John 5.16-47: Jesus is God or a nutjob

  • Sam Ford
  • Oct 28, 2007
  • Series: Gospel According to John

John 5.16-47 - Jesus is God

October 28, 2007

Sam Ford

 

Some say Jesus was...

Some say Jesus was good man

Some say Jesus was a wise teacher.
Some say Jesus was one of many prophets
Some say Jesus was kind

Some say Jesus was not murdered

Some say Jesus was not dead

Some say Jesus was a revolutionary

Some say Jesus was a pacifist

Some say Jesus was married

Some say Jesus was tolerant and affirming

Some say Jesus was a healer

Some say Jesus was a magician

Some say Jesus was a sinner just like you and me

 

The purpose of John's gospel

Even in John's time there was debate as to who Jesus was.  People attempted to re-make Jesus into a person compatible with whatever their worldview was or is.   There really is no evidence to support their "portrait" of Jesus, in fact, they usually have to ignore much of what Jesus did and , perhaps more importantly, what he said.   According to the average person in today's world, Jesus was a man that lived a long time ago and taught some good morals.  According to the historical Christian tradition, the bible clearly teaches that Jesus is the second Person of the Trinity, that he was and is fully God and fully man, that he was born of a virgin, died on the cross as a substitutionary atonement for our sins (not just our example), and rose bodily from the dead.  Those are two very different Jesus'.

 

And in order to make sure there was no mistaking exactly what Jesus did and exactly what Jesus said and exactly what Jesus meant, God inspired four men to write his record.  Each of the gospel narratives, although they record the life and death of the same man, are radically different than each other.  Matthew set out, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to prove the Jesus was the Messiah. Contrastly, Mark's gospel makes little mention of Jewish law, 50% is miracles, showing an active and powerful Jesus, proclaiming a kingdom that would make sense to the Romans. Luke, the doctor, set out to prove that Jesus was fully human.  John tells us why he wrote in John 20.31-31 he writes:

 

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

 

That is a huge claim, one unique to Christianity.  The title Son of God is used exclusively for Jesus in the New Testament, a title of his very nature not just his position as messiah.   The sonship of Christ denotes his equality with the Father. To call Christ the Son of God is to assert he is in fact truly divine, truly God. The MONOTHEISTIC Jews, living in a polytheistic world, understood this perfectly in John 10.31...when Jesus calls himself the Son of God and they pick up stones.

 

Understood but would not accept

The question will never be who "Some say" Jesus was, but who Jesus says that he is.  I was reading recently about Sir Ian McKellen, the actor who plays Gandalf the wizard in the Lord of the Rings Triology, doesn't like certain parts of the Bible.  Mr. McKellen is a homosexual and he makes it a practice to rip out pages of hotel bibles, or any bible he might come across, to remove the parts that he finds offensive.  When asked he said, 


"Yes it is true...Its Leviticus 18:22 that I object to, or is it 22:18, I've always got to look it up.  Thou shalt not lie with a man as with a woman, it is an abomination. And they, I think the punishment for an abomination was being stoned to death...I think it's rather obscene and pornographic, and shouldn't be there, so I remove it." 

 

Of course, there are many others who participate in cannibalizing of Bibles-if only in thought.  No matter how many pages Mr. McKellen or anyone else rips out, re-writes, or removes from sight, it doesn't change what the truth is.  And, no matter who you THINK Jesus is, who you FEEL Jesus is, even who you HOPE he is, if it doesn't match WHO Jesus said he was...you've got the wrong Jesus.  And there are a lot of other Jesus' out there according to 2Corinthians 11.

 

Up until today, we've read people like John the Baptist, and Nicodemus, and the Samaritan Woman, and the official, even the lame man say who Jesus was.  We've seen Jesus do some amazing miracles, and we've even heard Jesus whisper a few things about himself.  But in today's passage, with boldness, Jesus of Nazareth-a real man, not a character in a story-a man for whose existence there is more evidence that YOU or ME...we will hear who he says that he is and then you will have some decisions to make.

