Can I Get A Witness?

And the Father who sent me has Himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, John 5:37 ESV

In following the movement of the scripture, in John chapter 5, we’ve seen what should have been viewed as a time of celebration for both the entire Jewish Community and Jesus - (as the Messiah has revealed Himself); but we find that the time of celebration became a time of confusion; what should have been a time of delight has become a time of debate; what should have been a time of amazement has become a time of intense argument between the Jewish Leaders and Jesus.

John 5:1-15; Jesus visits the Pool at Bethesda located in Jerusalem to celebrate one of the Jewish Feast. While at the Pool, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath who had been lame (an invalid) for 38 years. One would think that a sick person being healed would carry more importance vs. the day on which he was healed - (I’m just saying)

In performing this miracle on the Sabbath;

Jesus is re-establishing the correct intent for worship. Worship should raise out of the heart of man - thus filling the entire body.

John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Woman at the Well)

Jesus is re-directing the public’s minds back to the Father of all creations. Away from the temporal things of life, away from the pool at Bethesda, away from the angels and away from the troubling of the waters. All this means nothing without the movement of God.

In the account of the Pool of Bethesda, the Bible says: John 5:2-3 “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.”

Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says:“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” (Jewish Leaders and their view of the Sabbath)

John 4:48 "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe.” (Nobleman)

Jesus is re-claiming His authority over all beings (both celestial and human) the angels and man, over nature and sickness, and over the Sabbath.

Hebrews 1:5-6 “For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father?” Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

So this should have been a time for celebration, a time for worship, a time for praise and a time for thanksgiving - for the awaited Messiah has arrived.

But no, that’s not the case. We learn in John 5:16-30 that the Jewish Leaders engaged in an all out attack on Jesus, challenging His Divinity; John 5:18 “For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

In this dialogue with the leaders of the church, Jesus introduces the power shift that has taken place in the Kingdom Of Heaven (between the Father and the Son).

John 5:22-23 “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.”

John 5:27 “And He has given Him authority to judge because He is the Son of Man.”

Quote: “Sometimes you have to give up on people, not because you don’t care, but because they don’t care.”

This moves us into our text for this morning as we prepare to close out John chapter 5.

Seeing that the Jewish Leaders refused to comprehend or lacked the capacity to comprehend what Jesus was teaching; Jesus shifts the conversation from a highly spiritual conversation to one that they “ought” to understand. Allowing others to stand as witnesses to the things which He was says. (Explain historical perspective - having two to three witnesses to testify on ones behalf.)

To be clear, Jesus did not need others fo testify on His behalf, but since the religious leaders were inept in their ability to comprehend, Jesus make the transition for their sake - this not unlike His trek from Heaven to Earth, his lifestyle adjustment was for our sake.