Remain in me (John 15:1-17)

Jesus is preparing us for his death. What we have in Chapters 13 to 16 is one long conversation between Jesus and his disciples about what life will be like after he is gone. They don’t fully understand everything he says at this point. Jesus says he is going away. He says where he is going they can’t follow. At this point, the disciples are emotional – they are confused – but step by step, Jesus is preparing them for what lies ahead.

Of course, we know that Jesus will rise again after three days; and yes, we know that even now Christ reigns in heaven at God’s right hand. But it is significant that Jesus chooses this moment with his friends – just before he leaves, just before the cross – to explain what it means for them to remain in him. He could have said this after. But no, his words make the most sense here.

“Remain in me.”

It is remaining in Jesus in between the times. For them it was the time between the cross and the resurrection. For us, it might be between this Sunday and next weekend. The in-between times are the times when we are tempted, when we will be intimidated; when we are alone and Jesus seems far away. Jesus says to us during such times: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.”

This is more than loyalty. This is intimacy with Jesus that is tangible and real – that keeps us faithful to him and abiding in him. And what we find in in John 15 is a clear command to pursue such intimacy, to maintain such a connection with Jesus.

1. Remain in me

Jesus begins with his own connection with the Father.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

John 15:1

More than Father and Son, God is a gardener and Jesus is the vine. This gardener is constantly cutting away at the branches of the vine.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

John 15:2

That sounds painful. Can’t God leave me alone to be fruitful on my own? All I need are the raw ingredients (from Jesus, of course) but I want to do this on my own. Jesus reminds us that God is a gardener who snips away at every area of our lives. Snip here. Snip, snip there. God only does this to fruitful branches to make them even more fruitful.

That’s still painful, isn’t it? Yet Jesus says pruning can be reassuring.

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

John 15:3

Here is where the footnotes help us out. “The Greek (word) for prunes also means cleans.” It is making a connection between pruning and cleansing – one done by God in verse 2; the other done by Jesus’ word in verse 3 – a connection between our salvation and sanctification.

In other words, pruning is not punishment. If Christ died to take all your punishment on the cross, therefore, there is now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Pruning can’t be punishment because there is no punishment left for those in Christ.

But if you are in Christ, you will be pruned. God will use every painful circumstance, every painful situation to make you more and more like Jesus. According to verse 3, he will keep pruning you because you have already been pruned (or cleansed; same Greek word) in Jesus Christ. God sanctifies all whom Jesus saves. He wants us to be fruitful.

“Endure hardship as discipline,” might sounds like something my Mum in Malaysia would say, but it’s actually from Hebrews Chapter 12, verse 7: “God is treating you as sons.” Jesus is saying the same thing: Don’t fall away. The hardest thing you could experience as a Christian is nothing less than the pruning of God’s love. It means he loves you as a daughter. It means he loves you as a son.

It is this specific context of pruning in which Jesus says, “Remain in me.”

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

John 15:4

Many read this as Jesus’ call to endurance in the face of suffering. “Remain in me,” sounds like, “Endure hardship.” (In Cantonese, it’s “Teng Chui” or in Malay, “Tahan”). Later, Jesus warns that the world will hate them (John 15:18), persecute them (John 15:20), even kill them thinking they are doing a service to God (John 16:2). But that’s describing the world’s hatred resulting in hardship. The difference is, here, Jesus is talking about the Father’s love that leads us to fruitfulness.

Friends, the greatest temptation to fall away is never hardship; it is in hardship that we learn dependence and humility. No, the greatest temptation to fall away from Christ is our self-sufficiency. It’s saying, “I can do this on my own. I don’t need to be pruned or cleansed.”

It’s when you understand that God wants you to holy, but you respond, “I don’t want to be holy.” It’s when you understand that God wants you to be fruitful, but you respond, “I don’t need the pressure.” It’s when you finally get that God loves you, that he will never leave you in your sin; he will keep turning you back to Jesus, but you respond, “I don’t want to change.” That’s when we will be tempted to think life will be easier if we just took a break from God. That’s when we will be tempted to think we might be more effective, more fruitful if we just tried things our own way.

