"JESUS replied, 'MY FATHER goes on working and so do I.' And the Jews tried all the harder to kill HIM, for JESUS not only broke the Sabbath observance, but also made HIMSELF equal with GOD, calling GOD HIS own FATHER.
JESUS said to them, 'Truly, I assure you, the SON cannot do anything by HIMSELF, but only what HE sees the FATHER do. And whatever HE does, the SON also does. The FATHER loves the SON and shows HIM everything HE does; and HE will show HIM even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed.
As the FATHER raises the dead and gives them life, so the SON gives life to whom HE wills. In the same way, the FATHER judges no one, for HE has entrusted all judgment to the SON, and HE wants all to honor the SON, as they honor the FATHER. Whoever ignores the SON, ignores as well the FATHER who sent HIM.
Truly, I say to you, anyone who hears MY word and believes HIM who sent ME, has eternal life; and there is no judgment for him, because he has passed from death to life.
Truly, the hour is coming and has indeed come, when the dead will hear the voice of the SON of GOD and, on hearing it, will live. For the FATHER has life in HIMSELF, and HE has given to the SON also to have life in HIMSELF. And HE has empowered HIM as well to carry out Judgment, for HE is SON of Man.
Do not be surprised at this: the hour is coming when all those lying in tombs will hear MY voice and come out; those who have done good shall rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
I can not do nothing of MYSELF. As I hear, so I judge, and MY judgment is just, because I seek not MY own will, but the will of HIM who sent ME.'" - John 5:17-30
(JESUS opponents were surprised to see how HE violated the law of the sacred rest; this, however, was only the first intervention of JESUS. JESUS intends to do much more than just reform religion: HE has to come to renew the whole of creation.
The books of the Old Testament spoke of GOD as only one. Now JESUS shows us a new face of GOD: HE is FATHER and has sent HIS SON to complete HIS work. In all that HE does, GOD endeavors to give us life, and the greatest of HIS works is the Resurrection.
This rising from the dead does not mean "to return to life" but to begin a new and transformed life. The dead will rise again, of course, but we can also speak of the resurrection in the lives of those who become believers. A word of JESUS accepted in faith gives us life and later takes root in us and transforms us. Together, the FATHER and the SON raise us to new life. GOD's love, which engenders life, reaches us through the voice of CHRIST.
JESUS then is not only human like us. Though human, HE is also divine and reveals to us another face of GOD. JESUS wants to replace in our minds any image of GOD as a jealous or paternalistic GOD. The Gospel shows the FATHER giving all HIS authority to a human, to CHRIST. This resonates with modern psychology and teaches that a person is not fully adult until he liberates himself from parental authority. Our contemporary would rightly rejects a paternalistic GOD.
On numerous occasions, JESUS called HIMSELF the Son of Man. Here John says a Son of Man; that is a Jewish idiom which means a human being. By being human, JESUS saves humanity from within.
When JESUS claims to be the Son, HE repeats these two affirmations in various ways:
- Everything that MY FATHER does, I do; all that the FATHER has, I have.
- and: I cannot do anything by MYSELF.
In this way, JESUS is a model for the sons and daughters of GOD. We also should commune with the FATHER, so that HE may teach us HIS works: there is no Christian life without prayer, that is, without a personal relationship with GOD.)
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