As I approach today’s Gospel reading (John 5:17-30), I am reminded of the story about a man sitting beside a campfire while he roasts some kind of bird over the fire with eager anticipation. About this time, a forest ranger comes along and asks the camper what he is preparing for dinner. The camper replies that it is a seagull. A frown comes over the ranger’s face as he informs this fellow that it is against the law to kill that particular species of bird, and that he would have to issue him a citation.
The camper responds by telling the ranger about how he had gotten lost and had consumed all his food. In desperation, he managed to kill this seagull to maintain his strength. After listening sympathetically, the forest ranger tells the fellow that he will let him go this time with just a warning, and the camper thanks him profusely.
As the ranger was about to leave, the ranger asks the camper, “Out of curiosity, what does that seagull taste like?” Thinking for a moment, the camper responds, “Well, I would place it someplace between a spotted owl (an endangered species in the U.S.) and a bald eagle (protected in the U.S. as our national emblem)!” This, the camper’s words get him into even more trouble than he already was in. He would have been better off not saying anything at all.
Jesus’ words today are something like this camper’s statement. At the outset, Jesus is deemed guilty of breaking the Sabbath and of instructing the man who had been ill for 38 years to do likewise. But after defending himself for his actions to the Jewish authorities, He is considered guilty of an even greater offense—claiming to be equal with God!
Nowhere else in the Gospels do we find Jesus making such a formal, systematic, orderly statement of his own unity with the Father, His divine commission and authority, and proofs of his Messiahship. We are left with only two alternatives: Accept Jesus as the Son of God; or hate him as a blasphemer and seek to have him destroyed.
Up until this extended episode at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus had kept a relatively low profile. His turning water into wine was done in such secrecy that only a few people knew that a miracle had taken place. His meeting with Nicodemus was a private interview that was conducted in the secrecy of the night. When his preaching in the wilderness started attracting large crowds, he retreated to Galilee. Jesus did not accompany the official to his home to the bedside of his ailing son—only the man and his household knew that a miracle had occurred and that his son was healed. But the healing of the sick man at the pool of Bethesda was different.
Initially, the Jewish authorities only accuse Jesus of breaking the law by healing on the Sabbath and by commanding the healed man to carry his bed. (He had been caught “barbequing a seagull.”) But Jesus exerted a defense that, “I am only carrying out my Father’s work.” (He admits that he also ate a spotted owl and a bald eagle to boot).
Jesus goes on: “I can do nothing apart from what My Father is doing.” This is like the mathematical argument: if a = b, and b = c; then a = c. If He is doing what God is doing, then he must be God. Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees and a member of the Sanhedrin (the group of 70 elders of the Jewish people) recognized and believed this immediately: “For no one could perform the miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him” (John 3:2).
There is another dimension to Jesus’ words. The thrust of the Jew’s accusation against Jesus is this: “How can you presume to act and speak as if you are God?’ Jesus turns this accusation around to say, in effect, “How is it possible for the Son of God to act in any way that is independent of, or inconsistent with God the Father and what HE is doing.” The Jews are saying, “How is it possible for you to speak and act as you do?” Jesus is saying, “If I am God, how is it possible for Me to do otherwise?”
If it is impossible for a lion to act like a lamb, or for a bear to behave like a bunny rabbit, it is impossible for our Lord to act in any way that is not like His Father. Jesus is one with the Father. Jesus is God.
The Father shows the Son everything He is doing so the Son will do likewise. Jesus is doing what He has seen the Father doing. He has seen the Father work on the Sabbath, so the Son does likewise. As great as the things that Jesus has already done, the Father has even greater things to show the Son. What are these greater things? Jesus is about to tell us:
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, so that people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father who sent him (John 5: 21-23).
Remember, Jesus has not yet raised anyone from the dead, but in John 11, He will raise Lazarus.
Then Jesus gets personal. Those who honor the Son honor the Father, and those who dishonor the Son dishonor the Father who sent him. The one who believes in the message that I speak believes in the One who sent me.
I challenge you, as the Apostle John does, to consider the claims of Jesus, then respond to Him in faith by believing in Him for eternal salvation.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!