Son of God

(Gospel of John 5:16 - 5:47)
Because Jesus was accomplishing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish religious authorities began to harass and persecute him.  Jesus gave them his answer, "My Father ceases not in his labor, nor do I."  But the authorities were all the more resolved to destroy him: he was not only guilty of violating the Sabbath, but of claiming that God was his own Father -- exalting himself to be an equal of God!

Jesus explained to them, "Truly I tell you, the Son may do nothing on his own, but only what he has seen his Father do, for whatever the Father does, the son does likewise.  The Father loves the Son and teaches him all that he does.  Indeed, he will teach him to perform greater wonders than this, such as will astonish you.  As the Father raises the dead and restores them to life, so the Son may bring to life whomever he wishes.  The Father passes judgment on no one, but has given the right to judge to his Son so all will honor the Son as they do the Father.  Anyone who does not honor the Son, is not honoring the Father who has sent him. 

"Truly I say, those who believe in my message and in the God who sent me will achieve life everlasting.  They will never be condemned for their sins, and they have already crossed over from death to life.  And I can assure you that the time will come -- has, in fact, now come -- when the dead will be summoned by the voice of God, and, hearing it, will be restored to life.  For the Father is the creator of life and has granted to his Son the power to instill life. 

“Moreover, the Son has been granted the power to pass judgment, for he is the Son of Man.  Do not be surprised at this, for the time is coming that all who are now in their graves will, when they hear his voice, rise out of them.  Those who have done good will be resurrected to life, while those who have done evil will be resurrected to damnation.

"As for myself, I can do nothing on my own.  I can only judge according to God's instructions.  Therefore, my judgments will be fair and impartial, because I execute the will of him who sent me and not my own.

"If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony will be seen as biased.  But there is another who testifies in my favor, and I assure you what he says of me is true.  You have, in fact, sent men to interrogate John, and he has told them the truth.  I, of course, do not require human testimony, but I mention it for the sake of your salvation.  John was a burning, shining lamp, and, for a time, you were content to bask in his light.  But I present testimony more powerful than John's.  The works that the Father has tasked me to accomplish, those that I labor on now, provide the proof that the Father has sent me.  And the Father who sent me has also testified on my behalf.  You have not heard his voice or seen his face, and his message cannot be within you, for you do not believe in the one he has sent.  You study the Scriptures meticulously in the conviction that you will find therein life everlasting.  Those very Scriptures speak of me.  Yet, you refuse to come to me to be granted that life. 

“I crave not the approbation of men.  I know you and I know that you do not have the love of God within you.  I have come in my Father's name, but you reject me.  Others come in their own name, and you readily accept them.  You lend credence to one another, but not to the one who alone comes from God.  But it will not be I who will accuse you before Father; your accuser will be Moses, upon whom all your hopes are set.  If you really believe in Moses, you will believe in me, for he wrote of me.  But since you will not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

Notes
1.  The author of John has Jesus clearly state his mission.  Among the points made are these:  1. Jesus is the son of God.  2.  He has been tutored by his Father, whom he emulates.  3. Everything he does is authorized by God.  4.  God teaches his Son to perform miracles, including raising the dead  5. God the Father has delegated to him the authority to judge man.  6. Jesus, having no self interest, will be an impartial judge.  7. The dead will be resurrected and judged.  8. The evil will be damned, the good and those who believe in Jesus will be granted life everlasting.  9. Those who do not accept Jesus as the Son of God and believe in his message are not true followers of God.  10. Believers will be forgiven their sins and escape punishment for them.  11. The message of Jesus and the miracles he performs are the proofs that he is the Son of God.  12.  The scriptures prophecy his coming.

2.  Rather shockingly, Jesus more or less does away with the commandment to observe the Sabbath, at least strictly, as is demanded by Moses.  He pooh-poohs the idea that God rests on the seventh day, but asserts that he works continuously without taking any sort of regular holiday.  He, therefore, is free to follow his example.

3.  Jesus here is presumably addressing the Pharisees who dominate the religious establishment.  He rips and rebukes them on several grounds, primarily for not believing him to be the Son of God, but also for accepting other evangelical figures (including, for a time, John the Baptist), for not recognizing that their beloved Moses wrote of him, and for not being sincere in their faith.

4.  Jesus insists that he is referred to by Moses, but does not specify where in the Torah he is mentioned and in what context.  Prophecies that arguably refer to a Messiah come from Isaiah and other later Old Testament books.  In Genesis only a vague blessing by a dying Jacob to his son Judah could be so interpreted.

5.  Jesus' attitude would surely have been interpreted by those he addressed as insufferable and arrogant to the nth degree.  (The term "chutzpah" would surely not be out of place.)  Humility, tolerance, forgiveness are nowhere evident here.  Jesus, whose feelings are obviously hurt by rejection, is angry and defensive and not very concerned about antagonizing his critics.  He is dismissive, even belittling of the Pharisee's religious views, but expects and demands acceptance of his.  They must all receive him as the Son of God, which means they must renounce any authority they might have assumed to interpret religious law.  It's Jesus’ way or the highway -- Heaven or Hell.  They must bow to Jesus not only as their master, but as their God.   In spite of any miracles he might have performed, is it really surprising that they would not do so?  From their standpoint, Jesus could only be a heretic, even a crazed fanatic, but at any rate, a challenge to their authority, a dangerous man who would have to be discredited or destroyed.  One would think claiming to be the Son of God would, if untrue, be the ultimate blasphemy, and one so claiming could only be evil or insane.

6.  Jesus tries to turn their own beliefs against the Pharisees by telling them that it will be Moses who will condemn them for not believing in him.  He equates believing in him with believing in Moses, whom they regard as an absolute authority.  (One feels that Jesus' attitude toward Moses is rather like a 21st Century politician's attitude toward Thomas Jefferson -- yes, a founding father, great man to be revered, but not an unimpeachable authority on contemporary politics and policy.)    

7.  Jesus makes a very attractive offer to his followers.   You may live forever and never be punished for your sins.  All you have to do is believe in Jesus and accept him as the Son of God.  Nothing else seemed to be demanded.  Of course, if you don't believe, you're going to be damned and won’t get in on that life everlasting, whatever it is to be.