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 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 [the Old Testament Pentecost, also called the "Feast of Weeks," which commemorates the giving of the Law to Moses], 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 into life."  My study Bible refers to Christ's teaching here that the Son can do nothing of Himself, and comments that this proves that His every act and word is in complete unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  This discourse (continuing from yesterday's reading, above) reveals that the Father and the Son are completely united in nature, will, and action.  So, therefore, we understand that the Son fully shares the divine attributes of both giving life and executing judgment.  My study Bible continues by saying that Christ's judgment is based on both faith and works, as the following verses in today's reading also indicate.

"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, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God."  My study Bible comments that the dead here 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.  He confirms this statement when He raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-44) before He goes to His own death. 

 

 Jesus' authority and unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit is allied with issues of life and death.  Life itself is therefore in His hands, for in the judgment the reality of the resurrection of life and the resurrection of condemnation are both included.  In the Revelation, the Lord says several times, " I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last" (Revelation 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13).  These statements are also tied in with the authority of judgment, meaning also of life and death.  In Revelation 21:6, He adds, "I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."  It is this fountain of the water of life on which everything rests, for those who truly thirst and those who do not.  This is the same "living water" of which He spoke to the Samaritan woman at John 4:14, and revealed Himself to her.  She and her townspeople received Him gladly.  But here Jesus speaks openly to the religious leaders in Jerusalem, and they do not hear Him gladly.  This is already a type of example of the judgment, but in which time intersects with the eternal to give us a picture of what it means to reject the grace of Christ, and to refuse this water of the fountain of life.  Perhaps in each of our own lives we can see moments in which we also experience a sort of "intersection" of the eternal converging in moments of our own earthly time; in a moment of sudden insight, the perception of grace, a resolution for repentance.  It is this that is emblematic of the experience of participation in the life of Christ, who also underwent human death for us, and experienced His Passion.  We, too, might find moments of deep distress become pivotal moments when -- even in hindsight -- we realize our faith was at work and with us then, whether we recognized it or not.  Moments of deep prayer at such periods have such effects which often we only realize later.  God is with us through all of it, through life and death, moments of change and even deep distress -- for it is in those times that we may choose our faith, or run from it.  Which way does the paralytic in the story begun in yesterday's reading go?  Which way will the leadership go?  So much pivots on that offering of the fountain of life, the words of Christ, and how -- and whether or not -- we receive them.