To read the texts click on the texts: Isa49:8-15; Jn 5:17-30
These verses contain the first discourse in the
Gospel of John. It is made up of many closely related themes. The Jews are
outraged that Jesus has healed on the Sabbath and in answer to this outrage
Jesus answers them in the following verses.
To the charge that Jesus was making
himself equal to God, Jesus answers that he as Son can do nothing apart from
the Father. He is completely dependent on the Father and merely does the
Father’s work. The Father reveals all that he does to his Son including raising
the dead and giving them life. Thus the Son shares in the life giving work of
the Father. The Son has also been given the power and authority to judge. This
implies that everyone is under the Son’s reign and rule, and thus must confer
on him the same honour that is conferred on the Father. The one who does not
honour the Son does not honour the Father since it is the Father who has sent
the Son.
To hear the Son’s word and believe in God opens the
gift of eternal life. The alternative is judgment. This judgement will be based
on the response to the Son in the present. Those who accept him and do good
will be granted the resurrection of life whereas those who reject the Son and
thus do evil will go to the resurrection of condemnation. The now will
determine the later, the present will determine the future. This part of the
pericope ends with an idea expressed earlier namely that the Son can do nothing
on his own and will do nothing on his own, because he seeks only to do the will
of his Father.
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