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

 

 "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 

 

 Following the healing of the paralytic at the pool near the Sheep Gate, the religious leaders found and began to question Jesus about healing on the Sabbath.  Jesus responded, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Following this, they became even more enraged at Christ.  Yesterday we read that 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."

 

  "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."  The divine will is common to the three Persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- for all fully share the same divine nature, my study Bible explains.  When the Son is said to obey the Father, this refers to Christ's human will, which He assumed at His Incarnation.  According to my study Bible, He freely aligned His human will in every aspect with the divine will of the Father; so are we 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?"  My study Bible asks, how could Christ's witness ever be untrue?  It cannot, it says (see John 8:14).  Here Jesus is anticipating their argument, and speaking the thoughts of the Jewish leaders (he does the same in Luke 4:23).  In Jewish tradition, a valid testimony requires two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6).  Here, Jesus doubles that, and offers them four witnesses to confirm His identity as Messiah and as Son of God.  He first offers God the Father ("There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true"); then St. John the Baptist; Christ's own works testify of Him, which the Father has given Him to do; and finally the Old Testament Scriptures, through which Moses and others gave testimony to Him.  

 

 Jesus repeatedly invokes the concept that human beings do not grant the honor that He seeks.  Indeed, even testimony "from man" is not something He receives ("Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved").  He is establishing first that it is the honor of God that He values and that has meaning as a true measuring stick of value and goodness.  This is a teaching that applies to each of us as well.  In the penitential psalm of David cherished as  paradigm for all of us, we read, "Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge" (Psalm 51:4).  The psalmist affirms that it is only God who will and can be judge; and here in today's reading (and yesterday's, above), Jesus affirms that He, indeed, is judge, for the Father has given judgment into His hands.  So, therefore, honor is not defined through the opinion of "man," that is, of other human beings, but through pleasing God.  Nonetheless Jesus offers four witnesses to His identity as Messiah, as Lord.  They are St. John the Baptist, who testified about Him as the Lamb of God, and prepared the people for Him (see John 1:29, 36).  St. John also testified as witness to the event of Christ's Baptism and the revelation of the Holy Trinity at that time, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit (John 1:32).  For Christ, all value and judgment comes from God, thus St. John the Baptist's mission and work as prophet, from God, is valuable, honest, and true witness.  Next He names the works that He does as witness, for these are given to Him by the Father to do.  Therefore His "signs" all point to God, affirming that He is the Christ.  Jesus says, "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?"  In other words, if they truly loved God, they would recognize these works of God in Him.  But they only receive honor from one another, and not from the only God.  Therefore they cannot truly see what He is, who He is, nor even the One to whom all of His signs (His "works") point.  Finally, Jesus speaks of Moses as witness to Himself as Messiah and Lord:  "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?"  Let us bear in mind that all of these religious leaders revere Moses and the Scriptures that come through Moses.  But Jesus is saying that even Moses' writings, which reveal Himself, they do not truly believe, because they haven't the love of God in them.  Jesus' language teaches us something powerful about psychology, that those things we honor and love determine how we view the world, and even what we are capable of recognizing as good, and of intrinsic worth.  This is truly essential understanding of the heart.  For, as He says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  The layers of the heart are indeed veiled, and complicated, but the soul has a depth of orientation that can and will surprise us at times.  It is Christ the judge who can see this in us, even when we are unaware of the depths of our hearts ourselves.  His words verify that we need to seek first that kingdom of God, our depth of relationship, for that sets all else in proper order, including how we view the world and our relationships in it.  We should also take note that, in the Church, historically, we understand the Old Testament in light of the New:  for here, Christ Himself tells us that those Scriptures speak of Him as Lord.  Let us seek Him with our whole hearts, for only His judgment is the righteous one we need.