Self-sufficiency is the basis of self-deception. “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

Older translations have “Abide in me.” That’s because “remain” and “abide” are residential terms (Greek: “meno,” meaning to dwell, where we get “mansion”). It’s where you live. It’s your address – where you hang out and do your laundry – though it’s rare these days for people to live in one spot. We move from place to place – for study, for work, for holiday. Some of us do that with churches and relationships. We are mobile.

But Colossians 2:6 calls us to plant ourselves in Christ. To stay put. “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him.” It is a picture of a tree, planted in one spot, taking root and growing in fruitfulness. It is the call to abide in Christ. To remain in him.

2. Remain in my words

This picture of God as the gardener as Jesus as the vine is not new. Have a look at Psalm 80:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;

You drove out the nations and planted it.

You cleared the ground for it,

And it took root and filled the land.

Psalm 80:8-9

In the Old Testament, the vine of God equates to the people of God. It’s not something new – not to Jews or anyone who knew their bibles (see Isaiah 5). That’s why Jesus tells a parable about vineyards and everyone gets that he’s talking about them (and why they get offended in Matthew 20 and 21). Here in Psalm 80, the vine is transplanted out of slavery into a place God prepares for his people. It’s talking about Israel. It’s talking about them.

But now Jesus says, “I am the true vine,” in verse 1. And in verse 5, he turns to his disciples saying, “You are the branches.” What is he saying? Jesus is the true Israel and his disciples are God’s true people. If you are connected to Jesus, you get in. If you are disconnected from him, you get kicked out.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown in the fire and burned.

John 15:5-6

If ever there was a more chilling picture of death; it is verse 6: to be discarded, dried up, picked up, thrown into fire and burned. It is a picture of death, judgement, rejection, condemnation; it is a picture of Hell. And yet, the point is: the branch was dead the moment it detached itself from the vine.

It’s like the fresh food section at Sainsburys. You look for the juiciest fruit and the freshest veg but what you are looking at are dead things. They were dead the moment they were plucked. They were dead the moment they were detached from the source of life. That’s Jesus’ point. Dead things don’t look dead. Disconnecting from Jesus might not seem a big deal now but it is. You are detaching yourself from the source of life.

Ephesians 2 says we were dead in the sins in which we used to live. Death is not a destination but a direction in life. When we walk away from God, when we live as if we were God, the bible calls us the walking dead (Some of us are thinking: zombies, others are thinking: condemned criminals. The walking dead are those who are unresponsive to God, whose senses are dead to his love). The same passage from Ephesians goes on to tell us how God made us alive in Christ while we were still dead in our sins. He raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms. Finally, he created good works for us as Christians to walk in. We have a new direction in life, no longer living for ourselves but living in obedience to his will.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

John 15:7-8

Life in Jesus comes from obedience to Jesus. To have Jesus’ words remain in us means more than memorising bible verses. It is talking about obedience to his commands. It is walking according to his will. This is why we can ask whatever we wish and it will be given us. We are praying in accordance with God’s will.

Having said that, it is his word that enables us to know his will. Earlier, we saw how Jesus cleansed his disciples through the word spoken to them (verse 3). In verse 25, Jesus says, “All this I have spoken while still with you.” That is, Jesus’ commands were entrusted to his disciples as his spoken word, passed down to us in his written word, the bible.

So to have Jesus’ words remain in us does mean more than memorising the words of the bible because it means obeying words of the bible (in which case, memorising helps!). Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” The blessing is for those who take his words to heart, for those who obey his commands.

3. Remain in my love

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed by Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

John 15:9-11

What does it mean to remain in Christ, the true vine? What does it mean to pursue intimacy with God? To experience the reality of his love?

The answer is: Obedience. Verse 10: If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. What it means to remain, to have his word remain and to remain in his love is simply to obey his commands.

