Wednesday 23rd November
Read John 5:19-23
“Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,23 that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.” (NIVUK)
Jesus explains what ‘equality with God’ means in practice with four ‘for’ statements (clearer in the Greek). The first is that the Son does whatever the Father does (v19c). The second is that ‘the Father loves the Son’ (v20a). The third is that life in the Father is present in the Son (v21). The final reason is that all judgment has been granted to the Son in order that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father (v22). A lifetime can be spent thinking through what those four statements tell us about the relationship between the Father and Son.
In essence Jesus argues that the rights and privileges of the Father are fully and completely expressed in the actions of the Son. What the Son sees the Father do, He also does. He fully reveals the Father to the world – He perfectly expresses His character and nature. This is what ‘equality with God’ means in practice. As Jesus will later claim, ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9b).
Jesus can heal a paralysed man with a word, with nary a hint of faith from the unwell and incomplete man. The greater works the Son will show those who similarly don’t believe will include life from death. Unbelief will be challenged in truly marvellous ways! It is certainly difficult for a dead man to express faith, yet from the grave he will rise (John 11). This gift lies fully in the power of the Son, bestowed ‘to whom he is pleased to give it’, with immense grace.
We often think that all of this is done because of the love God has for us, for humanity. As important as we may be, we are but the secondary recipients of this grace – for ultimately it flows from the Son’s love for the Father and the Father’s love for the Son. We are called to marvel in awe and bask in the overflow of divine love.
