Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.  John 5:24 

John 5:18–29 – That You May Believe
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time  – November 17, 2024 (am)    

As human beings, there’s nothing we’re more devoted to than the preservation of our lives. So, there’s nothing in this world we fear more than death. Even Scripture says so. After affirming that we’re all flesh and blood (Heb.2:14), the writer of Hebrews wrote that 2:15 … [Jesus] likewise partook of the same things (flesh and blood), so that through His Own death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. That’s you and me!

There’s almost nothing we wouldn’t do, no price we wouldn’t pay, to preserve or extend our lives. According to the most recent statistics on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website, Americans spend $4.5 trillion annually on healthcare. That’s averages out to $13,493 per person, $53,972 per family of four. That’s 17.3% of our country’s Gross Domestic Product. And that’s just medical costs. That doesn’t count the safety products we purchase to protect our lives, the features we add to our cars, the services we include on our phone plans, or the devices for our homes, the unique foods we select, our gym memberships, and so on.

But the one thing average Americans won’t give up in their efforts to preserve or extend their lives is their perceived autonomy, their self-determination. They won’t bow in repentance and faith to the true and living God through His Son, Jesus Christ. This might sound like a bait-and-switch subject, but I don’t believe it is. The one thing people won’t do to gain or preserve life is to begin living it for someone else. That’s very much related to why there’s such a dispute in our nation on the topic of abortion. But that’s only tangentially related to our subject today. Here we’re just noting that the average American won’t live their life for Someone else even if that Someone can promise them eternal life. That’s amazing!

But that’s what we see in today’s passage as Jesus begins speaking deep and rich theological truths to those who were present there in Jerusalem when He healed the thirty-eight-year invalid (1-9a) on the Sabbath (9b), telling him to get up, take up [his] bed, and walk (8). The Jews challenged this man for doing so (10-12), then turned their attention toward Jesus once the man had identified Him (13-15). They were angry with Jesus. 16 And this was why [they] were persecuting [him], because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them with a statement that’s pretty hard for us to understand. But these people surely understood it. And it made them even angrier! He said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” What does He mean? We’ll explore that in today’s text. But first, just look how it immediately escalates this situation. 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him—from persecution (16) to execution (18) in two verses!—because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was doing something even worse, he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. And that was an accurate read! But now Jesus begins to explain Himself. And in the process, He makes some absolutely mind-boggling statements, and promises, that should land as almost too good to believe to anyone who hears them!

Let’s listen in. We’ll track this passage under two headings.

Jesus Addresses His Relationship with His Father – 18-24

19 So Jesus said to them, explaining His statement (17),“Truly, truly, I say to you, the first of three ἀμήν statements (19, 24, 25), they anchor this section, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. The Son, God though He is (1:1), never deviates from the Father’s plan. His obedience is perfect. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. The Father hides nothing from the Son; that even covers the Son’s not having knowledge of the day and hour of the His return (Mat.24:32). That is part of the eternally agreeable plan and purpose of God held in perfect complement by all three Persons of the Trinity (cf. Carson 1994 146-162). And greater works than these will [the Father] show [the Son], so that you (the Jews who were angry with Jesus) may marvel. What greater works could they see than the one they just saw (2-9a), the healing of that thirty-eight-year invalid? John will narrate several more in the chapters ahead, leading up to the raising of Lazarus (11:1-44), which he may’ve had in mind here. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The same life-giving quality that is part of God’s very nature, one of His attributes displayed in His creation of the world when He Gen.2:7 … breathed into [Adam’s] nostrils the breath of life, and [made him] a living creature, Jesus has that same ability, that same attribute, nature, which was also displayed at creation, because, 1:3 … without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And just like there are some things that are characteristic of the Father alone, even though both the Father and the Son are God, there are some things that are characteristic of the Son alone. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, and He did this for a particular purpose, so 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father, so that all may recognize that the Son is also God, and so honor Him—worship Him and obey Him as God, just as they should. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. You cannot truly honor God without honoring His Son, Jesus, just as He presents Himself here, as fully God and yet God-the-Son, sent into the world as the perfect Self-expression of God. This is the only Jesus Who can connect us with God. If you understand Jesus to be anything other than God Himself, worthy of worship, your Jesus can’t save you! Only this One can. Heb.1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Col.2:9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And He 4:42 … is indeed the Savior of the world. So, Jesus finishes this thought saying: 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. Are you listening? Jesus said [whoever hears my word and believes…] does not come into judgment, he will not die for his sin (3:16), but has passed from death to life.