Jesus connects obedience with love (verse 10); obedience with joy (verse 11). Yet if we are honest, obedience disconnects us from God. Being told to do stuff doesn’t sound loving. Obedience does not overwhelm me with emotion. Some of us were searching for that mystical connection, that experience that lifts our spirits to the heavens. Some of us would rather retreat to the mountains to meditate and be alone with God. That’s what we thought it meant to remain in him, to remain in his love.

But no, Jesus says it’s obedience. Why? Because obedience to his Father’s commands is why Jesus died on the cross. Obedience is the key to understanding his love.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no-one than this; that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from the Father I have made known to you.

John 15:12-15

The command is to love like Jesus, to love our brothers and sisters in Jesus and to love sacrificially as Jesus loved us: “Greater love has no-one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends”. Distilling down further, Jesus is telling us to love in such a way that it points others to his love. It is love that points to the gospel as the ultimate display of God’s love for us in Christ.

Twice, Jesus says to us, “As I have loved you… as I have loved you.” The first time he says this in verse 9, he is demonstrating the Father’s love. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” The second time in verse 12, we are demonstrating Jesus’ love. “Love each other as I have loved you.” This is an upward, directing love. It is love that points to a greater love – the greatest love, in fact, according to verse 13 – that Christ demonstrated on the cross.

Two implications of this command. Firstly, it’s helpful. My love for my brothers and sisters will always, always be a subset of Christ’s love for them. It doesn’t mean I can get away with being stingy with my love. It’s not an excuse for being choosy with whom I love. But what makes this so helpful is the fact that I’m always pointing back to his love, his sacrifice and his obedience on the cross.

But secondly, it’s humbling. Jesus calls us his friends. It’s one thing to be humbled by a boss who puts you in your place by ordering you around and keeps in the dark about the details but this is different kind of humbling. Jesus commands us to do nothing that he himself has not already done. Jesus lets us in on the Father’s business, indeed, everything he learned from his Father he makes known to us as his friends. Meaning: Jesus wants us to be just like him, to work alongside him and to enjoy the same benefits he has received from obeying his Fathers commands.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love one another.

John 15:16-17

Abide with me

“Abide with me” is a hymn commonly sung by soldiers in the trenches during the First World War. Looking at the lyrics, you can understand why. It’s a prayer for God to be near us, to stay with us in times of darkness and helplessness.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;

The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.

When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Friends, what we have in John 15 is Jesus saying these words to us. The Lord was just moments away from facing his own darkness and Hell. In his last few moments with his friends, he says to them, “Remain in me.” The difference is he says this not for his own comfort but for ours. Jesus’ main concern is that we remain in him.

If you are in the trenches now, you need to know that Jesus is right there with you. He hasn’t moved away. He is and has always been by your side. The question is: Are you abiding in him? Is his word living inside of you? And are you abiding in his love?

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
John 15:4

Life in the Son (John 5:16-30)

The purpose of the Sabbath

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working. For this reason the Jews tried to all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

John 5:16-18

●     “These things” that Jesus was doing on the Sabbath (verse 16) build on the event of the miraculous healing at the pool of Bethesda (verses 1 to 15). The phrase indicates that the healing of the paralysed man was not an isolated event. Jesus had developed a pattern of healing - and as the religious authorities understood it, a pattern of ‘working’ - on the Sabbath day. Because of this, the religious leaders set out to persecute Jesus (verse 16), even to the extent of plotting to kill him (verse 18).

●     This latter section of John 5 forms an extended defence Jesus presents against the charge of breaking the Sabbath law. “Jesus answered them” (verse 17 in the ESV, not merely “said to them” in the NIV; once again in verse 19: “Jesus therefore answered them.” Greek: apekrinato) Jesus is giving a direct, point-by-point defence of his ‘work’ on the Sabbath, answering his critics amongst the religious leadership of the Jews.

