Jesus Is Not Equal With God?

John 5: 19-24, CEB

Jesus responded to the Jewish leaders, “I assure you that the Son can’t do anything by himself except what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.  The Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he does. He will show him greater works than these so that you will marvel.  As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so too does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.  The Father doesn’t judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son so that everyone will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.

“I assure you that whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and won’t come under judgment but has passed from death into life.

                It’s important to think about what Jesus is trying to describe to the religious leaders here as a new teaching.  The leaders are losing their minds because what they hear Jesus saying is that He is equal to the Father.  Jesus is explaining that this is a misunderstanding of who He is.  He is not equal with God; God and He are united.  Another way to say it, and the way some translations are worded, Jesus and the Father are One.  To be equal with someone, you have to be separate from them.  “Equal” is a term of comparison.  The Father and Son are not to be compared because they are not separate.  Judaism is the world’s first fiercely monotheistic religion.   What Jesus is explaining is that He is not a break from that.  There is no distinction between what Jesus says and does and what the Father says and does; they will never from one another. This forms the beginning of what will be the hallmark of Christian monotheism – the Trinity.  Later in the gospel, Jesus will incorporate the Spirit into the teaching he is introducing here. 

                For now, the implication made in this passage is that in Jesus, we are seeing the Father revealed – intentions, judgements, actions.  When you see Jesus doing things, God is doing those things.  When you hear Jesus saying things, God is saying those things.  When Jesus makes judgments, they are God’s judgements.  Furthermore, a core Christian doctrine is that in Jesus, we have the clearest and unambiguous revelation of God ever.  If you want to know who God is, what God does, and what God thinks, look no further than Jesus. 

Question:  How Jesus-centered is your faith?

Prayer:  Thank you Jesus for the revelation that is available in You.  Draw me nearer to the Way, the Truth, and the Life that You are.  Aemn.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the Church to find its Jesus-honoring voice in the turmoil being experienced in our world now. 

Song:  I Am Thine O Lord – Awaken Hymns