Jesus As Judge

11.14.21 [John 5:16-29] River of Life Lutheran Church

Which Jesus would have the highest public approval rating?

Jesus the Miracle-Worker has to be way up there, right? Someone who can treat blindness, paralysis, palsied limbs, and leprosy with a 100% cure rate surely would rate high among just about everyone.

But Jesus the Teacher was pretty popular in his own right. Jesus was such a sought after teacher that time and again when he begins to teach, we hear of people crowding around him. Even when he tried to keep his classroom small—hoping to spend some time with his 12 disciples—large crowds followed him on foot to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to a remote place to spend the day listening to him teach.

Those two would probably be neck and neck, if there were to have been a Galilean Gallup poll in 30 A.D. But there were other versions of Jesus that people adore today. There is Jesus the Tender-Hearted. Always taking time for children. Esteeming the marginalized in society. There is Jesus the Truth-Champion. He was never afraid to say what needed to be said. He rebuked the holier-than-thou religious leaders of his day and brought comfort to the downtrodden.

As you read through the Gospels, the historical record of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, there are many versions of Jesus that are engaging, compelling and wonderful. Jesus is admirable. Jesus is quotable. Jesus is a role model without equal.

But the Jesus who speaks to us in John 5, is not one who would likely do very well in a Galilean Gallup Poll—Jesus the Judge. Jesus tells us that God (Jn. 5:22) the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son. He goes on to tell us that (Jn. 5:29) Those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. Judgment Day is coming and Jesus will preside over the courtroom. His decision will be final. His sentencing will be swift. Nothing warm and fuzzy about that, right?

Jesus as Judge isn’t quite so likable, for most of us. But, as we are going to see, this is by design. Jesus as Judge gives each of us reason to pause and repent so that ultimately Jesus as Judge gives us reason to praise God and reorient our lives.

As I said, it is by design that Jesus speaks of himself as Judge. And we confess that, too, in the Apostles’ Creed. We believe in Jesus Christ who will come to judge the living and the dead. By why does Jesus speak of himself as Judge here?

Jesus was in (Jn. 5:1) Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. In Jerusalem, there was this pool called Bethesda there that people believed had healing powers. Whenever the water was stirred up, disabled people rushed to get in to get better. Jesus saw this one man lying there and learned that he had been (Jn. 5:5) an invalid for 38 years. (Jn. 5:6) So Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (Which from anyone else seems like a silly question.) The man explained everyone else always beat him to the pool. Jesus was moved to help, though. He told the man to (Jn. 5:8) Get up! Pick up your mat and walk! (And again, from anyone else, this would have been silly—even insulting.) But (Jn. 5:9) at once, the man was cured. He picked up his mat and walked. It was wonderful. This is the Jesus everyone adores.

Or almost everyone. When some of the Jewish leaders saw the man walking around with his mat, they rebuked him. (Jn. 5:10) The law forbids you to carry your mat. But the now healed man (Jn. 5:11) replied, ‘The man who made me well told me to pick up my mat and walk.’

So the Jewish leaders focused on Jesus. They (Jn. 5:16) began to persecute him, accusing him of breaking God’s law. Did you notice how Jesus responds?

He said, (Jn. 5:17) My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working…(Jn. 5:19) whatever the Father does the Son also does. The religious leaders understood what Jesus was claiming. By calling God his Father and calling himself the Son of God he was (Jn. 5:18) making himself equal with God. And this whole scene demonstrates something fascinating about the one, true God. The One True God, is at work at healing the sick, bringing life to the dead, and will ultimately judge every soul.

Gives Us Reason To Pause & Repent

That’s hard for us to understand, together. The healing the sick and bringing life to the dead fit, fine enough. But the judging the world seems like it doesn’t belong. But it does. And deep down you know it.

When someone is sick and suffering—like this man was for 38 years—we look at it and we wonder, How can God allow that to happen? It’s not right! When someone we love is suddenly taken from us in death, our thoughts are much the same. How can God let this kind of thing happen? It’s not right! Instinctively, we know that suffering and death are not the way things are supposed to be.

Now many times, when someone gets sick, or someone dies the culprit is genetics, disease, or some unfortunate event. But imagine for a moment that there was a culprit. Someone made a choice and it paralyzed a young athlete. Someone willfully took the life of another human being you loved. Whom would you turn to, to begin to set things right? A judge, right?

And what kind of judge would you want? Someone who didn’t play favorites. Someone who could not be bribed. Someone who was honest & fair, impartial & upright. Now a human judge can’t make everything right. They can’t give the young athlete their mobility back. They can’t bring your loved one back from the dead. And you know that. But you still want them to do something. It wouldn’t be right, if they didn’t. Because the wrongdoer deserves to be punished.

