68. Doing What God Does

Jesus told them, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing; whatever he does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son, and shows him all things he himself does; he will even show him greater works than these that you may marvel. As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. Anyone who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.

“Anyone who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. The hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; those who hear will live. As the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, when all in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is right because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.

“If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid. It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true. You have talked to John the Baptizer, and he has testified to the truth. The testimony I receive is not from anyone. I say these things that you may be saved. John was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony I give is greater than that of John; the works the Father gave me to do testify about me, that the Father has sent me. The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. You don’t have his word living in you, because you don’t believe him whom he sent.

“You search the Scriptures, because you think in them you have eternal life; they testify about me, yet you will not come to me, that you may have life. I don’t receive glory from men, and I know you don’t have God’s love in yourselves. I’ve come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me, yet you receive those who come in their own name. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and don’t seek the glory that comes only from God?

“Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me because he wrote about me. If you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Reflection

Jesus made such outrageous claims about himself that it is hard not to conclude he had to be either seriously delusional or someone like no one else who ever lived. Nobody making such claims today could be taken seriously. How do you see Jesus? Do you understand him to be the person he claimed to be? 

Prayer: Shock me out of complacency, Lord, when I begin to act as if your claims have no bearing on how I choose to live my life.

67. A Healing at a Pool

After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches. In these lay many who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water; for an angel went down at certain times into the pool, and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of any disease. 

A man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.”

Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”

Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked.

Now it was the Sabbath, and the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath.”

He answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat, and walk.’”

Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said this to you?”

But the man who was healed didn’t know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn to avoid the crowd in that place.

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “You are made well. Now sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Because this healing was on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him. Jesus told them, “My Father is still working, so I am working too.” Now the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 

Reflection

Here was a man with a great need who stayed near the healing waters of a pool he could never reach. The miracle for which he was hoping came in a way he never imagined. Has God ever stepped into your life at a moment of desperation when all seemed hopeless? If so, to how many people have you told your story? 

Prayer: Give me boldness, Lord, to not hold back from telling others how you helped me at my time of greatest need.