John 5: 19-20
“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. 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.’”
Having insulted the Jewish leaders by healing a man on the Sabbath and then adding insult to injury by causing him to carry his mat on the Sabbath, Jesus is openly persecuted by the Jewish leaders. John doesn’t quote them verbatim, rather he quotes Jesus saying God always works implying that God works on the Sabbath, too. The persecution of Jesus must have taken the form of angry words from the Jewish leaders. Jesus begins his response to them with today’s passage.
Jesus begins his response with humility: “…the Son can do nothing by himself.”
I suspect that even the most hard-line Pharisee would have to admit that Jesus was doing some pretty amazing things. Yet Jesus is arguing here that it is not really he who is doing these amazing works.
Jesus then goes on to say that he can only do, “… what he sees his Father doing…”
Q: So what does that mean? What is the Father doing?
Creating,.. perhaps,..every time we look at the universe it seems to keep growing,..God must have gotten sooo much joy out of creating the universe we call home that He just had to have more,,Christ was creating His church and since He is God in the flesh it’s all His in the first place,..just as we are His,..why should He or His disciples get in trouble for doing good,..sooo sad to see how love can be and is considered a crime,..when the truth is told out of love it seems as though it is always taken the wrong way,..it’s harsh to hear the reality of what is wrong in my life,..but to hear it from Jesus straight out of the bible it makes it that much more bearable to not only deal with but to understand and then come to know and love of what Jesus means in the bible,..Jesus means life to me,..Jesus means love to me,..Jesus means soo much more to me than any other words I can think of as to how much He means to me,..if that makes any sense,..God is certainly not done with me,..so He continues to work,.. and besides sanctification is a daily occurrence and so is picking up the cross to follow Jesus,..I hope that’s not considered dishonoring the Sabbath,..His mercy is new every morning,..keep smiling!
Jesus then goes on to say that he can only do, “… what he sees his Father doing…”
Q: So what does that mean? What is the Father doing?
1.) 1st, I believe Jesus could be telling us He can only be do what He sees His Father doing because He is one with His Father.
2.) 2nd, What is the Father doing? Holding everything together, giving life to His creation, every heart that beats is His work, sanity in the midst of insanity is God at work.
Ephesians 4:6
There is one God who is Father of all, over all, through all, and within all.
Colossians 1:15-17
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Ephesians 4:6 There is one God who is Father of all, over all, through all, and within all.
Love