Like Father, Like Son

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

John 5:16-23

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."  18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder 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: "I tell you the truth, 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, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 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. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

NIV

Having considered Jesus’s short answer about working on the Sabbath we want to look at the truth as in, “I tell you the truth”. Did we expect anything less from Jesus? It is impossible for him to tell anything but the truth, the whole truth, so help him, God. But Jesus does not have to swear to tell the truth with his hand on the bible, the word of God, for he is the bible, he is the word of God, in fact, he is the truth. Yet he tells them in terms they can relate to in regards to the relationship between a father and son. In many cases in our human father and son relationship, the son does copy his father. There are exceptions, of course, but not when it comes to Jesus and the Father. There are no exceptions at all, for Jesus makes is very clear, that he does the exact same thing he sees his Father do. This has to infuriate the Jews, for they already are wanting to kill him because they think he is making himself equal with God. Now he is telling them that everything he does is because he has seen his Father do the very same thing. Then he goes on to say although they hate him, the Father loves him. What a slam! Here are Jews who supposedly worship Yahweh, which should mean they love Yahweh, they love God, and yet they want to kill the Son who Yahweh loves. How can someone who says they love God, have any hate in their heart? How can anyone who says they love God, hold any grudge or bitterness toward anyone? How can anyone who says they love God gossip, which may well be spreading lies, or at the least casting negative ideas about another person? How can anyone who says they love God, refuse to forgive someone? The only thing we can say about these Jews who professed love for Yahweh yet wanting to kill Jesus is that they were hypocrites. It seems inconceivable that love and hate can occupy the same heart. Yet it also seems we struggle with that very thing at times. How can that be? There is no other way to say it, other than it is wrong. If we love God then we have to love our neighbor as our self, and who is our neighbor, none other than all mankind. But, here is the real kicker. Jesus refers to himself as the Son, who does what he sees the Father do. Because we are in Christ, we have been given the right to be called the children of God, therefore we are God’s sons and daughters. So then we should be doing only that which we see our Father doing. Although it is true that Jesus is God, and he came from heaven, and he actually has seen the Father in person, he is still making the point that all throughout the record of the Old Testament, the Torah and the prophets and the oral record referred to as the Talmud, the Jews have enough information about Yahweh to know his character and what he does, so they could just as the Father does, as Jesus says he does. But they would rather live by their own code of law, their own code of ethics than by the word of God. We have to be careful not to fall into that same trap, but it seems this division of denominational biases may well be somewhat like those Jews. It seems we cannot agree on what God does. This great chasm between the Calvinist and Wesleyan theology regarding freewill and election proves we would rather see God as we want to instead of how he wants us to see him. The point being, we should only be doing what we see our Father doing and we cannot do anything on our own. God loves us and he shows us all he does. So then we should be like Father, like son.