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.
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