●     The main thesis of Jesus’ defence is the working relationship he shares with his Father. “My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”

●     It is worth noticing that Jesus does not appeal to any loopholes in the Sabbath law, such as he does in Matthew Chapter 12.

He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:11-12)

In healing the paralysed man, Jesus was “doing good in the Sabbath”, something that was permissible according to the religious leaders’ own understanding and practice of the law. Yet, Jesus does not appeal to this legal loophole.

●     Rather, Jesus presents a picture of God’s continuing, never-ceasing work in sustaining the created order. “My Father is always at work… to this very day.” This statement introduces a dilemma: for God himself commands his people to rest on the Sabbath, citing his own example of creating the universe in six days and then resting on the seventh. In other words, the call is to imitate God’s pattern of work and rest.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8)

●     Yet, here Jesus claims to be truly imitating his Father, not in resting on the Sabbath, but by working. How can this be? In truth, the text does not tell us. It may be that Jesus is appealing to the Jewish scholar’s own prevailing understanding of God’s continuing work in sustaining the created order, without which, all life was cease to exist.

●     Rather than breaking the Sabbath law (as the Jews understood Jesus’ actions to be doing - verse 18), it seems evident from Jesus’ own position that he is fulfilling the Sabbath law. In the same way that the very first Sabbath was a culmination of God’s masterpiece in creating the heavens and the earth, so subsequent Sabbath markers - the pattern of rest instituted by the Decalogue; the entry into the Promised Land; the hint yet another form of God’s rest found in Psalm 95 - point us forward to a greater accomplishment - one seen not in the present created order but in a renewed creation.

●     Elsewhere, Jesus declares himself the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). Here we learn that Jesus is not simply one who stands over the regulations of the Sabbath as its Lord, but the one who works to bring about a new Sabbath; a new conclusion to God’s plan in redemption and salvation. It is in this sense that Jewish leaders are right in sensing that he was “making himself equal with God.” (verse 18) Jesus was equating his work - of preaching, teaching, healing; ultimately in his dying on the cross - to God’s work in creation, though readers of John’s gospel know that it was through the co-eternal Word that this creation came to being in the first place (John 1:3)!

The love of the Father

Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

John 6:19

●     Verses 19 to 23 present four statements, each beginning with the word “for” (Greek: gar).
Verse 19: For whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Verse 20: For the Father loves the Son...
Verse 21: For just as the Father raises the dead… even so the Son gives life.
Verse 22: For indeed the Father judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgement to the Son.

●     In these four statements, Jesus is presenting four implications of his Sabbath work. Remembering that the theme of the Sabbath is the end-goal of the God’s work in creation, so these four statements point us towards God’s purpose for his new creation to be accomplished through Jesus.

●     More importantly, these four statements reveal an intimacy that Jesus shares with his Father - his working relationship, if you like. They give us a glimpse into the eternal fellowship shared between God the Father and God the Son, in terms of headship and submission; in terms of glory and self-denial.

●     In the first purpose statement, Jesus reveals his complete and utter dependence on his Father. “For whatever the Father does the Son also does.” The Son can do nothing by himself, he is completely and willingly dependent on his Father. In so doing, Jesus is revealing the Father to us. John 1:18 - “No-one has ever seen God, but God the one and only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” He says to Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” (John 14:9) elaborating still, “It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:10)

●     In the second purpose statement, Jesus reveals his Father’s love for him. I might even call this, the Father’s passion for his Son. I say that because this is a love that God wants us to take notice of; especially to Jesus’ critics, God would have them bow down in amazement before such love.

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.

John 5:20

●     God the Father’s initiative in revealing his plan to Jesus is a measure of his love for his Son. The picture is that of a father sharing his trade skills with son, passing on his experience and knowledge to his son, handing over, as it were, the family business to his firstborn.

●     What this looks like in terms of the role and responsibilities that the Son will inherit from his Father is seen in the following two purpose statements.

