19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[a] does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.
Introduction
Verse 18, the Jews Hatred, and the Issue of Authority
After the miracle at Bethesda on the Sabbath and the confrontation with the Jews, we saw in verse 18, a couple weeks ago, the Jews hatred of Jesus. Why did they hate him? Not simply because He was healing on the Sabbath, but He was calling God His own Father and making Himself equal with God. He was claiming divine authority in doing what He did. In verse 17 Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working,” which is very similar language to the words that He says in verse 19-20.
So to put our finger on the problem: the fundamental issue for the Jews who hated Jesus is the issue of authority. Essentially their accusatory question they put to Jesus, in so many of their conflicts, is, “by what authority?” “By what authority do you do these things?” Indeed, this is the right question to be asking. This is truly the heart of the issue – the issue of authority. The Sabbath issue was merely an out-working of the authority issue. Jesus was undermining the authority of men – their traditions and man made applications – not simply for the sake of undermining authority, but to do what was right, based upon a higher authority, indeed the highest authority.
This age old issue of authority could not be more relevant today. You may be aware that I’m speaking the language of what we call “presuppositional apologetics” – which has its greatest contrast when in discussion with so called atheists – and rightly so. However, Jesus is not speaking to atheists here. He is dealing with a very religious people. Yet, this issue of authority is still fundamental, front and center. And really that’s always the fundamental issue. By what authority? Indeed, in religious disputes throughout history, the issue of authority is the issue. This is one of the essential points of disputation between Protestants and Roman Catholics – by what authority? By Popes? By Church Fathers? By Tradition? By the Word of God plus those things? Or by Scripture Alone? Same fundamental issue with almost all other false religions. Whether its Islam or Mormonism or something else, those religions are built upon some prophet receiving a revelation or vision from God or an angel or what have you, that goes beyond and in contradiction to the Scripture. Even amongst Protestants today, in many cases, even though we may profess to believe in Sola Scriptura, its very easy to let emotion or experience trump proper exegesis. Even on down to the level of the individual Christian. Our sin struggle is often a struggle with authority. We know what is right, but the question is: are we going to obey God or disobey God? When we obey we are standing on God’s authority; when we disobey we are standing on man’s authority – our authority.
So, we will seek to ask and the answer the question: “By what Authority does Jesus heal on the Sabbath?” We will seek to answer it according to what Jesus himself said in verse 19-20a.
As you will notice verse 19 begins a lengthy monologue, or sermon, or testimony by Jesus. It is not recorded for us what the Jews said to Jesus in order to incite this testimony from Jesus, but we know that Jesus is speaking to them, for verse 19 begins by saying, “Jesus said to them…” Verse 17-18 gives a sufficient explanation as to the general tenor of their complaint against Jesus, as we have discussed: they were persecuting Him and seeking to kill him because of His claims to divine sonship and divine authority. Indeed, these are not merely claims by Jesus, but revelation, that He is the divine Son with Divine authority. Thus the hatred. So this is what Jesus is responding to.
By What Authority does Jesus Heal on the Sabbath?
By Divine Sonship
Jesus is showing His authority by revealing that He is the Divine Son. As the Divine Son sent from the Father, He has an authority higher than the authority of man, and the Jews must obey Him – this they recognize. This is a theme in many great stories of Kings and castles and dragon slaying. There is a son of the King who has a right to authority that everyone recognizes, because he is the king’s son.
There is a great scene in the Fellowship of the Ring, where Elrond is having a council with various representatives of Middle Earth about what to do with the one ring that has been discovered. At one point Boromir, who is from Gondor, stands up, and he wants the ring to be given to Gondor, to use against Sauron and Mordor, the enemy. Aragorn then speaks up and says that no man can wield this ring, for it only answers to Sauron. Boromir responds by saying “and what does a ranger know about the ring of power!?” To which, Legolas stands up and says, “This is no mere ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance.” Aragorn was the heir of Isildur who in ages past was the King of Gondor, and thus Aragorn was the heir to the throne of Gondor. Which Gondor at that time had no king and was ruled by a steward, who Boromir was a son of. In that scene, once Legolas reveals who Aragorn is, Boromir realizes the authority of Aragorn, but he as he sits down in disgust over this, he says quietly, “Gondor has no King. Gondor needs no King.” Oh how similar this was to the Jews, when the rightful King of the Jews comes, they wanted Him crucified and responded, “We have no king but Caesar!” But I love what Legolas says there, “This is no mere ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance.”
We of course, are not trying to give an analogy of the Trinity with this example, but simply showing a small picture of the force of Jesus revealing that He is the Son of God, and the anger that it sends these Jewish leaders into, because it undermined theirs.
