Untitled Sermon

Introduction

Main Point: Jesus is equal with God the Father in authority and honor, so follow Him for eternal life

Point 1: Jesus speaks and does what the Father wills

John Structure

Jesus’ statement reflects his Nazareth workshop experience when he followed the example of his foster father, Joseph. Father and Son act in union and simultaneously, so that the Father willed the healing of the invalid

John Structure

“The ‘seeing’ of the Son in v 19 has its counterpart in the ‘showing’ by the Father in v 20,” pointing to their perpetual communion during Jesus’ incarnate life (Beasley-Murray 76)

Ground: for the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.

What are the works greater that the Father will show the Son?

John Structure

Δείξει 3rd sg. fut. act. indic. of δείκνυμι. Θαυμάζητε 2nd pl. pres. act. subjunc. of θαυμάζω, (trans.) “marvel/wonder at”; (intrans.) “marvel,” “be amazed.” Ἵνα is resultative/consecutive (cf. Z § 352), not telic: “with the result that you will be amazed,” “such as to make you wonder” (ZG 300)

That is, God is not doing this so that they would be amazed, but the result of his works is such that they will be amazed.

Why does the Son do all that he Father does?

The Father loves the Son and shows Him all the He does

The Son loves the Father and obeys perfectly

The Gospel according to John a. The Relation of Jesus to His Father (5:16–30)

If the Father out of love for his Son shows him all he does, and the Son in consequence and out of love for his Father obeys him perfectly and does whatever the Father does, such that people observe the Son and wonder at what he does, then two important truths follow: (1) The Son by his obedience to his Father is acting in such a way that he is revealing the Father, doing the Father’s deeds, performing the Father’s will. The Son is ‘exegeting’ or ‘narrating’ the Father cf. notes on 1:18). (2) This marvellous disclosure of the nature and character of God utterly depends, in the first instance, not on God’s love of us, but on the love of the Father for the Son and on the love of the Son for the Father. The same theme is developed in chs. 14–17: the achievement of the divine self-disclosure in Jesus, climaxed in the cross, was supremely the outflow of the reciprocal love of the Father and the Son within the Godhead.

Point 2: Jesus, as Son of God, gives eternal life as He (Jesus) wills

John Structure

The Son’s exclusively divine prerogative of giving life (cf. 1 Sam 2:6, “Yahweh kills and brings to life”) results from his having life in himself (v. 26).

All judgment implies that there is no higher authority and no higher court of appeals

Point 3: Jesus, as Son of Man, is the judge of all humanity

Conclusion