For just as the Father raises the dead and give them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

John 5:21

●     The third purpose statement deals with the theme of final resurrection. This is God’s power to raise the dead to life again, something the Jews understood as God’s sole prerogative to be exercised at the end of the age. Jesus says the the Father has handed over this role to the Son, such that the Son is able to “give life to whom he is pleased to give it.”

●     To the paralysed man by the pool of Bethesda, Jesus doesn’t merely say to him, “Be healed!” Rather the actual command that issues from Jesus’ lips is “Rise up!” - an indicator of Jesus’ authority not simply to heal a disease but to bring life out of the dead.

●     The fact that Jesus performs this miracle on the Sabbath - on the seventh and last day - is precisely meant to sharpen this expectation. His words will be heard on the last day; these are words that call forth obedience from both the living and the dead.

Moreover, the Father judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgement to the Son, that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father.

John 5:22-23

●     The fourth and final purpose clause deal with God’s final judgement, which God the Father has fully entrusted to the Son. “The Father judges no-one,” Jesus says, “but has entrusted all judgement to the Son.”

●     Notice the reason why: That all may honour the Son as they honour the Father. Our response to Jesus today is linked to Jesus’ response to us on that final judgement day. Indeed, our response to Jesus reveals our true inner heartfelt response to God the Father. “He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father.”

●     Now John 3:17 makes it clear that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus was not sent to bring final condemnation. He was sent by God the Father to bring salvation.

●     And yet, John 3:18 is equally clear that our response to Jesus is a sure indicator of that final verdict - “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

●     God has entrusted all judgement to the Son so that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father.

●     Jesus presents four purpose statements outlining four implications of his Sabbath work. (1) He is completely dependant on his Father; doing only what the Father does, and nothing else. (2) He is completely loved by his Father, receiving the rights and the responsibilities of the ‘family’ business. (3) He has the right to raise the dead to life; a prerogative reserved for God alone at the end-time. (4) Jesus will stand as God’s chosen judge over the living and the dead. All will stand before his judgement throne on that final day.

●     These four purpose statements form the end-goal of his Father’s work in salvation and redemption. They point us to a new Sabbath rest: when all glory will go to Jesus; when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord.

●     From the importance of heeding his work, Jesus now turns to the importance of hearing his word. He brings forward that final day to say to us: Listen! Hear and respond to his salvation today!

The voice of the Son

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

John 5:24

●     Jesus is calling for a response. He has just presented us with his answers to our objections: He really is God’s beloved Son. He really has the power to raise the dead to life. But here he says to us: Will you therefore listen to my voice?

●     “Whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me,” Jesus says, “has eternal life.” Now, these are not two responses but one. Jesus is not saying (1) Hear what I’m saying; and (2) Believe in God who sent me. No, the two statements form one single response. Meaning this: To hear Jesus’ words equates to believing God. To hear Jesus voice means you are hearing God’s voice speaking to you. It is one and the same. What is Jesus saying? Pay attention!

●     What is at stake is no less than eternal life: “he will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” That is the language of conversion. Becoming a Christian means crossing over from death to life, and Jesus is saying, it’s not something that might or might not happen in the future; he says, “If you hear my word, that’s done!” His word causes the dead to come to life!

●     The amazing thing about these verses - that would have shocked his hearers at the time - is how Jesus brings forward to the present day a reality the Jewish leaders expected to happen only at the end of time. Jesus says, “A time is coming and has now come…”

I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.

John 5:25-26

●     The power that Jesus exercises in raising the dead to life, according to these verses, is seen - not in the future - it is seen today in believers who hear his voice and receive life from the Son. All that Jesus was talking before about the culmination of the work of God in the bringing glory to his Son - that’s happening right now. The dead will hear his voice and those who hear, Jesus says, will live.

●     When we open the bible each week here at the Chinese Church, we are asking Jesus to make this happen: To bring the dead to life! Only his word can do this. No amount of counselling, no amount of singing, no amount of cooking can bring dead people to life. But Jesus says his words can raise the dead to eternal life.

