To read the texts click on the texts: Exod32:7-14; Jn 5:31-47
The text of today contains
the second part of the discourse of Jesus in response to the outrage of the
Jewish leaders because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. It can be seen to be
divided into two parts. The first part speaks about the witnesses John and the
Father who testify to Jesus’ claims and the second part about the rejection of
Jesus and the unbelief of the leaders.
The witness that Jesus
offers is not his own since no one can legitimately or validly bear witness on
his own behalf. The first witness Jesus mentions here is John the Baptist who
in the Gospel of John is portrayed more as a witness rather than as a precursor
or Baptist as he is in the Synoptic Gospels. In witnessing to the truth John
witnessed to Jesus since Jesus is the truth. However, John was a mere lamp and
not the light so though his testimony is true there is another witness far
greater than John and that is the works that Jesus has accomplished after being
sent by the Father. “Works’ here seems to refer not just to the miracles that
Jesus worked but to the whole of his ministry. These works are the works of the
Father and so bear witness to him and to the relationship that Jesus shares
with him as Son. Since Jesus as Son does what God as father commands him to do,
Jesus completes the Father’s own works. The third witness is the Father
himself. God himself cannot be seen, yet, he has been made visible in Jesus and
the Jewish leaders have refused to believe the God made so visible.
The scriptures also testify
on behalf of Jesus and though the leaders search and study the scriptures
because they seek life, they refuse to believe what they learn there, namely
that Jesus is the one who gives life and life in abundance. This is because
they are unable to distinguish truth from falsehood. It is not Jesus but Moses
himself who will accuse them of unbelief. This is because Moses also testified
to Jesus and despite his testimony, they have refused to believe. If one
believes what Moses wrote, one has to believe in Jesus, there is no middle
ground here.
It is not easy to believe in
Jesus, because such a belief calls for a radical change in one’s life’s orientation.
Belief in Jesus will mean a movement from selfishness to selfless, domination
to service and fear to love and not many are inclined to make this change. Most
of us are content to live our lives insulated from others and preferring to
live as islands rather than as community. We pretend not to know who we are and
what our calling is. It seems easier this way. However, as the Gospel text
makes clear there is no middle ground and if one is not willing to live the
kind of life that Jesus invites us to as his disciples, then one is a
non-believer.
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