I can of Myself do nothing

Holy Spirit and Hand of God (detail from mosaic depicting Christ's Baptism).  Dafni Monastery, Athens, Greece 

 

"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

In our current readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Weeks (the Old Testament Pentecost) in Jerusalem.  He has healed a paralytic, and was then accused of violating the Sabbath Law (in this reading).  Yesterday we read that Jesus answered and said to leaders, "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 set 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 notes here that the divine will is common to the three Persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- as all fully share in the same divine nature.  When the Son is said to obey the Father, this refers to Christ's human will, which was assumed at His Incarnation.  He freely aligned His human will in each aspect with the divine of the Father, and so we are called to do likewise.

"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?"  As Jesus' death was sought for His declaration of equality with God (by calling God "My Father" -- see 5:18), so now Jesus presents to them four witnesses to His divine identity.  My study bible asks of this passage, "How could Christ's witness ever be untrue?"  It cannot, is the response (see 8:14).  Here Jesus is anticipating the argument, and He speaks the thoughts of the Jewish leaders (as He does also in Luke 4:23).   In the Jewish tradition, a valid testimony requires a minimum of two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6).  Here in this passage in today's reading, Jesus offers four witnesses to confirm His identity as Messiah and Son of God.  The first is God the Father (vv. 32, 37, 38).  The second is John the Baptist (vv. 33-35).  His own works (v. 36).  The fourth is the Old Testament Scriptures, through which Moses and others gave testimony (vv. 39-47). 

In citing the four witnesses to His identity, Jesus is giving us a sense of the truth of His statement to the disciples at Jacob's Well:  "He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors" (4:3-38).  As His witnesses are those that span the time of Jewish spiritual history (and even before the creation of the world, let us note), He teaches all of us in this testimony about His witnesses that we all enter into labors that are not our own.  His witnesses are God the Father, John the Baptist, His own works, and the Old Testament Scriptures.  Each of these and what we know about each of these witnesses may also be termed "fruits of the Spirit" in some sense.  For what would we know of God the Father without the work of the Spirit in the world?   How would John the Baptist have performed his own ministry?  Christ Himself -- as the Creed testifies -- was Incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary; and finally in the Old Testament Scriptures, again as the Creed declares, the Spirit "spoke through the prophets."   Through these labors and fruits of the Spirit, we may all enter into a work and a harvest, and into the long, long line of those who have come before and those who will come afterward.  In the inexhaustible creativity of God the Spirit, each new gift of spiritual beauty into the world is complementary to all others -- in the same way that Christ's four witnesses, all drawn from various periods of time (and even before the existence of time), all complement one another.  They testify to a unified, whole truth -- and yet each offers facets which are unique and additional to what is already known and understood.  So we must think about our own lives in spiritual terms, and in terms of what we, also, are asked to enter into with our particular gifts and talents.  Let us note that as Christ declares, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" that as the Person who is the Truth He forms an umbrella over all.  His truth is that which shadows and nurtures every saint, every spiritual being (such as all the ranks of angels), each one who shares in the faith.  By extension, as we created as stewards of this world, that umbrella embraces the whole of the cosmos, all of creation, and not only human beings and angels.  If we look at creation as an entire calling to enter into such labors, even as each of these four witnesses testify to the identity of Christ, then we all, through our lives and the elements in our lives, enter into such labors and testimony.  A kind word here, given in faith to Christ, serves as part of the adorning beauty of this world in testament to our Lord.  A generous gift made through faith falls into the category of entering into others' labors and contributing our own.  In no case does one individual re-invent the wheel of faith, and we all build on a grand work of infinite beings and dimensions or which we are unaware.  My study bible is a text that uses the whole history of the Church, and in particular its patristic heritage of the Church Fathers, to tell us how the Church has viewed the verses we read throughout its history, and it is for this reason that I quote from its notes.  Each one of us comes into the world entering into a compendium of laborers and workers, sowers and reapers.  None comes into this work of faith alone.  Until the time of Christ's return, this is how we must see ourselves as part of the Body of Christ.  Jesus' witnesses include all of us who testify to our faith and the experience of its effects and working in our lives.  Even Jesus testifies, "I can of Myself do nothing."  Let us remember the work of all of those in the living Body of Christ and the communion of saints, and the living work of God the Father and the Spirit who work through us, among us, within us.  Even Christ does not work alone, and neither are we ever alone.  Through the power of our prayer, we enter into collaborative and complementary work in faith.  Pictured above is a detail from a mosaic icon of Christ's Baptism in the Jordan.  It teaches us of the participation of the Father and the Spirit, making His Baptism a Theophany, or manifestation of the Trinity.