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John 5:17-30

Jesus answered the people: My Father is still working even now, and so I am working. 18For this cause the Jews had an even greater desire to put Jesus to death, because not only did he not keep the Sabbath but he said God was his Father, so making himself equal with God. 19So Jesus made answer and said, Truly I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything himself; he is able to do only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does the Son does it in the same way. 20For the Father has love for the Son and lets him see everything which he does: and he will let him see greater works than these so that you may be full of wonder. 21In the same way, as the Father gives life to the dead, even so the Son gives life to those to whom he is pleased to give it. 22The Father is not the judge of men, but he has given all decisions into the hands of the Son; 23So that all men may give honour to the Son even as they give honour to the Father. He who gives no honour to the Son gives no honour to the Father who sent him. 24Truly I say to you, The man whose ears are open to my word and who has faith in him who sent me, has eternal life; he will not be judged, but has come from death into life. 25Truly I say to you, The time is coming, it has even now come, when the voice of the Son of God will come to the ears of the dead, and those hearing it will have life. 26For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to be judge because he is the Son of man. 28Do not be surprised at this: for the time is coming when his voice will come to all who are in the place of the dead, 29And they will come out; those who have done good, into the new life; and those who have done evil, to be judged. 30Of myself I am unable to do anything: as the voice comes to me so I give a decision: and my decision is right because I have no desire to do what is pleasing to myself, but only what is pleasing to him who sent me.

Food for thought

Today's Gospel is about Jesus' answer to the Jews' charge that he was making himself equal to God. He lays down three things about his relationship with God.
(i) He lays down his identity with God. The salient truth about Jesus is that in him we see God. If we wish to see how God feels to men, to women, to children, to the young, to the old, if we wish to see how God reacts to sin, if we wish to see how God regards the human situation, we must look at Jesus. The mind of Jesus is the mind of God; the words of Jesus are the words of God; the actions of Jesus are the actions of God. Jesus is God in human flesh; He is Emmanuel, God with us.
(ii) This identity is not so much based on equality as on complete obedience. Jesus never did what he wanted to do but always what God wanted him to do. It is because his will was completely submitted to God's will that we see God in him. Jesus is to God as we must be to Jesus.

(iii) This obedience is not based on submission to power; it is based on love. The unity between Jesus and God is a unity of love. We speak of two minds having only a single thought and two hearts beating as one. In human terms that is a perfect description of the relationship between Jesus and God. There is such complete identity of mind and will and heart that Father and Son are one.

But this passage has something still more to tell us about Jesus.
(i) It tells us of his complete confidence. Jesus is quite sure that what men were seeing then was only a beginning. On purely human grounds the one thing Jesus might reasonably expect was death. The forces of Jewish orthodoxy were gathering against him and the end was already sure. But Jesus was quite certain that the future was in the hands of God and that men could not stop what God had sent him to do. That is what we must know: God has a plan for each one of us; we do well to let him lead us where he wills.

(ii) It tells of his complete fearlessness. That Jesus would be misunderstood was certain. That his words would inflame the minds of his hearers and endanger his own life was beyond argument. There was no human situation in which Jesus would lower his claims or adulterate the truth. He would make his claim and speak his truth no matter what men might threaten to do. To him it was much more important to be true to God than to fear men. We need this kind of confidence and determination Jesus had because many times we follow and fear men than God; we sacrifice our God-given convictions and vocations because we fear what men will say and do to us; we respect more the people than God!!

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