To read the texts click on the texts: Ex 32:7-14; 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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