In Defense Of Jesus (John 5:1-30) Series

I started this series by saying that everything in life depends on getting Jesus right. So far in the book of John, we've read about how Jesus is the lamb of God, the preexistent one, the savior of the world. He is also God.

Now, how can Jesus be God, and the Father be God? Are there two Gods-- bi-theism? Does God switch back and forth, between being Jesus, and the Father, and the Spirit? Is Jesus equal to the Father? Or is the Father greater than he is?

At this point in church history, we are all in general agreement about how to explain these questions. But the answers the church has reached were fought through hard battles, as it tried to decide what views were okay for Christians to believe, and what views excluded you from Christ, and his church. And evidence of how difficult these issues are is found in the creeds, and in how much space they have to give to the questions of who Jesus is, and how he is related to the Father. Take the Nicene Creed for example:

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, [monotheism, not bi-theism]

Maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the only-begotten Son of God,

born of the Father before all ages,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

consubstantial with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit

was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried,

and rose again on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end. [Look at how much space Jesus gets compared to the Father]

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son he is adored and glorified.

He has spoken through the Prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins,

and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.

The early creeds were designed to serve two main purposes. The first was to teach Christians what was "orthodox" belief. What is it that you have to believe about the Trinity-- Father, Son, and Spirit?

The second was to exclude groups of people who didn't follow these teachings. There's lots of things about Jesus you can get wrong-- things that, if you believe them, exclude you from the church (and Jesus). Maybe you think that Jesus is only man. Or only God. Maybe you think he didn't really die. Maybe you think he is a created being. Maybe you think Jesus is God, distinctively from the Father being God. And so you hold to bi-theism, and not monotheism.

Our passage today, John 5:1-30, contains John's most detailed explanation of the relationship between God the Father, and God the Son. In it, Jesus (and AJ) addresses the two main (Judean) criticisms about himself. The first, is that Jesus is a sinner because he breaks the Sabbath. The second, is that Jesus makes himself equal to God-- and equality, in their minds, means independence from the Father.

Now, the story technically runs all the way from John 5:1 to the end of the chapter. But this is a huge chapter, and complicated, and talks about things that are at the heart of our faith. So today we will just do the first 30 verses.

One last thing-- I'm not really going to try to do much of an application today. Today, it will be enough just to better understand your Father, and your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Verse 1:

(1) After these things, there was a feast of the Judeans,

and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

When we read "after these things" in the gospel of John, that's AJ's signal to us that we are beginning a new episode (see 6:1). So there's a feast of the Judeans-- we aren't told which one, because it's not important-- and Jesus goes up to Jerusalem.

And at this point, we should understand what this means. Jerusalem is part of Judea, and the home of Judeans.

This is Jesus' home as well. But his own people (as a whole), we remember from the prologue, don't "receive/welcome" him (John 1:11). Nothing good happens to Jesus in Jerusalem.