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"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's ; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"
- John 5:30-47
On Tuesday, we read that after healing a paralytic on the Sabbath, Jesus spoke to the temple authorities who accused Him of violating the Law. He said to them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Therefore they sought to persecute Him not only for healing on the Sabbath, but for saying that God was His Father, therefore making Himself equal to God. Yesterday, we read that Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."
"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." My study bible tells us that the divine will is common to the Persons of the Trinity, "for all share the same divine energy. In their manifestation in the world, however, all energy originates in the Father, being communicated through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Here there is a sense that the Son obeys the Father. This is because, in His human nature, the Son has human energy -- including human will -- which He offers to God the Father as the source of all. This is His own will which must do the will of the Father."
"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light." In Jewish tradition, my study bible says, a valid testimony requires two witnesses (Deut. 17:6). Here in this and the following verses, Jesus offers four witnesses to His divinity. First He speaks of John the Baptist, who gives the "testimony of man." John was widely recognized as a holy man, and thus Jesus says to them, "He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light." Let's note Jesus' tone and aim, when He says, "I say these things that you may be saved." He doesn't believe in following the crowds, what people say, but this witness is for them.
"But I have a greater witness than John's ; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me." Here is the second witness: the works themselves which God the Father has given Him to do bear witness to Christ, that He is Messiah.
"And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe." The third witness named by Jesus is God the Father, who testified of Him. In Matthew's Gospel, at Jesus' baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist, the voice of the Father declared Him to be His beloved Son. The three synoptic Gospels also report this testimony to other disciples at the Transfiguration. Jesus notes they have not at any time heard the Father's voice, nor seen His form. But if they had His word abiding in them, they would trust, would recognize it coming from Christ.
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." The fourth witness to His messiahship and Sonship is the Old Testament Scriptures.
"But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" My study bible says, "Jesus is aware they do not possess the love of God; it does not remain in them because they do not receive Him who comes in the name of His Father." Here He also speaks of Moses, who wrote about Him (in the Scriptures). They are experts in the Law, but they fail to truly grasp and take to heart the spirit of Moses, the understanding of Moses, because they do not truly love God as did Moses.
Jesus tells us that He does not receive testimony from man. But He gives the leadership two human witnesses, so that they may be saved. One is John the Baptist and the other is Moses. But the key here is a real internal, abiding love of God. Without this, there can be no real faith, no belief, no trust, and no recognition of the Father in Christ's words and works. When Jesus says: "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?" He is contrasting these two ways of thinking, one in which all honor comes only from other human beings, a kind of worldly glory through praise, and the other, in which the love of God really determines what we love, what has honor, what we put our faith into. Jesus puts into these words the understanding that before everything else, there is a basic relationship that is at the depth of who we are, a "first love," if you will. That is our relationship to Creator. A sense in which love of God determines our proper relatedness to one another, the ways in which we think of what we put our trust into, becomes clear here. It is the foundation upon which everything else may be built. He's saying about the leadership (and makes explicitly clear elsewhere) that their real "love" isn't truly the love of God, but rather the praise of men. If we look deep within ourselves, we may find a depth of love we didn't know was there. Because the love of God really means that we put our trust in that which gives us love, teaches us love, and how to manifest that love, there is a kind of basic sense that our love of God and love of truth are inseparable from one another. The mysteries of the relationship of God the Father to God the Son and God the Spirit will be something we can never fully grasp. But there's another reality here that Jesus speaks of so vividly, and that is the mysterious relationship inside of us to God as well, even to God the Father. The emphasis is on the heart, on what we truly love, on what is at a depth within us we might not really know at all, but is manifest in our loyalty and love and in the things we find we thirst for. Jesus contrasts the love of God with the praise of men, the "honor from one another." He criticizes seeking the latter alone, without the former. Let us remember this place of the heart, the one that tells us true. This is the honor that comes first.