Do you see how Jesus the Healer, Jesus the Teacher, and Jesus the Judge are all consistent? Jesus is God in the flesh. And God is good. And a good God cannot walk past someone who is sick and not heal them simply because it’s the Sabbath Day. A good God cannot turn away a crowd of eager listeners simply because he was hoping to have the day with his own disciples. And a good God cannot leave sin unpunished simply because he wants to be liked. This is why knowing that Jesus will return as Judge should give us reason to pause and repent. Because a good God cannot tolerate bad, sinful behavior.

That’s the warning Jesus gives us in the final verse. (Jn. 5:29) Those who have done what is evil will be condemned. When we hear evil, we automatically think of horrendous crimes and heinous behavior. But the word Jesus uses here is really softer than that. There are lots of words for evil in Greek, but this one really just means substandard. Worthless. Empty. Trivial stuff. Those who live their lives focused on stuff that doesn’t matter and ignore the stuff that does matter will be condemned.

God’s love prompts him to speaks words of warning throughout the Scriptures. God’s Law is not his way of trying to micromanage us. It’s not God’s attempt to rob us of fun or pleasure or joy. God’s Law shows us what really matters in life.

Of course, since the fall into sin, every single one of us has a different approach toward the Law of God. We see different parts of God’s Law as unnecessary, unhelpful, and unreasonable. We have that approach because we cannot keep God’s Law—not because it is unreasonable but because we are incapable. Jesus tells us why. By nature, we are spiritually dead.

Gives Us Reason To Praise God & Reorient Our Lives

And our good God cannot see people spiritually dead and not do something. It wouldn’t be right! Since the fall into sin, God has been at his work of saving sinners, and this is the work Jesus came to accomplish.

In fact, this isn’t the first time that Jesus speaks about what his purpose in coming to this world was. Jesus came to move people from death to life. (Jn. 3:16-18) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

This is why Jesus taught, so that people would hear, know, and believe that he was the Son of God. This is why Jesus healed sick people, so that see, know, and believe that he was the Son of God.

But in order to give sinners eternal life and remain a good and right God, Jesus had to deal with the charges brought against us in the cosmic courtroom. Instead of condemning us for eternity, as we have earned and deserve, Jesus chose to personally pay for our sins. So he took our wickedness, our sin upon himself. All the times we lived life focused on the stuff that doesn’t really matter. All the times, we let our anger, our jealousy, our pride, our anxiety get the best of us. All the times we demonstrated character deficiencies and rank selfishness. All of the compounding interest of a lifetime of sins in thought, word, and deed. He paid for that on the cross. Because he is a good God. And a righteous God. God didn’t ignore the standard of righteousness. He met the standard in our stead. He was perfect in our place.

Jesus the Miracle-Worker was mocked on the cross. (Mt. 27:42) He saved others, but he can’t save himself they jeered. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him! they sneered. Jesus the Teacher was taunted as he suffered for our sins. (Mt. 27:43) He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said ‘I Am the Son of God.’ Jesus the Judge was shamefully and publicly executed as a criminal. The Son of God died, so that we might have eternal life and cross over from death to life.

You see Jesus the Miracle-Worker rose from the dead. Jesus the Teacher tasted death in our place, but the grave could not contain the Son of God. The (Gal. 1:1) Father raised him from the dead and gave him life, so that the Son might give life to you and me. (Jn. 5:26) For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

Even now, Jesus is giving you that life. Each time you read the Word of God, you hear the voice of the Son of God. You have crossed over from death to life. You have eternal life. And because you have eternal life, because you know what that cost the Author of life, your Lord and Savior, Jesus, you cannot live in a worthless way! (Rom. 6:4) Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

You have a different outlook. Life is not about achieving your dreams, or pursuing pleasure at every chance. Life comes from God and direction for life comes from God. You are God’s own child. So whatever God does, that’s what you do.

So how do you know what God does? You look to your brother, Jesus. Jesus loved God’s Word and spending time in God’s house. Jesus loved sinners—not because he loved their vices, but because he loved their souls. Jesus was patient and kind. He was tender-hearted and tough-minded. He lived with integrity and he was also merciful, gracious, forgiving and generous. And so are you, because God has given you his Word, he has created faith in your heart, and he has reoriented your life. Now you know and love Jesus the Miracle Worker, Jesus the Teacher, and Jesus the Judge and you are eager for his return, when you will hear his voice, and see his face and (Jn. 5:29) rise to live with him for eternity. Amen.