June 3, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

“Doing the Father’s Will”

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Gracious Lord, I turn my thoughts to You and open myself to Your spirit. Speak, Lord, as I wait before You.

Read John 5:16-30

For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.

[16] So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. [17] In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” [18] For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. [19] Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. [20] For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. [21] For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. [22] Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, [23] that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. [24] “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. [25] Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. [26] For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. [27] And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. [28] “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice [29] and come out-those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. [30] By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“If I am to be Jesus’ disciple that means I am with him to learn from him how to be like him” (Dallas Willard). Jesus’ apprenticeship to his Father provides the model for our discipleship. As he related to his Father, so we are privileged to relate to him.

In these verses, and those set for tomorrow, Jesus identifies both the nature and the origin of his ministry. He describes himself as the Father’s Son. He is the Father’s trusted representative. He imitates on earth what he sees and hears the Father do or say in heaven. The other Gospels describe Jesus’ ministry from the outside. John reveals its inner dynamic. Jesus’ identity as God’s Son is not just a theological claim. It is a lived relationship that directs, motivates and energizes his ministry. His ministry is rooted in his Father’s love.

The Father’s Sabbath rest, on the seventh day of creation, did not mean that he had ceased all further activity. It was the initial work of creation that was complete and enjoyed on that first Sabbath. He still upholds his creation and continues to act in history. As the Father is working still, so then the Son continues his distinctive work. Their work is literally life-giving, both in Jesus’ immediate ministry and in the future. Jesus shows himself to be the Father’s Son by giving life, whether restoration to health, resurrection from the dead (Lazarus), or the gift of eternal life to those who believe in him. In the future his voice will raise the dead, and he will be entrusted with the final judgment. He represents the Father and the entire Father’s authority. To honor him is to honor the Father.

Rather than honor him, the Jewish leaders set themselves on a persistent policy of persecution and lethal pursuit, but their deadly misreading of Jesus is spiritually lethal for themselves. In misreading Jesus, they misread the Father. In rejecting Jesus, they are rejecting the Father. The spiritual leaders of Israel had set themselves against the God of Israel.

Apply

What is the truth contained in verse 24? If you were to explain in your own words what this verse means, what would you say?

Closing prayer

Lord, I want be about Your work. May my relationship with You energize, direct, and motivate me in all I do.

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