November 20, 2022
March 30, 2022
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
John 5:17-30
Jesus answered the Jews:
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.Jesus answered and said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
Nor does the Father judge anyone,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.
Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.“I cannot do anything on my own;
I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.”
This is after Jesus healed a man who had been trying for 38 years to be healed by the waters at Hebrew Bethesda. He was always stopped by someone moving into the waters before he could get his crippled body to the pool. So close – mere feet away – but so far because his body didn’t work properly. It was a Sabbath; Jesus chose to heal him against the man-made rules of no work on the Sabbath.
Jesus chooses to defend himself by explaining his relationship with the God the Father by calling God – Father. This really upsets the Jews. Just another bullet in the chamber for them in their case against him on his way to Calvary.
But they are convicted – as are we all – by the last thing here in the Gospel.
“I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”
Brothers and sisters, how often do we go completely against what Jesus is saying here? How often do we, ourselves, become the Pharisees? We don’t want to kill Jesus, but we do, at times, want to do what God does. We want to circumvent his will and take over his job.
We want to “judge” not justly, but rather judge according to OUR will.
In doing so, we become the Pharisees. Jesus, today, is just doing what Jesus does. He is telling us not to become the Pharisees but rather become a child of God.
At least that’s what I heard Him say…
What I Heard Him Say 