This morning I am meditating on some verses from John's Gospel - John 5:36-40 NIV:
[36] “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish---the very works that I am doing---testify that the Father has sent me. [37] And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, [38] nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. [39] You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, [40] yet you refuse to come to me to have life."
These verses come from a section where Jesus was being attacked for doing miraculous works on the Sabbath, and He is responding to His critics. It is sometimes amazing to me how clearly Jesus describes who He is, and yet they completely miss it. Here Jesus is saying that God sent Him to do great works, that God is His Father, that the scriptures speak about Him, that the miracles He works are a testimony that everything else He is saying is true, and they still don't believe He could possibly be the Messiah.
It seems that the Jewish leaders, who were criticizing Jesus, were more concerned about the rules than they were with people's well-being, with relationship with God, or anything. They were OK with Jesus if He stayed within the boundaries they set, or held themselves to, but anytime Jesus destroyed their expectations or trampled on their rules, they wanted to kill Him, or at least stop His ministry. It is amazing to me how quickly we, as humans, want to control God and limit Him to our rules.
Back to the verses, to me one of the main points that I see over and over again is the fact that "the very works that I am doing" (He had just healed a man who was an invalid for 38 years) are supposed to testify that God the Father sent Jesus. Said another way, the miracles validate His message, and identity. Just like in our society, when asked to prove our identity, we provide a drivers license or similar form of identification, when Jesus says He is from the Father, the id card He possesses is miracles, and other works. This was the primary purpose of the miracles (testifying to who Jesus was and bringing Glory to the Father), and I believe it should be the same today.
In my mind, I can't conceive of how we have gotten to a place where we think just spoken words, good programs, and moving music is doing the Father's work! The healing and miracles were often the result of Jesus' compassion in scripture, and here Jesus says that they were directed by the Father. Are we saying that God no longer has compassion for the sick, diseased or wounded, when we think God no longer does miracles or healings? Do we believe that God changed in His affections or the ways in which He worked?
It is interesting that the next point Jesus makes is that those Jewish leaders and teachers who study the scriptures, (those that consider themselves thinkers and educated) are missing the point completely. The scriptures don't contain eternal life, but they point to the one who does - Jesus! I think sometimes that we can settle for head knowledge about Jesus, knowing His teachings, knowing the tenets of our faith, understanding theology and miss the whole point - relationship with Jesus!
This goes back to the previous point I was making that Jesus seems to be confronting man's religion or thoughts about religion and is saying they are not enough! We must turn to Him, engage Him, have relationship with Him, for He is the source of life! When we press in past the clean religious rules and expectations and meet the person who is Jesus, the person who is the Holy Spirit, and the person who is the Father, and we enter into a real relationship with them, then we are really encountering life. Jesus says later in John's Gospel that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) so it only makes sense that we encounter Him when we pursue life. As we encounter Him, we will find that our clean and simple rules and expectations will be shattered, for He is a person, not a black & white rule book, and He is God, and His ways are not our ways!
So this morning I am encouraged to look at my life, to look at my beliefs, to look at my level of satisfaction regarding my church, my faith and experience. I am encouraged to look at these things and see if they are aligned more with the rule and practices of man's religion, or more the result of relationship with Jesus? Am I willing to settle for less than God desires me to experience and know? Am I believing that God still has compassion on the poor, the sick, the needy? Am I willing to be His representative, at work doing the works He shows me to do?
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