Word to the Wise
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 - Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent
[Isaiah 49:8-15 and John 5:17-30]]Jesus answered the Jews: "My father is at work until now, so I am at work." For this reason they tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.
If one does something that disturbs the status quo in a culture of faith, one had better be ready to explain by what authority one does this. The incident in yesterday's gospel in which Jesus heals the man who had been paralyzed 38 years on a sabbath leads to a question about his authority to break the sabbath. On another level, (and it is typical of the Gospel of John to have several levels of meaning going on at the same time) it is a question of how Jesus gives "life." After all, he has given new "life" to the paralytic! All of this is intertwined with the question of Jesus' identity. The discourse which follows the healing of the paralytic raises the ante considerably. The argument is roughly this: rabbinic authority admitted that God did not completely rest on the sabbath, because otherwise everything living thing would disappear! God holds all creation in being. If so, then the law against "work" on the sabbath did not apply to God. If Jesus is claiming he can "work" on the sabbath and that God is his father, then he is claiming to be God! That was an awesome thing to claim, and to some Jews it was impossible and furthermore blasphemous. They simply could not accept Jesus as the Son of God. The penalty for blasphemy was death and so they began to look for ways to get rid of Jesus. The dramatic tension will continue to build in the gospel till the events of the Passover (Holy Week). The previous "signs" of healing the Royal Official's son and the paralyzed man are meant to show that Jesus' word gives life. But Jesus goes on to another level by saying in the discourse that follows by saying: Amen, amen, I say to you,whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life...." In short, to believe in Jesus and his word and that he has come from the Father is to actually experience what heaven means! All of this might seem like an ancient abstract argument if it didn't raise questions for us today. What DO we actually believe about Jesus? Do we believe that our faith in him is equivalent to experiencing heaven? (We do tend to think of heaven as a place rather than a relationship!) Do we really believe Jesus is God and not God in a human costume? (Lots of ancient heresies on this occasionally show up in modern Christological debate!). Even if the Gospel of John reflects the theological debate of its time and the conflict between Christian and Jewish beliefs, it still presents the core of Jesus' claims - claims that got him killed. He claimed not only to give physical life but also eternal life. If we believe this, then we are already in heaven. No wonder his listeners were either thrilled or appalled! Which way do we feel? AMEN
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