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

 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, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  This is understood to be the Old Testament Pentecost, also called the Feast of Weeks, which celebrates the giving of the Law to Moses.  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."   If we look at the previous verses (from yesterday's reading, above) we see that the religious authorities have understood Jesus' claim to equality with God.  My study Bible comments that here, Jesus' declaration that the Son can do nothing of Himself proves that His every act and word is in complete unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The discourse here, it says, reveals that the Father and the Son are completely united in nature, will, and action.  Therefore, 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."  In these verses, Christ reveals that His judgment is based on both faith ("he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me") and works ("those who have done good, to the resurrection of life").  My study Bible comments on Christ's words, ". . .the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of Son of God."  "The dead," it says, refers both to the spiritually dead, who will find life in Christ, and also to the physically dead, who will rise in the general resurrection.   It notes that Christ confirms this statement by raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-44) before going to His own death. Verses 24-30 of this chapter are read at the Orthodox funeral service; confirming, my study Bible notes, the same reward for those who fall asleep in faith.

As is frequent in John's Gospel, today's reading gives us transcendent realities about Christ.  In the words of Jesus, He reveals His relationship to the Father, and it is this revelation that is the ultimate wedge between Himself and the religious authorities.  Jesus says, "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."  This statement of total equality with God will be something that is so blasphemous to the ears of the religious leaders that it will prove to be their given reason for finding a way to put Jesus to death.  But for today's purposes, let us consider the words of Christ that follow, for He speaks of this power of judgment and of the nature of judgment.  He says, "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 promises both a resurrection of life and a resurrection of condemnation.  The resurrection of condemnation we understand as meaning, effectively, the product of rejection of faith.  That is, a life lived without concern for the things that faith would teach or lead us to do.  Note that, as is repeatedly emphasized by my study Bible, faith and "works" are inseparable from one another.  One must accompany the other or betray the absence of faith in the "good."  Also, since we are not the Judge, we are not the Son of Man, none of us can determine what this judgment is for any of us.  That is for the "Heart-knower," Christ, to whom the "authority to execute judgment" has been given alone.  (In Romans 2:1, St. Paul writes, "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.")  So when we read these things in language that is framed for our understanding, we have to accept our own limitations in terms of what judgment is and means, for we cannot know the fullness of the heart and the soul.  We don't even know ourselves that well, let alone others, nor can we fathom the fullness of life without the restrictions of time and space, for this is the perspective of God.  But we can, for ourselves, consider what it is to do good and to do evil.  We can understand that the "resurrection of condemnation" is, in effect, for those who reject faith in the good.  From the beginning of John's Gospel, Jesus is spoken of as the Light, the very eternal existence of the good, from before time.  We can also understand from St. Paul's letter to the Romans that faith, and "doing good," applies to all, for, he writes, "when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel" (Romans 2:14-16).  What this means, according to my study Bible, is that because the conscience of human beings is given by God ("the law written in their hearts"), it has the same power to lead a person to God as the law does.  Moreover, according to St. John Chrysostom, those who are able to follow their conscience to God are more virtuous than those with the law, for they do not have the advantage of explicit instructions but still desire to please God.  We note also that "good works" are those done to please God, not to flatter oneself.  So judgment, therefore, is really about a depth of acceptance of the light that is apprehensible to each one; and, on the other hand, rejection of the light -- including that which is given through one's exposure to the life of Christ and His teachings -- is also fundamentally a question of the depth of the heart and Christ's judgment alone.  Certainly we know that there is a quality within our own disposition, our receptivity to hear and know truth, and what the good is.  (Jesus teaches, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him" - Mark 4:24-25.)  The fundamental question of judgment comes down to our own God-given capacities for discernment, or conversely, rejection of the good -- and the actions that follow each.  There is a depth to us, in that "secret place" of the heart where we know and are known.  Let us endeavor to find there "our Father who sees in secret" (Matthew 6:6), past all of the pressures of life and the demands to conform to a different image for ourselves, and hearken to that which opens us to the resurrection of life.