The Son of God | John 5
John 5
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Chapter Notables:
Jesus heals a man who had been invalid for 38 years - verses 1-8
The Jewish leaders questions the healed man about the mat he was carrying on the Sabbath day (instead of rejoicing about his healing) - verses 9-15
Jesus lines His authority with God’s activities through Him - verses 16-30
Jesus shares that the Father testifies about Him - verses 31-47
Like Father Like Son | Lemuel Ayudtud
I don’t think there’s any more props that can be given to dads than having their children follow in their footsteps. Not merely working in the same field or running the same business, but in believing the same thoughts and the concepts that they hold true. This like father like son dynamic is called fraternal legacy and honor.
Jesus was questioned by the Jewish leaders why He healed a man on the Sabbath day. Of course, Jewish law made it unethical even illegal to do such work out of observance for the Sabbath. As a response, Jesus did not argue with them about laws and customs. Jesus spoke to them about God’s work, His ways and His will. On top of that Jesus directly connected Himself with God by sharing to the leaders that He works when His Father works.
A true son or daughter reflects their father’s ideal and honors it with their life, choices and behavior. Jesus told the Jewish leaders at that time that whenever His Father works, that’s when He works. Jesus told them that the Son can do nothing of Himself—the Son only does what He sees His Father do.
In the discourse between Jewish leaders and Jesus, we recognize the position of Jesus: He only does what the Father does, says what the Father says and thinks according to what the Father leads. In no uncertain terms Jesus declared to the leaders that He is under the guidance of the Father and His work reflects what the Father desires. Pretty much: like Father like Son.
We understand theologically that what Jesus was expressing to the elders of His time was that He indeed was God in the flesh. John, the writer of the book, declares in the first chapter that Jesus was the Word become flesh. The conversation between the elders and Jesus was a matter of John’s, the writer, faith in the deity of Christ.
But if we could take a bit of what Jesus says concerning His full submission to the Father and apply it to ourselves, then we as sons and daughters of God are called to act, speak, and consider or have the perspective of the Father in us. Paul in his epistle to Rome tell us that Jesus was the first born of many sons. If such is the case, then in this example Jesus is expressing to us how we should be submitted to the Father.
How can we reflect our Father’s work right now?
We should be working when the Father is working.
We should be engaging people when the Father is engaging people.
We should be caring the way the Father cares for people.
Jesus said, “When the Father works I work,” so likewise we must endeavor to do the same.
In the first chapter of John we are told that we have been given the power to become sons and daughters of God, if we believe in him. So as sons and daughters of God, we have the privilege, I dare say, the gift of being able to reflect and represent the Father in the world we live in today. What we find in Jesus is a desire—let’s go deeper—a surrender to the will of the Father. As sons and daughters we must seek to be as obedient to the Father as Jesus was in His earthly ministry.
Jesus adamantly declared that the Father sent Him to do the work He was doing; so as sons and daughters of God we have to also embrace the fact that we have been sent by God to a broken and dying world. We must do the work of love, healing, restoration, and reconciliation that He has sent us to do. We must carry the message of the second birth to those who will listen. We must be like Father as we are sons and daughters.
Lord, teach me to be like You. Help me to fully surrender to Your leading and desire. Help me to embrace my role as Your child. Give me the grace to reflect on what You want me to do every day among the people that I meet. Let me speak the words You want to speak to them. Let me share Your heart with them in love and forgiveness. Teach me to be like You, Lord: submitted and surrendered to the purpose the Father had for Your life during your earthly ministry. Let me extend the legacy of the divine to the temporal. Help me to declare, I am Your child and I will do what You want me to do. In Your Name Jesus I pray, amen.