 

READ John 5.16-47

 

SETTING

Jesus has just healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda.  He had been lame for 38 years and in a moment, Jesus tells him to get up, take up his mat, and walk.  Jesus didn't heal this man on this day by chance or by accident.  He healed the man on the Sabbath.  When the Jews see the man, they confront him, ask him why he is carrying his mat and the man rats out Jesus.  After the Jews discover that Jesus has healed the invalid on a Sabbath day, AND, caused him to work by commanding him to get up, they confront Jesus about regarding his authority for violating the Sabbath.

 

Jesus and his disciples healed and "worked" on the Sabbath several times throughout the gospels.  He heals a blindman (Jn 9), his disciples pick grain (Mark 2.23-28), Jesus heals a shriveled hand (Mark 3.-5), Jesus cures a woman who has been crippled for 18 years (Luke 13), he heals a man with dropsy (Luke 14).  Every time, the Jews get upset with him and plot to kill him-not in some murderous way, but as a fulfillment of the law to stone someone who breaks the Sabbath.   Obviously, Jesus disagrees on an understanding of what adhering to the Sabbath means, and every time they bring up some argument against Jesus, he humiliates them. 

 

VERSES 16-20 CLAIMS OF IDENTITY

Claim #1 - I AM EQUAL WITH GOD MY FATHER

This time, Jesus doesn't argue the details of the Sabbath law, rather, he simply says MY FATHER is working just like me.  By saying God is "MY FATHER" verses addressing God as OUR Father, or simply God, John makes it clear that the Jews understood Jesus saying I AM EQUAL WITH GOD.

 

The Jews, just like PEOPLE TODAY, were so shocked because, even if Jesus "matched" the identity of what they assumed was going to be the Messiah, they did not view the Messiah as divine.  They believed that the Messiah would come from the line of David, be a man, a wonderful man, but in no way thought that he would somehow be God. They instantly changed their accusation from Sabbath-breaking to blasphemy!  I don't see how people can even get around those verses.

 

CLAIM #2:  I HAVE GOD'S AUTHORITY

'Quite plainly, Jesus says that he does nothing independently from God, but works with God and does what God does. Not only that, Jesus tells these Jews who are standing them ready to stone him, that God affectionately LOVES the Son (not just a love of religious approval) so much that he tells him everything he is doing.  So, let's get this right...Jesus does what God (the Creator of the Universe) does-when you see Jesus doing something you see what God is doing, forgiving, healing, fixing, condemning the sinful world, enjoying culture, reaching out to sinners, speaking the truth about sin, weeping in pain... when you see what God does you see Jesus.

 

John 14.8-11

8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

 

We can't just read over that claim and ignore the implications.  This Galilean peasant cannot be a GOOD TEACHER a NICE GUY a PROPHET of GOD and be SO WRONG!  Either Jesus is the biggest nut job this side of the Jordan, he's lying which wouldn't seem smart (but in fact quite evil) considering you have a group of jews standing around with large rocks in their hands, or Jesus is telling the truth and he is WAY MORE than the world is willing to admit. 

 

VERSES 21-30 CLAIMS OF POWER AND AUTHORITY

Jesus also tells these Jews that greater works are coming not so that you will believe, necessarily, but so that you will marvel-be amazed and dumbfounded! If claiming to be GOD is not enough, he goes on to make some claims that only God (or a crazy person) would make. 

 

Claim #3 - I HAVE POWER AND AUTHORITY TO RAISE THE DEAD

Jesus says he gives life (spiritual life) to whom he wills. Jesus also says, in verse 24, like the Father who has life in himself, so the Son has life in himself. 

 

In Acts 3, Peter and John are walking in Jerusalem.  As they enter the temple they see a guy "lame from birth" laying at the gate called Beautiful.  He's begging, asking for money, and Peter commands him to "Look".  He tells him that he has no gold or silver but what he does have he gives him.  He tells him in to walk in the name of Jesus of Nazareth (A Real Guy)

 

Amazed, the people are staring at Peter and he makes it clear who he is and who he is not...

 

Acts 3.11ff

11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's, astounded. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: "Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.  To this we are witnesses. And his name-by faith in his name-has made this man STRONG whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus ha sgiven the man this perfect health in the presence of all."

