The Authority of the Son
16 Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath day. So
the Jewish leaders began to oppose him. 17 Jesus
defended himself. He said to them, “My Father is always doing his work. He is
working right up to this day. I am working too.” 18 For
this reason the Jewish leaders tried even harder to kill him. According to
them, Jesus was not only breaking the law of the Sabbath day. He was even
calling God his own Father. He was making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus answered, “What I’m about to tell you is true.
The Son can do nothing by himself. He can do only what he sees his Father
doing. What the Father does, the Son also does. 20 This
is because the Father loves the Son. The Father shows him everything he does.
Yes, and the Father will show the Son even greater works than these. And you
will be amazed. 21 The Father raises the dead and
gives them life. In the same way, the Son gives life to anyone he wants
to. 22 Also, the Father does not judge anyone. He
has given the Son the task of judging. 23 Then all
people will honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son
does not honour the Father, who sent him.
24 “What I’m about to tell you is true. Anyone who hears
my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. They will not be judged.
They have crossed over from death to life. 25 What
I’m about to tell you is true. A time is coming for me to give life. In fact,
it has already begun. The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. Those who
hear it will live. 26 The Father has life in
himself. He has allowed the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And
the Father has given him the authority to judge. This is because he is the Son
of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this. A time is coming when all
who are in their graves will hear his voice. 29 They
will all come out of their graves. People who have done what is good will rise
and live again. People who have done what is evil will rise and be found
guilty. 30 I can do nothing by myself. I judge only
as I hear. And my judging is fair. I do not try to please myself. I try to
please the one who sent me.
Being a Witness About Jesus
31 “If I am a witness about myself, what I say is not
true. 32 There is someone else who is a witness in
my favour. And I know that what he says about me is true.
33 “You have sent people to John the Baptist. He has been
a witness to the truth. 34 I do not accept what a
person says. I only talk about what John says so that you can be saved. 35 John
was like a lamp that burned and gave light. For a while you chose to enjoy his
light.
36 “What I say about myself is more important than what
John says about me. I am doing the works the Father gave me to finish. These
works are a witness that the Father has sent me. 37 The
Father who sent me is himself a witness about me. You have never heard his
voice. You have never seen what he really looks like. 38 And
his word does not live in you. That’s because you do not believe the one he
sent. 39 You study the Scriptures carefully. You
study them because you think they will give you eternal life. The Scriptures
you study are a witness about me. 40 But you refuse
to come to me and receive life.
41 “I do not accept praise from human beings. 42 But
I know you. I know that you do not have love for God in your hearts. 43 I
have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me. But if someone else
comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 You
accept praise from one another. But you do not seek the praise that comes from
the only God. So how can you believe?
45 “Do not think I will bring charges against you in
front of the Father. Moses is the one who does that. And he is the one you
build your hopes on. 46 Do you believe Moses? Then
you should believe me. He wrote about me. 47 But
you do not believe what he wrote. So how are you going to believe what I say?”
The passage starts after
Jesus healed an invalid during Sabbath.
From Britannica
Dictionary
Sabbath, (from shavat, “cease,” or “desist”),
day of holiness and rest observed by Jews from sunset on Friday to nightfall of
the following day. The time division follows the biblical story of creation:
“And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5).
The sacredness of the
Sabbath has served to unite Jews during the long course of their history and
has been for them a joyous reminder of their perpetual Covenant with God. The prophets, nevertheless, often
found it necessary to remind the Jews of God’s commandment to keep holy the
Sabbath. Since abstention from work was fundamental to Sabbath observance, God
miraculously provided a double portion of manna (“bread from heaven”) on Friday so that the
Israelites would not be compelled to gather food on the Sabbath during their 40
years of wandering in the wilderness.
What did Moses say about Jesus?
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy (AncientGreek: Δευτερονόμιον, romanized: Deuteronómion, lit. 'secondlaw'; Latin: Liber Deuteronomii)[1] is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called Devarim (Biblical
Hebrew: דְּבָרִים, romanized: Dəḇārīm, lit. '[the] words [of Moses]') and the fifth book of the Christian Old Testament.
Chapters 1–30 of
the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the Plains of
Moab, shortly before
they enter the Promised
Land. The first
sermon recounts the forty
years of wilderness wanderings which had led to that moment and ended with an exhortation to observe the law. The second sermon reminds the Israelites of
the need to follow Yahweh and the laws (or teachings) he has given them, on which their
possession of the land depends. The third sermon offers the comfort that, even
should the nation of Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with
repentance all can be restored.[2]
Deuteronomy 18:15-22
14 The
nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or
divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted
you to do so. 15The Lord your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must
listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your
God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the
voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will
die.”
17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a
prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my
words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone
who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my
name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of
other gods, is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has
not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of
the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message
the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken
presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
Israel Biblical Studies
https://blog.israelbiblicalstudies.com/jewish-studies/bethesda-pool-jerusalem-shrine-asclepius/
There are many
good reasons to believe that this structure situated walking distance from the
back then walls of the city of Jerusalem was a healing center dedicated to
Greco-Roman god of well-being and health – Asclepius. Devotionl to Asclepius
was well spread through the lands dominated by Roman Empire. There were more
than 400 asclepeions (Asclepius-related facilities throughout empire),
functioning as healing centers and dispensers of the god’s grace and mercy
towards those in need). Asclepius was the god of medicine and health in ancient
Greek religion. The god’s mythical daughters, for example, included the
goddesses Hygeia and Panacea. We can hear in their Greek names our modern words
for “hygiene” and “panacea” – key concepts associated today with medicine and
health. Snakes were a key attribute of Asclepius’s cult of health and
healing. Even today, one of the key symbols of modern medicine is a stick with
a snake around it.