●     But what kind of life is this? Verse 26 tells us the Father has life in himself, that is, God is the source of all life. He has life in and of himself. He is the author and sustainer of life; whilst we receive life from him. He sustains us in our very being, he gives us every breath, he holds the universe together by his will. God alone is the author and sustainer of all life. That much makes sense, doesn’t it?

●     Why then does verse 26 go on to say, “so he has granted the Son to have life in himself”? Either the Son is like God - he has life in himself. Or the Son is unlike God - and has to be granted/given life. Which is it?

●     I think this, admittedly confusing, statement on life from God is there to help us to understand what it means when Jesus says offers us “eternal” life. It is life that is not independent of God. It’s not the permission to carry on living our life away from God, to do whatever we want with our lives. The life that Jesus has is the life that he shares with his Father, in the same way, that your life is not an independent measure of time you’ve spent on earth but a fullness derived from your relationship with God and the people around you. Jesus has life in and of himself (he isn’t a created being and has the ability to grant life) but at the same time, his is a life lived in complete love and unity and co-existence with the Father. That’s the life he offers us through his word.

●     The question is: Will you respond to this offer of life today? The alternative is that final day when all will hear his voice and rise to face Jesus, not to receive salvation and life, but rather, to face judgement and even, death.

And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done good will rise to life, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

John 5:27-30

●     When Jesus commands the paralysed man to rise up (Greek: egeire), pick up his mat and walk, it is a glimpse into a future certainty when Jesus will say to each one of us “Rise up!” “Do not be surprised at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice.” Both good and bad, Jesus tells us, will respond to that call, some to life, others to condemnation. On that day, it will no longer be a question of faith or repentance, but obedience and accountability to the judge of all the living and the dead.

●     Verse 27 calls Jesus the Son of Man, probably an allusion to the Son of Man in Daniel Chapter 7 who receives all authority and power from the Ancient of Days. God hands over the keys to Jesus. Jesus has the final word on salvation and condemnation.

●     His judgement is completely fair. “My judgement is just,” Jesus says in verse 30, “for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”

●     And Jesus prefaces this picture of the final judgement with these words, “Do not be amazed at this,” as a way of saying, “You should have seen this coming.” From the account of the healing of the paralysed man. From the hearing of the gospel. Don’t be amazed.

●     But also, Jesus seems to be saying, Don’t use this as an excuse.

●     We put off thinking seriously about who Jesus is and how we should respond to him. Either we respond to his word today - a word that speaks forgiveness and life - or, we foolishly wait till that final day. “Do not be amazed,” Jesus says, when that final day comes.

●     I have been preaching in the Chinese Church three years now. This is my last sermon to you as a council member. Each week, I have tried to make this book - the bible - the centre of all we do and who we are. Not the food. Not the music. Not the fellowship and events. This book. These are the words of eternal life, friends, and my intention in opening to the scriptures each and every time we meet is so that we - you and I together - can hear Jesus speaking to us. It is so that he can speak life into our dead hearts. It is so that he can reveal his Father to us, each time we hear these words read. Each time we take heed and obey his instruction. It is so that you and I can hear our the voice of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ - and have life in the Son.

●     Jesus says, and I will close with his words, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”

Those who hear will live (John 5:1-30)

Pathetic

In today’s passage, Jesus heals a guy whom I can only describe as pathetic and a bit of a jerk. Jesus heals him. In case you think I’m being too hard on this guy, let me just say that he and I have a lot in common. I love making a big deal about my problems. I can talk about my problems all day long. Some of us do that in a group - we call it a prayer meeting. We go round and round; and talk about all the bad stuff that’s happened to us this week - complaining about our boss, our doctor, our spouse. And when we finally do pray (in the last few minutes), we even complain about God - “Oh Lord, why don’t you do something about this painful situation in my life?”

Well, that’s me, honestly. Maybe, that’s some of you here today. And that’s the guy we meet in John Chapter 5.

Stinky

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie - the blind, the lame, the paralysed.