 

Jesus has the power to give life

What if I had a superpower? Would I fly?  Would I shoot lasers out of my eyes? The greatest power I can imagine is bringing that which is dead to life.  It's quite a common theme in our stories, from Frankenstein to Revenge of the Sith.  ...bringing or saving people from death has to be the ultimate power.  Death is the one thing we ALL have in common. 

 

Jesus possesses this power-to give life.  Scientists are trying to make something out of nothing...the problem is, they can't start with nothing.  IF he has life in himself, like the Father, then as CREATOR he can speak life from that which is nothing, zero, zip...that which feels hopeless, that which is weak, that which is broken, that which is dead.

 

Claim #4- I WILL  JUDGE ALL PEOPLE

Jesus continues to make amazing claims in saying that the Father has given ALL authority to judge, all authority to declare eternal GUILT and INNOCENCE.  God the Father, has done this so that they will HONOR Jesus just as they HONOR God (Isaiah 42.8; 48.11).  In other Words, Jesus is the one that everyone will face in eternity when they die.

 

Revelation 19.11ff

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

 

VERSUS 25-30 We are judged by what we hear AND how we respond

What will be judged? We will be judged by how we respond to what we hear.  The act of hearing is more than JUST LISTENING, it's accepting and submitting to the teachings of Jesus.   He says there are those who have DONE GOOD, to the resurrection of life.  And to those who have DONE BAD to the resurrection of judgment and eternal death.  Doesn't this sound like some sort of works based salvation?

 

There is one good work-acceptance

Belief in Jesus Christ.  - John 6.28-29. Jesus tells the Jews that they are to honor Him as they honor the Father.  They honor the father as God.  We are to honor Jesus as God.  Jesus is God, the source of hope, life, and salvation.  Honoring him with your behavior is expected as a result of belief, not as a pre-requisite.  Belief leads to behavior (He's speaking to jews). 

 

There is one bad work-rejection 

There is one bad work.  One way evil choice.  One unforgivable sin-The rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as King, Lord, Life-Giver, Substitute, and God.  What we think about Jesus is judged by Jesus.   WHOEVER hears my Words-WHO I AM-and believes him who sent me...has eternal life.  Good behavior can NEVER minimize the need for belief.

 

VERSES 31-47 - THE PROOF FOR THE CLAIMS

 

Can't anyone claim to be God?

The word  is a key word in John's Gospel; it is used forty-seven times. Jesus did bear witness to Himself, but He knew they would not accept it according to Mosaic Law.  So, according to the law, he brought in three other witnesses:

 

WITNESS #1- John the Baptist v.34-35

All the witnesses that Jesus brought up were accessible by the Jews.  They had heard John the Baptist and he gained a following from the Jews for a while.  People repented and turned back to God, but in large part, they had denied him.  He was a lamp, but every lamp needs oil.  He was meant only to point to the savior, started a movement, but it was all to meant to point to Jesus.  TODAY:  Other men, Christians and Churches who point to Jesus and away from themselves.

 

WITNESS #2 - His Works v.36

The Jews had seen his works, and we have read about them.  Many of us might say, well, I just can't believe in a miracle, I can‘t believe in anything that cannot be explained through the laws of nature.

 

  • DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?  Whether or not miracles can occur begins with a belief of whether or not there IS A GOD who created nature, and natural law, and can do that which is SUPERNATURAL if he wills. 

 

  • CAN GOD DO THIS?  If God does exist, then it's not a question of IF IT CAN, but DID IT.  Now we examine the trustworthiness of the record.  Do you believe it happened as recorded?

 

  • HOW DO YOU KNOW?  Logically, you can't say that NO, it's impossible if you don't know everything.  It is not enough to state that there is no evidence for the miraculous since a person's experiential base is limited. It may very well be that miracles have occurred and this person is simply not aware of it.

                                                    

TODAY: We still have to explain the miracles that occurred. 

 

Water Made Wine: John 2:1-11.

The Nobleman's Son: John 4, 48-54.

The Draught of Fishes: Luke 5, 1-11.