By Unity with the Father
By revealing Himself as the Son of God, He is revealing that He is one with the Father, and He says so even more clearly in other places. As Son and one with the Father, He has authority as that of the Father, as they are one, and as the Son is the revelation of the Father, as we have seen earlier in John’s Gospel.
Jesus says, “the Son can do nothing of his own accord.” This is a great testimony to the unity and necessity of the Trinity. There is a classic debate that took place years ago been presuppositionalist Greg Bahnsen and atheist Gordon Stein. In the debate Bahnsen says that he is not arguing for a generic deity, but specifically, the Trinitarian Christian God of the Bible. That’s so important for us as Christians – to be Christians in the way that we talk about God. So why do I say that Jesus’ statement, “the Son can do nothing of his own accord” is a great testimony to the unity and necessity of the Trinity? Well, put that statement by other statements in John’s gospel such as John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” The Son can do nothing of his own accord, yet all things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. We’re beginning to see the importance of Trinitarian theology.
“The Son can do nothing of his own accord.” By this He means that the Son does not act upon a will that is independent of the Father. Jesus is saying, “These things that I am doing, the Father is doing.” Jesus is not doing things independently of the Father. This of course is a big statement against the accusations of the Jews.
There are no rogue persons of the trinity.
In verse 19 Jesus says that the Son does “only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” Now of course the question may arise in our minds, “How do they do the same works?”
Well in one sense this is where we see the teaching that The Father decrees, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies. That’s the working of salvation. The Father decrees that the Son would die for His people, the Son then accomplishes that by actually dying for His people, and the Spirit applies the work of Christ to the individual, granting the new birth and regeneration. So we can truly say, “we are saved by God,” and “we are saved by Jesus.”
God is saving His people; Jesus is saving His people. They are united in their mission. There is authority in that.
By Obedience to the Father
The Son does all that the Father shows Him.
What does the Father show Him? All that he himself is doing.
In context of the conversation and Sabbath miracle at hand, Jesus is basically saying, “the signs you see me doing on the Sabbath are what the Father is doing and decreeing for me to do.”
The Heart of the Issue with Jesus and the Jews was the Issue of Authority
How did Jesus approach the issue?
In the divine claims of authority that Jesus makes, He is both establishing His ground of authority, and pulling there’s out from under them – or more accurately, exposing their lack of authority for doing and teaching the things that they were doing and teaching. They claimed to do and teach what they did by divine authority, but they were exposed as standing on the traditions of men. So when we come to the issue of authority, we are getting to the heart of the issue, and it’s a two-fold process – we expose the other person’s foundation and establish our own. Doug Wilson has a great little line on this, he says, “We don’t just want to listen to someone talk, we want to look at their feet [to see what they’re standing on.]”
Application
Our Authority
We, as Christians, have authority to do what the Son has given us to do. What has the Son left us to do? What was the last thing he left us to do? Matthew 28, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” In His last command, He grounded our commission in His authority. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go…” So as we go forth discipling the nations we do so on the authority of Christ. Not just this command of course, but all the things that God has left us to do. And really, everything else we are commanded to do, generally, in some way would fall under the banner of the great commission. Part of discipling the nations includes discipling your children. It includes loving your wife. It includes worshiping in spirit and truth, not tied to a location, but now in all nations, Christ must be worshiped. It includes us being obedient to all Christ has commanded us, not just us telling others to obey. We are part of the nations that must obey. So whether it is bold gospel preaching in the open air public square or quiet obedience in your home, it is done on the authority of Christ – someone says “stop,” we say “no; we are doing that which Christ hath commanded us.” When we are opposed, we are not opposed on legitimate authority. Even if its as formal as the government saying, “you can no longer teach Christian sexual ethics,” it’s a demand made on an illegitimate authority, and so we disobey that command because we are standing on a higher, transcendent authority – that of the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ.
We do not act on our own accord, meaning according to our own will that is independent from God.
What we do we do standing on the authority of Christ. We are like sons and daughters of the king, and when we are out and about in the Kingdom, we stand on the authority of the King. Harm us at your own risk.
When we stand on God’s authority, people will hate us, because they hate God.
Why do they hate God? Because they love their sin. And His authority undermines their sin.
Do you struggle with this in any area? Are you covering for sin?
Like Jesus, we can take comfort in the fact that God loves us despite the world’s hatred. I love what Matthew Henry says, on verse 20, “Christ was now hated of men, open whom the nation abhorred; but he comforted himself with this, that his Father loved him.” Christian, let us be comforted with that same comfort.
Conclusion
Verse 20a: “The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing…” – the cross. Because the Father loved the Son, He showed Him the cross – He showed Him our names – and Christ went there on the authority of the Father to save His people. And He purchased us with the authority of God – the authority above all authority.
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