John 5:1-3

It’s a strange scene. What we have here is a swimming pool for sick people - the blind, the lame, the paralysed (verse 3). So, it’s not exactly Cambridge Parkside Community Pool. These sick and paralysed guys sit around the pool all day long - they are not there for a game of water polo.

John tells us that the pool is surrounded by five covered colonnades, and archeologists have actually dug up this pool called Bethesda - so it’s a real place in Jerusalem. There is a covered walkway that goes all round the four sides of the pool and one walkway that goes right across the middle of the pool (so from above the whole thing looks like a digital number ‘8’ on your old Casio watch). These walkways provided shelter for the blind, lame and paralysed people sitting all day under the sun.

It was not a very pleasant place to be. These guys can’t exactly go to the toilet any time of their own choosing and they just sit there all day long. It’s a stinky place, to say the least.

Why were they there? Well if you look at verse 4, you’ll notice something interesting. It’s missing! Verse 4 isn’t in most manuscripts which means it probably isn’t in the bible. Somewhere down the line, someone thought it would be a good idea to add that verse, to explain what was going on with all these sick people sitting around the pool all day. And if you look down in your footnotes, you’ll see verse 4, which says, “From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.”

Every now and then, they believed that God would cause the water to bubble up. When that happened, the first guy into the pool won the lottery. Whatever disease he had - blindness, paralysis, whatever - if he was the first in, he was healed. We don’t know if that’s the real story, but it does explain why they were there.

But Jesus comes to this place filled with sick people - who all have a story, who all have needs - but Jesus chooses to heal just one guy - a man who has been paralysed for 38 years.

Expectations

One who was there had been invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

John 5:5-6

That’s a strange question to ask a guy who’s not been able to use his legs for 38 years. “Do you want to get well?” You don’t go to the cancer ward in Addenbrooke’s and talk to the guy lying in bed with five tubes sticking out of his body only to ask him, “Do you want to get well?” Of course, he does! That sounds like a silly question. That sounds insensitive. Of course, he wants to get well!

But for those of us who have been here in the Chinese Church, studying the gospel of John the past couple of months, I think we have come to expect that surprising question from Jesus when he first meets someone. We tend to expect Jesus’ opening words to be something profound - “I am the light of the world; I am the resurrection and the life” - and Jesus does say that (in this same gospel of John, I might add). But Jesus always begins when he first meets someone by dealing with their expectations. He deals with their baggage, if you like. “What do you want?” he says to the two guys who want to sign up as followers. “Woman, why do you involve me?” he says to his mom. “Can you get me a drink?” he says to the Samaritan woman by the well provoking a scandalous response. Each time, Jesus deals with our expectations first - what we really think of him; what we expect him to do for us; what we read about him in Time magazine - before revealing who really is and what he has come to do in his own words and on his own terms. He needs to do that because all of us have baggage. All of us have preconceived ideas about Jesus - positive and negative.

He says to the man - paralysed for 38 years - “Do you want to get well?” It’s a good question because the man’s answer to that question says a lot about about his expectations from the people around him.

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no-one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

John 5:7

His problem, according to him, is the people around him. There’s no-one to help him into the pool and someone else gets there first. That’s his story. It’s never his day. Someone else always wins. No-one’s there to help him. That’s the reason why he’s stuck in this situation for 38 years.

He sounds bitter. He sounds miserable. He sounds as if he’s given up. So when Jesus asks him, “Do you want to get better?” instead of saying, “Yes,” or instead of getting angry with the question, “Of course, that’s why we’re all here, to get better!” what does the man do? He complains about the people around him. “My life is so unfair!”

