Building Blocks in John 5

1. John 5:17, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”*  God the Father and God the Son are united in the same occupation.

2. John 5:19, “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.”  Jesus is not a lone wolf.  He initiates nothing.  He submits to the leadership and authority of the Father.  Thus, Jesus models obedience for us.

3. John 5:20a, “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.”  Why does Jesus submit to the Father’s will?  Because the Father loves the Son and willingly teaches Him.  Likewise, the Father will joyfully teach us day by day to seek, learn, and do His will. (See Psalm 32:8)

4. John 5:20b, “Yes, and he [the Father] will show him [the Son] even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”  The greater things are: raising the dead; granting people eternal life; freeing them from condemnation; transferring them from death to life; and judging those who will be called forth from their graves.  Is anything greater than these!

5. Jesus concludes in John 5:30, “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”  Jesus’ super powers are subservient to the command of His Father. 

Although I had read the Gospel of John dozens of times, I had never taken such statements seriously.  I always imagined Jesus woke up every morning, made His plan for the day, and then did it, exercising His will and power as He saw fit.  

Yet, that is not what Jesus tells us here in John 5, is it?  He claims that every encounter, every conversation, every parable, every miracle, and every judgment are the Father’s ideas!

So, are you telling me, Phil, that when we read the Gospels, we should keep in mind that everything Jesus does and says originates from God the Father and then is faithfully obeyed by the Son?  

No, I’m not telling you to do that.  

But Jesus is. As He models submission to the Father, Jesus is showing us how we can live as God’s children. Reading the Bible is exciting as we detect the building blocks of life in Christ and allow them to collide with any false beliefs that are stunting our growth in Christ.