Thoughts from John 5

When you read from the passage, listen for the trial that takes place.

Jesus heals a man paralyzed for 38 years, but on a Sabbath. In those days, in that land, it was against the law to engage in the healing arts on the Sabbath so the authorities pursue Jesus to bring him to justice, as they see it. As they later interrogate Jesus about the matter, Jesus points out (7:22) that even they themselves set aside the Sabbath law in order to perform circumcision, so why can’t he perform healing on an entire body? Rather than to acknowledge their own inconsistency, or even to provide a rational answer for their practice, they decide to kill Jesus because he called God his Father, making himself equal with God. 5:18.

In this event, we see Jesus’ true love for people in trouble. He does not care what happens to himself, but he acts on their behalf whatever the cost to himself. If helping a paralyzed man causes Jesus grief from the authorities, so be it. Jesus will help just the same.

Jesus now continues to speak of healing, but he takes the discussion from healing a physical body to healing the human spirit, the soul, the inner being of persons. He now speaks of life beyond this world: he speaks of resurrection after death.

If people are impressed by Jesus’ healing of a paralyzed man (and we are!), then what will they think when they see the dead raised to life? What will they think when they see Jesus himself raised from the dead to rise into heaven to be with God? Jesus makes the claim that God has given him power and authority to give, not only healing, but life itself!

Whoever hears Jesus’ word, and believes in God who sent him, has eternal life. Jesus gives to that person eternal life right now! It is so immanent, so real, that the person does not come into a future judgment or condemnation, but the person passes from death into life (5:24). Jesus further emphasizes the certain future: Oh, Yes! there will be resurrection. All the dead -- every dead person who from time immemorial ever has lived and has died and has decayed into the dust of the earth – all will hear the voice of Jesus calling them to life.

Those who have done good will rise to life, that is, to eternal life; those who have done evil will rise to judgment, that it, to condemnation. (If this cataclysmic event took place today, in your own estimation which would be your own end: life or condemnation? Have you done good or have you done evil?)

We note Jesus equating doing good with hearing his words and believing in the God who sent him.

The authorities, as we have seen already in earlier passages, have a great concern for Jesus’ own authority. Who gives him permission to come into the temple, to bring a quick end to religious commerce, to stop the making of money off people in the name of God? Who gives him permission to break the Sabbath laws? Who gives him permission to encourage others in breaking the Sabbath laws?

Before giving a listing of authorities who support him, he affirms that he does not make decisions from himself, but that every decision he renders is the will of the Father who sent him. He does not judge, except as he hears. 5:30. He agrees that he does not have the right to simply decide for himself, so he will not offer his own person, that is, his own personal right to make decisions, as an authority source.

Jesus offers five sources for the authority vested in himself. 5:30-47.

The picture Jesus draws is that of a trial. Are you hearing it already? In this trial, Jesus stands accused of impersonating an authority he reputedly does not have. Jesus serves as his own defense counsel, the religious authorities serve as the jury. Jesus calls a number of witnesses to the stand to testify in his behalf, and they do testify overwhelmingly in favor of Jesus. Incredibly, however, the jury will not hear the witnesses’ testimony.

So, first he reminds them of John the Baptist, whom the people believed to be a prophet of God. 5:31. Jesus reminds the authorities that John, about whom they themselves had inquired, had born witness to Jesus. But then, Jesus says he does not really need John’s authority; he does not need authority from a human being to do the works he does.

This brings Jesus to his second source of authority: The very works he does bear witness to his authority. 5:36. The works Jesus does are twofold. On the one hand, he means the miraculous deeds (changing water into wine, healing a child long distance, giving walking legs back to a man paralyzed, and so on). On the other hand he means the teachings he gives, and the actions he takes such as cleansing the temple with impunity. He says these works are given him by the Father.

Indeed, the Father himself is Jesus’ third witness. 5:37. The challenge here, however, is that the authorities have not listened to God. They do not have God’s word abiding within them. This “not abiding” should not be confused with inability to quote the words of God. It is, rather, a heart that all the while knowing what the words are, will not yield to the truth of those words.

Nonetheless, the fourth witness to take the stand is Scripture, the Bible itself. 5:39. Scripture bears witness to Jesus but the religious authorities will not listen. The irony in the matter is that these religious authorities study the Scriptures all the time, they “know” them inside and out. But they cannot see the forest for the trees. Jesus says that these religious authorities “search the Scriptures thinking that in them they have eternal life.” Unquestionably, the Scriptures speak of eternal life. The religious authorities think that by being able to read or to memorize the Scriptures, that by this knowing and by this memorizing they have attained eternal life.
However, Jesus turns all this on their head to say that the Scriptures stand as a testimony to something other than their own righteousness, namely, to himself. They, the Scriptures, do not have life in themselves, but they point to where life is: life is in Jesus, the Son of man, son of the Father, the Messiah.

And this heralds the fifth and last witness to the stand: Moses. 5:46. Moses had lived centuries earlier and stood as a major contributor to the writing of the Scriptures. The law of God had been handed down to the people through him. The record of God’s dealings with the people until they came to the Promised Land had been kept in the main by Moses. Moses was rightly known as God’s outstanding prophet until the very day of Christ Jesus. The religious authorities sought to find in Moses’ writings everything that they needed to know in order to live.

But the religious authorities will not hear what Moses wrote about Jesus. Consequently, Jesus points out, he, Jesus, will not accuse these religious authorities before God, but the very Moses on whom they set their hope will accuse them before God, because they did not receive the written witness of Moses himself. The words on which they had set their lives for study, but words which they would not hear, those words written in the earlier ages, those words which they had memorized, those very words would stand to accuse against the religious authorities, because these religious authorities would not listen to those words and believe in the Christ of whom those words spoke.

Jesus, no longer a defendant, but a judge in a different trial, renders a decision, the religious authorities suddenly on the defense. Jesus’ conclusion of the matter: Why will these people not listen? His judgment is quite harsh – because they do not have the love of God in themselves. 5:42.

Here is the key to hearing God: having God’s love within.

Now, what does “having God’s love within” mean? In the clear context here, Jesus provides the fundamental answer: He contrasts between seeking glory from God and seeking glory from men. To have God’s love within means that the core of one’s life pursues God’s approval, rather than to find approval from the world's authorities. It means that in the work place, at home, in private time, a person’s activity and thought turns on the will of God. It means a most excellent quality commitment to the pursuit of God’s will in one’s life.

Against this backdrop, the religious authorities pursuing Jesus have interest in making each other happy. They give each other little gold stars, so to speak, when they please one another religiously. How can you believe God, Jesus asks, when your interest is to receive glory from one another, but you do not seek the glory from the only God?

So, we find the foundation problem in the gospel of John to be fear of finding disapproval among one’s peers, to look for glory from this world, rather than to receive Jesus and the glory that comes from God through him. 5:41-44.

There is another trial now. Jesus is on trial before you. He has given you the evidence. You are the jury. Will you believe the evidence Jesus provides, or will you reject his evidence?

Come to Jesus! John the Baptist pointed to him, the works he performed testified that he is from God, God himself speaks to Jesus, the Scriptures point to him, that ancient prince of Egypt, Moses, wrote about him. Come to Jesus and find favor with God, find glory from God no matter what else may happen in this world. Because when this world is done, and all your friends are dead, and all their glory has died with them, there is only one who can call your dead self back to life to dwell in eternity, Jesus, the Christ of God. Do not be unbelieving so as to face a resurrection of condemnation. Come to Jesus, and find glory beyond this world throughout eternity!