers must have been paying for the privilege of setting up shop in the Temple courts. Likewise, I'm pretty sure the venders and the money-changers expected a certain amount of security while they were ripping off the people. I wonder if the venders and the money-changers withheld their "donations".
In these verses, Jesus has really angered the Pharisees and the Sadducees by telling a paraplegic to get up, pick his mat, and go. The Pharisees and the Sadducees figured out Jesus was the horrible human who cured the man who had been laying by the pool for thirty-eight years to just stick a toe in the water that was supposed to heal him. Not only did this man Jesus tell the man to get up and carry his mat, Jesus had the audacity to heal someone on the Sabbath!
Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. How dare He! Who said He could do that?
Jesus told the Pharisees and the Sadducees that He was only doing what His dad would do. If His Father saw a man ailing, His Father would heal the man no matter what day of the week it was. Jesus said His dad taught Him everything He knows and to do otherwise would be foolish.
When Jesus saw the human laying there, helpless, no doubt stinking and nasty [they didn't have adult diapers back then], Jesus healed Him. The human didn't beg. The human didn't pray. Jesus saw an injured human and went to work just as His dad would.
Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. How dare He! Who said He could do that?
And on top of that.... Jesus said He could make humans come back to life. Jesus said He would judge people when their time is up.
Jesus didn't have to heal every ailment at the Pools at Bethesda. Jesus didn't have to heal the paraplegic. He could judge who He wanted to heal.
Jesus also said, there would come a time when everyone would be judged. Believers would live and non-believers would get the consequences they earned.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees didn't like Jesus. He let them know He is the Son of God. He let them know He outranked them!
On top of that, Jesus told them He would do what He would do. Jesus told them one day He would be judging those very Pharisees and Sadducees, themselves!
Who said He could?