By accepting and receiving Who Jesus is, we receive that which we desired most even before we met Him—life! And as we entrust our lives to Him, and live for Him, in agreement with Who He is as presented right here, we’re drawn into this circle of fellowship with God Himself—with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—Whom we quickly love even more than life! That’s what Jesus is telling these people, and us through them!

Jesus Addresses His Role in Resurrection and Judgment – 25-29

But there’s more, the third and final ἀμήν statement. And it gives us some rich truths as well. 25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here—the now-and-not-yet categories we’re becoming so familiar with; there’s something we’ll receive in the future that, in some senses, is already here—25 … an 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. Jesus is talking about resurrection from the dead—not just unending life but return to life after death! This is truly beyond our imagining! Who wouldn’t want this? Why would anyone refuse this offer? And for those of us who’ve received it, how could sharing this message ever grow old or stale or awkward? We’re telling people it’s possible for them to have life, right here and now! And even though it’s necessary for this body to die (it’s pretty compromised by the cruel hardships it endures in this sin-wrecked world), its death will be a momentary experience. At the moment of death, we’ll immediately be free of this body and awaiting a new one at a coming hour—a body that will literally endure forever because it won’t be compromised by sin—and we’ll live in that body in a world that’s similarly remade. We’ll be free forever of all the things that wreak havoc on us, body and soul, in this world! This is what Jesus is telling the Jews who just saw Him heal a thirty-eight-year invalid! (2-9a) There’s a form of resurrection that’s now here, when we trust in Who Jesus tells us He is here. It happens when He gives the Holy Spirit as a Gift to those who believe (14:15-17). He’ll do that after He dies on the cross, to pay the penalty for their sin, then rises from the dead Himself, proving that resurrection is real; He’s not speaking metaphorically here! He’ll give the Spirit shortly after He returns to the Father’s side in heaven. All of this is included in the now here (25) part of His description—Jesus had come, and He’d accomplish all this while He was here. And those who believe and receive the Spirit truly receive resurrection; they’re raised from the dead spiritually speaking. They’re made alive with Christ (1Co.15:22; Eph.2:4-5; Col.2:13; 1Pe.3:18). Jesus has the power and authority to do all that here and now through the work He came to accomplish! And He illustrated that He’s fully capable of doing it by healing a thirty-eight-year invalid. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. This is an eternal granting. It’s not like there was a time when the Son didn’t have life in himself. We’re just learning here that the Father is the Source of all life and He shares it with the Son (and the Spirit) as He, the one God, has eternally purposed to do. 27 And he has given [Jesus] authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Wow, what a dense description this is! All at once it’s a reference to that son of man we see in Dan.7:13-14, a divine figure Who’s given an everlasting dominion by the Ancient of Days; but it’s also a reference to Jesus’ humanity that makes him uniquely qualified to judge; and it also entails the role He’s playing here as the One Who reveals God to man, which in notable ways is distinct from these other two roles (Carson 1991 257-8). Bottom line, because of Who he is, and all of Who he is, he has been given authority to [judge]. And in that judgment, He’ll be the One to announce and execute the final resurrection to both punishment and blessing. 28 Do not marvel at this, John writes, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out of their graves! They’ll be made alive again, those who have done good, who believe (6:29, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent), to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, who reject Him (cf. 12:48), to the resurrection of judgment.

Conclusion

So, what is our takeaway? John stated it himself as he spoke of Jesus all the way back in his Prologue: 1:4 In him [is] life, and the life [is] the light of men. And Jesus Himself expands on it here. By belief in Him, we have life—a life that’s truly worth having—both here and now spiritually, and, beginning with that coming hour (24), that day of resurrection, deliverance from judgment and eternal life!

Let’s give thanks for the work of Christ.

 ____________________

Resources

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Osborne, Grant, ed. 1993. Life Application Bible Commentary. John, by Bruce B. Barton, Philip W. Comfort, David R. Veerman, & Neil Wilson. Wheaton: Tyndale.

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NEXT SUNDAY: I Say These Things so that You May Be Saved, John 5:30–47