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

 

 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 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."

 

- John 5:19–29 

 

Yesterday we read that there was a feast of the Jews (considered to be the Feast of Weeks, or the Old Testament Pentecost, commemorating the giving of the Law), 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 a 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."   Here Jesus expresses His unity with the Father, emphasizing and delving deeper into the very thing which the religious leaders condemn (in yesterday's reading, above).  That the Son can do nothing of Himself, my study bible says, proves that His every act and word is in complete unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Christ's discourse to them here reveals that the Father and the Son are completely united in nature, will, and action.  So, the Son fully shares the divine attributes of both giving life and executing judgment. 

 

 "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."  As Christ has just stated that one of the prerogatives of God, that of judgment, is also shared by the Son, here He affirms that Christ's judgment is based on faith ("he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me") and works ("those who have done good . . . and those who have done evil").  My study bible also comments on the statement, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God."   It says that the dead refers both to the spiritually dead, who will find life in Christ, and to the physically dead, who will rise in the general resurrection.  Christ will confirm this statement by raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-44) before He goes to His own death.  

The attributes of God the Father are all well-known to the religious leaders to whom Jesus speaks.  That is, God's prerogatives of judgment, of knowing the heart, knowing and forgiving sin, and even the power of life itself.  But here, Jesus explicitly lays out His unity with the Father, and that it exists not simply in some form of identity or being in which Christ holds the same knowledge as the Father.  Rather, Christ is saying that God the Father's authority has been extended also to the Son, and that they are united also in their prerogatives.  As my study bible puts it, they are united in nature, will, and action.  Christ, as Son, shares the power of judgment, life, and resurrection.  He explicitly states that God the Father 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."   This is not simply an incredible theological revelation regarding the Son.  It is also a deep and powerful revelation that Christ has been given authority to execute judgment because of the Incarnation; that is, "because He is the Son of Man."  So, while Christ, as a human being, has incensed the leaders with what they think is blasphemy in equating Himself with God, what He is actually stating here is that God the Father has given Him the authority of life and particularly of judgment precisely because He has become human, and fully shares life with us human beings.  It is, in effect, the Incarnation itself which has, in some sense, qualified Him for this authority.  It is Christ's very mission to us which seems to be the defining and guiding factor in this divine sharing of authority on the part of God the Father.  Therefore we should understand that this mission of love into our world, so that God the Son experiences life as one of us, becomes a defining reality for both the creation and the Creator.  It is this deep act of love, which will involve the ultimate sacrifice of His own life as a  human being, which confers the authority of judgment to Jesus the Son.  It gives us an absolute assurance that the very foundation of all creation, of all existence, is based on a justice that surpasses all law to be based first, last, and foremost  in love.  How precious are our lives are to God!  And how much does this seem to contrast with what we can sometimes see in our world?  Where life is cheap, where death comes easily, for the price of a few dollars, for empty-minded teenagers with handguns, for the worst forms of exploitation such as modern slavery and human trafficking, we should see the reality of the true denial of God and God's gifts of love and life to us all.   The sadness of easy violence, be it in settings of war, or just around the corner, makes our world so much less than what has gone into our creation as persons, by a God who loves us so much that He sacrificed His human life for us.  If God the Father gives all authority for judgment to the Son simply because He has lived as one of us, then consider with what love we are protected and held and even guided spiritually in our lives, if we would but reach to have access to it.  For we each are promised a Helper, and a guardian angel, and an entire communion of saints waiting to hear our prayers and to pray with us, even the Mother of God, Mary, who loved her Son and prompted His first sign to the world in John's Gospel (in this reading).  Let us call on that help in a world beset by things that deny the reality of God's great gift of precious life.  For God's love can reach everywhere, even to a heart that can't find love elsewhere in the world.  When Jesus says that "the Son gives life to whom He will," we should remember that He came so that we would have an abundance of life (John 10:10) -- and that this applies to wherever we need His help and wherever we are, in the here and the now, to revive us when we truly seek His way to live.