Feedback on Assignment #1
The first thing we run into when we look at John 5:16-24 is a context issue. The passage begins, “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath…” To understand the passage, we have to know what “these things” are. The answer is in the proceeding verse. Jesus has been healing the sick.
The first sentence also includes some important vocabulary. The word Sabbath
is used. Hopefully, you looked this word up in a dictionary. That would have
given you most of the information you needed. The Sabbath is the last day of
the week, Saturday. God commanded it to be a day of rest, a gift to humanity.
It is a day that is to be free from work. The Jewish leaders of the day had gone
to great length to define work so that people wouldn’t sin on the Sabbath.
These two pieces of information give us the social context of the passage. Jesus
has been healing people on the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders have interpreted this
as work and believe Jesus has sin.
“The Jews” are mentioned several times. Placed in context, John is not talking about all Jews. After all, Jesus and John are both Jews. The pattern of use here and elsewhere in John shows that John is describing the Jewish leadership when he uses the phrase, “The Jews.”
This passage tells us a great deal about who Jesus thinks he is. He equates himself with God, the Father when he describes himself as the Son of God. The reaction of the Jewish leaders show that this is how they interpret what he has said. Both Jesus and John understand the Jewish reaction and do nothing to correct them. In fact Jesus reinforces the claim as he describes his power as the Son of God.
Jesus goes on to say that he, and not God the Father, will judge the world. This is different than many people’s picture of God. Many see God, the Father as a God of wrath who can’t wait to punish people and see Jesus as our only line of defense from a judgmental God. Instead, John tells us that God sent his Son to us because he loved us (John 3:16). Jesus tells us that he will be our judge. This means that the one who will judge us in the end is the one who sacrificed himself and died for our forgiveness. As the Apostle Paul puts it (Romans 8:31-39), this puts us in a pretty good place with God.
But this also means that our acceptance or rejection of Jesus is crucial. If we reject Jesus, we reject God and find ourselves separated from God and under judgment. If we embrace Jesus as our Lord, then we embrace God and find forgiveness. Jesus is letting the Jewish people know that he is central to God’s work in the world.
There could be several applications that come out of this passage. Certainly, the lordship of Christ is an important theme. Here there is a conflict between Jesus’ actions and the cultural additions that have been made to God’s Law. Jesus here claims complete authority. Our ideas of what is right and wrong are not more important than what Jesus tells us is right and wrong. Any time we know what Scripture says about something and choose to lay it aside for the opinions of our society and culture, we are declaring that Jesus is not the Lord of life in all things. One application would be to search your life for areas in which you are siding with the world instead of Jesus in areas of truth and righteousness. You then need to decide who will be you guide in these issues. If there is need for confession and repentance, then act of it with the help of a trustworthy Christian friend.