John 5:19-47 | 2 Timothy 3:14-15
We’ve come today to one of Jesus’ longer discourses in John. As you read it, you’ll hear Jesus talk about his (the Son’s) relationship with God the Father and various understandings of witness and testimony concerning who Jesus is.
Of note is how Jesus speaks of studying the Bible (“examine the scriptures”). It seems he’s challenging, chiding, or even provoking those listening to read the scriptures. More so, he’s inviting those who do to look within as a means of discovering him.
So often, maybe even too often, the Bible is used as a tangible tool of comfort. In one sense, this is good and well - the scriptures are indeed deeply full of encouragement and inspiration. Other times the Bible is used as a correcting stick. In one sense, this too is good and well - it is indeed useful for knowing the way to those boundaries necessary in living within God’s will.
But Jesus is telling us here that these things are secondary. The scriptures are first and foremost signposts on the way to knowing Jesus himself, which is to know God the Father himself, which is to know his will, which is to receive his comfort.
John 5:19-47
Jesus responded to the Jewish leaders, “I assure you that the Son can’t do anything by himself except what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he does. He will show him greater works than these so that you will marvel. As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so too does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. The Father doesn’t judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son so that everyone will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
“I assure you that whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and won’t come under judgment but has passed from death into life.
“I assure you that the time is coming—and is here!—when the dead will hear the voice of God’s Son, and those who hear it will live. Just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. He gives the Son authority to judge, because he is the Human One. Don’t be surprised by this, because the time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice. Those who did good things will come out into the resurrection of life, and those who did wicked things into the resurrection of judgment. I can’t do anything by myself. Whatever I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just. I don’t seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.
“If I testify about myself, my testimony isn’t true. There is someone else who testifies about me, and I know his testimony about me is true. You sent a delegation to John, and he testified to the truth. Although I don’t accept human testimony, I say these things so that you can be saved. John was a burning and shining lamp, and, at least for a while, you were willing to celebrate in his light.
“I have a witness greater than John’s testimony. The Father has given me works to do so that I might complete them. These works I do testify about me that the Father sent me. And the Father who sent me testifies about me. You have never even heard his voice or seen his form, and you don’t have his word dwelling with you because you don’t believe the one whom he has sent. Examine the scriptures, since you think that in them you have eternal life. They also testify about me, yet you don’t want to come to me so that you can have life.
“I don’t accept praise from people, but I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If others come in their own name, you receive them. How can you believe when you receive praise from each other but don’t seek the praise that comes from the only God?
“Don’t think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, the one in whom your hope rests. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because Moses wrote about me. If you don’t believe the writings of Moses, how will you believe my words?”
2 Timothy 3:14-15
But you must continue with the things you have learned and found convincing. You know who taught you. Since childhood you have known the holy scriptures that help you to be wise in a way that leads to salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Prayer
God,
Thank you for a new day. Thank you for breath, which is life and inspiration every moment. Thank you for the ability to get up and at it, to have purpose whether I’m watering a plant, driving a car, or fulfilling my responsibilities at work or in school. Thank you for the inspiration of the scriptures I read each day. It is good for me to have specific words to grasp rather than not knowing where to begin.
But all the more, thank you for relationship with Jesus. It’s even better to have a companion and empathetic person standing alongside me as I do this thing called life.
Help me to know him, hear him, and live according to his example. Even so, I’m not a 1st century male Jewish rabbi. So help me to know Jesus for today.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.