"Father and Son" John 5:16-30

In our first class, I led us in a pretty heady discussion of the Trinity: the historic Trinity (God the creator, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit at Pentecost), the eternal trinity (God always creating, always becoming love in the flesh and also indwelling and empowering people to do His purposes in the world. In this passage we have the internal version, the intra-relationship of the Father and the Son.

Our passage opens with Jesus claiming God as "my Father," that he was co-working with God. If Jesus was not who he said he was, then his opponents are right, he is either delusional or guilty of blasphemy. But Jesus doesn't back up at all. He goes even further stating that what God sees He sees and what God does He does (even giving life to the dead). To honor Christ is to honor God. Then he declares himself as the Father-designated judge.

Verses 24-30 are exultant and yet another summary of the themes of the gospel of John. Notice the dual dimension of eternal life: 1) crossing over from death to life upon belief) and then 2) being raised to life beyond the grave after death. Jesus is the ultimate judge and lifegiver. At the crucifixion, these words of Jesus become literally true as the graves open after Jesus cried out. Jesus is also pointing to the final coming of Christ, described similarly by Paul in I Thessalonians 4. Evem though as Protestants, we emphasize justification by faith and not works, this passage does say that our good and evil deeds will be judged and have eternal consequences. It seems that the letter of James helps us here when he says, "I will show you my faith by what I do." Our works don't get us into heaven, but they do give evidence of a genuine faith in Christ.

Later in John 17, the true Lord's Prayer, we will see more of this Father/Son relationship. But here we have a strong argument made by Jesus that he is uniquely and intimately related to God and his words and works are a reflection of God Himself. How do you deal with the role of Jesus as judge? And how are you allowing Christ to make you more fully alive?