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

 Then 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 to 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."

- John 5:19-29

On Saturday, we read that there was a feast (the Feast of Weeks, or the Old Testament Pentecost, fifty days after Passover), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

Then 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 to life."  The leadership have clearly understood that Jesus implies absolutely equality with the Father.  That He can do nothing of Himself, my study bible says, proves that His every act and word is in complete unity with the Father and with the Holy Spirit.  This discourse gives us the revelation of the unity of Father and Son in nature, will, and action.  And therefore, as Jesus states here, the Son fully shares the divine attributes both of giving life and executing judgment.  Christ's judgment, we may note from today's reading, is based on both faith ("he who hears My word and believes") and works (Jesus' word at the end of today's reading:  "those who have done good").

"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."  Jesus says that "the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God."  My study bible remarks here that the term the dead refers both to those who are spiritually dead -- who will find life in Christ, and to the physically dead, who will rise in the general resurrection.  This is confirmed by Jesus when He raises Lazarus from the dead (11:38-44) before He goes to His own death as human being.  These verses (5:24-30) are read at the Orthodox funeral service, confirming the same reward for those who fall asleep in faith.

The passages in today's reading echo, in some sense, Jesus' revelation to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in the previous chapter.  There, He told her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  That echo of the words, the hour is coming, gives us a sense of the importance of this time, the immanence of the Kingdom and its revelations for the world.  Here in today's reading, Jesus gives a revelation to people who, if we think about it a little, also seem like those very unlikely that He would give this revelation to:  the leadership.  Contrary to the woman at Jacob's well and her townspeople, these men for the most part will not become followers, but rather they seek to put Him to death as a result of this revelation.  Should we conclude that Jesus has made a mistake?  Quite the contrary, since Jesus has just said that "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."   If we understand Christ, then, on His own terms as He has stated here, we see that what is happening is salvation, an attempt at salvation for these religious leaders.  Jesus is telling them the truth about His identity, and about His capacity for judgment, and also the promise of eternal life through faith.  Jesus is Himself the promise of life itself -- and this is what He offers to these leaders by speaking the truth to them.  Through them also, as the religious leadership of Israel and all the Jews, He offers to the whole nation the salvation that is a part of His promise.  That their response matters so much to His human life, to the Cross that is to come, is undoubtedly already understood as the story that will be given to us who will come later and hear.  But this is how things unfold:  everyone is offered salvation.  These men bear important places; their lives are not simply told as specific individuals, but rather as those who rule Israel.  But Jesus' words, prefaced repeatedly by "most assuredly" ("amen, amen" in the original language of the Gospel) are marked for all of us here as solemn promises we must pay attention to.  Again, there is a parallel with the revelation to the Samaritan woman.   Jesus told her about the water He would give, a "fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  Here, the leadership are responding to Jesus' healing of the paralytic who could not get down first into the pool at the Sheep Gate (see Saturday's reading, above).  Jesus' message, therefore, is quite consistent, both to the Samaritan woman and in today's reading, to the religious leaders.  But there's a great distinction, in that in today's reading, He speaks of judgment, and the importance both of faith and works.  Their rejection of Jesus is not simply a rejection of faith but also a rejection of the understanding that their works determine God's judgment, in that they will seek to put Him to death.  Let us consider the truth of His words and what they mean for each of us:  how we need to weigh our choices, how our faith impacts the very substance of our lives -- and how "everlasting life" is not so much about length of life, but rather about the quality of life itself and the abundance He offers, that which is capable of giving resurrection to those both living and dead -- in the here and the now, and in the life of the age to come.