Continuing the Book of John
Posted on Thursday, October 2, 2008
I hope that everyone is enjoying the series through the book of John. It's a long journey, but well worth it.
We are still dealing with the account of the man who was healed at the pool of Bethesda. We have gone through how the man was healed and his response now we move to how the religious responded to all of it.
The verses we are going to cover this time will be some of the words between the Pharisees and Jesus, John 5: 16-23.
One of the first things that happen after the man is healed is that Jesus is persecuted. It seems that many times after Jesus does a wonderful work in someone, that they hate him. Usually the reason that men hate the wonderful works of Jesus is because it reveals unrighteousness. You see, when someone repents from their sins, there is an acknowledgement that sin is wrong. And that acknowledgement will condemn all who are in sin. And the reason that the Pharisees persecuted Jesus was because He challenged their traditions. One thing that the religious do not like is to be proven wrong. Jesus came to reveal all truth. So, if Jesus seen something that was wrong he corrected it.
In verse 17, it says "but Jesus answered them my father worketh hitherto, and I work. "What Jesus was saying here was that whatever the father did, he did. This was an offense to the Pharisees because that made Jesus equal to the father. Jesus was a man who only followed the father. We should be living such a life that when the father speaks we obey. This is the normal Christian life, anything less is unbiblical. When we walk in the spirit we will reveal grace, truth, holiness, and righteousness. This is what the world needs to see in us. When these qualities were seen in Jesus, it brought conviction and salvation or it at least gave people the opportunity to be saved.
The interesting thing is that right after Jesus tells them that he does what the father does, the Pharisees wanted to kill him. Isn't this pretty extreme ? Jesus just makes a statement about obeying the father and they hate him. For a world that hates God, it doesn't take much for them to hate you when you obey God. When you think about it, it just doesn't make sense. Why would people hate the one who loves them more than anyone else ? There really isn't a good explanation. Only pure wickedness would be against goodness for no reason. Yet, this is the state many are in Another thing to note is that it wasn't pagans getting mad at Jesus for healing someone, it was the religious. The religious seem to be the most wicked. It's possible this is the case because the religious have their own little rules they feel that must be followed. Pagans don't really have rules; they just do what ever they want. The religious are full of pride and think that whatever they have decided to do is what everyone else must do. In a real sense, the religious people (like the Pharisees ) make themselves to be God because they decide what is true and force everyone else to comply. God can do this because he has all authority, power, and the right, but a mere man is swelled with pride if he thinks he can.
In verse 19, Jesus reminds them that he can do nothing except it was given him of the Father. These things that Jesus was teaching and doing, was not something Jesus just made up on a whim of feeling. They were things calculated by God for a certain purpose. The way Jesus had authority was that he humbly submitted himself to the Father. It sounds strange but a true principle of the kingdom of God is that if you want to have authority you must submit.
These little articles on the book of John are almost an embarrassment to what could and should be written about them. It would be very easy to write thousands of pages on this unique Gospel account. My prayer is that just a few of the thoughts, themes, and concepts could get lodged in your mind to the point you put them in your life. God doesn't want us to merely be book worms, but he wants us to apply the truth he has given. So, with that, my plea is that you would consider the scriptures and make them a part of your daily life.
------This is Josh Parsley, Covenant Word Ministries, Christian Fellowship Church, PO BOX 341, Elkins, AR 72727. wwwcovenantwordministries. com.
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