The Cure of the Demoniac: Mark 1, 23-28; Luke 4, 33-37.

Peter's Mother-in-law: Matt. 8, 14-15; Mark 1, 29-31; Luke 4, 38-39.

The Leper: Matt. 8, 1-4; Mark 1, 40-45; Luke 5, 12-19.

The Paralytic Cured: Matt. 9, 1-8; Mark 2, 1-12; Luke 5, 18-26.

The Cure at Bethsaida: John 5, 1-15.

The Withered Hand: Matt. 12, 9-13; Mark 3, 1-6; Luke 6, 6-11.

The Centurion's Servant: Matt. 8, 5-13; Luke 7, 2-10.

The Widow's Son: Luke 7, 11-17.

The Blind and Mute Demoniac: Matt. 12, 22.

The Tempest Stilled: Matt. 8, 23-27; Mark 4, 35-41; Luke 8, 22-25.

Expulsion of Devils: Matt. 8, 29-34; Mark 5, 1-20; Luke 8, 26-39.

Jairus' Daughter: Matt. 9, 18-26; Mark 5, 21-43; Luke 8, 40-56.

The Woman In the Crowd: Matt. 9, 20-22; Mark 5, 24-34; Luke 8, 43-48.

Two Blind Men: Matt. 9, 27-31.

The Mute Spirit: Matt. 9, 32-34.

Five Thousand Fed: Matt. 14, 13-21; Mark 6, 34-44; Luke 9, 12-17; John 6, 1-15.

Jesus Walks on the Water: Matt. 14, 22-33; Mark 6, 45-52; John 6, 16-21.

The Canaanite Woman: Matt. 15, 21-28; Mark 7, 24-30.

The Deaf Mute: Mark 7, 31-37.

Four Thousand Fed: Matt. 15, 32-38; Mark 8, 1-9.

The Blind Man: Mark 8, 22-25.

 A Possessed Boy: Matt. 17, 14-21; Mark 9, 13-30; Luke 9, 37-43.

Tribute Money Provided: Matt. 17, 24-28.

The Man Born Blind: John 9, 1-38.

The Mute, Lame, and Blind: Matt. 15, 29-31.

 A Woman Cured: Luke 13, 10-17.

The Man with the Dropsy: Luke 14, 1-6.

The Raising of Lasarus: John 11, 1-44.

Ten Lepers: Luke 17, 11-19.

The Blind Men at Jericho: Matt. 20, 29-34; Mark 10, 46-52; Luke 18, 35-43.

The Fig Tree Blasted: Matt. 21, 18-22; Mark 11, 12-25.

The Servant's Ear Healed: Luke 22, 49-51

The Draught of Fishes: John 21, 1-14. 

His own Resurrection:  John 3

 

WITNESS #3 - The Scriptures V.39

The Jewish Pharisees new their Bible better than anyone else.  They studied and studied and studied and studied.  But Jesus hits them right in the heart saying Moses will be there to accuse you...the one who you think approves of your "spirituality".  See, your spirituality means nothing if BY IT you are righteous versus THROUGH IT understanding your God more.  Are we so involved in "Bible study" that we fail to see Jesus Christ in the Word? TODAY:  The Scriptures are still there and we can still rip out pages, ignore, or revise.   


CONCLUSION

What to do with Jesus of Nazareth and his claims of identity, and power, and authority? Is Jesus God?  Most people deal with this "spiritual" question by making an intellectual ascent to the fact that he's JUST be a great teacher, a good teacher, or even a great prophet.  But his claims and actions are either true for false

  • C.S. Lewis says that Jesus claims produced three things, hatred, terror, or adoration.  There was no trace of people with mild approval.
  • If Jesus is God he must not just be admired and respected, he must be worshipped.
  • If Jesus is God, we mustn't follow his teachings because it's a good idea, but because he is God and we must obey him.
  • If Jesus is God, the blood he shed for my sins, is of infinite value...it's God's blood.
  • If Jesus is God, then our Creator has entered this broken world, he has landed, conquered, and is now setting all things right. We are destined for joy and justice sooner or later.

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