Friends, why are you here today? The church is a gathering of sick and broken people and yes, you should come expecting the people around you to be gracious and compassionate towards your needs. But is it possible that you’ve turned up today just to complain; just to get attention; just to feel sorry for yourself? Like I said before, he and I have a lot in common. I can talk about my problems all day. Do you know where I get to do that most? Here in church. It’s tempting use the time we have at bible studies, at prayer meetings, at Sunday gatherings as forms of therapy. But instead of getting better, we become more and more bitter. That’s because God is our heavenly psychologist, who doesn’t actually do anything for us, he just sits back and asks us how we are feeling today. But when Jesus says, “Do you want to get well?” that’s not an invitation to whine about our day. He is offering to completely change to lives.

Jesus could have talked to any other person at that pool that day. Yet he chose to focus on this guy - a man who needed his help; and yet a man who wasn’t looking for help. All this man wanted was attention and the chance to feel sorry for himself. Out of all the sick people Jesus could have talked to that day, Jesus chose to talk this man. Jesus chose to heal this man!

Healed

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

John 5:8-9

Instantly and completely, the man is healed. There is no recovery period - “At once,” the bible says, “the man was cured.” There is no physiotherapy involved: he is strong enough to pick up his mat and walk.

And all Jesus has to do is say the word: “Get up!” Jesus commands the man to rise up and he does. Jesus gives a command and his power to heal - to completely restore a man from 38 years of paralysis - that power lies in the authority of his word.

But after that, the guy who has just been healed doesn’t stop to say thank you to Jesus. He doesn’t even know his name. In fact, what we see next is this guy going out of his way to get Jesus into trouble for healing him in the first place.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry you mat.”

But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

John 5:9-11

The man gets into trouble with the authorities. The Jewish rabbis say to him, “Hey, you’re breaking the law of the Sabbath,” by which they mean: he shouldn’t be carrying his mat around on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day, which was holy in the Jewish religion, was a day when God said, “You shall not do any work.” It’s one of the Ten Commandments. Breaking the Sabbath was breaking God’s law and the religious police were threatening to punish this man for his crime.

What does the man have to say in his defence? “It’s not my fault. The guy who healed me - he made me to do it.” Seriously, that’s what he does in verse 11: he points the finger at Jesus. The thing is, he doesn’t know his name. That’s why he calls him, “The man who made me well.”

So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd who was there.

Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

John 5:12-15

Jesus looks him up again in the temple. What does the man do? He reports Jesus to the authorities. “Hey, that guy you were looking for who told me to break the law of the Sabbath? I saw him in the temple. His name is Jesus.”

It doesn’t sound as if this man is very grateful to Jesus for healing him. He’s doing the same thing he’s always done: complaining about the people. Blaming others for his pain. “Jesus got me into trouble. Why did he have to heal me on the Sabbath? Why did he tell me to carry my mat? I was minding my own business sitting by the pool when he turned my life upside down!”

Stop

But I wonder if the reason why he was also upset was because of what Jesus said to him at the temple in verse 14, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

Whoa! Who does Jesus think he is telling me not to sin, warning me that something bad might happen? What does he know about my life? I’ve been suffering for 38 years. He thinks because he said some magical words he can tell me how to live my life?

Now I want to be careful about what I say about the connection between sin and suffering; about what the bible teaches us about the consequence of our sin. It’s not always a one-to-one correlation: as if, you sin therefore you will suffer this pain. That’s a mistake the religious leaders make in Chapter 9 when they say to a blind man, “You were steeped in sin at birth!” They were saying God was punishing him with blindness. Yet in the same chapter, Jesus says about the same man, “Neither this man not his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” It’s not always the case that pain, illness and tragedy are a result of a personal wrong or sin and Jesus actually warns us about making that connection in Luke Chapter 13, when he refers to an incident of a tower collapsing in Siloam: “Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

But here in John Chapter 5, Jesus does make that connection between this man’s sin and his paralysis. “Stop sinning,” Jesus says to him, “or something worse may happen to you.” The 38 years of paralysis was bad; there is something worse that God can do if you continue to rebel against him. Now remember, Jesus has just healed him of his paralysis, so this warning comes in the light of an amazing display of grace and mercy. But the healing was not an end in and of itself. The healing was a sign to turn to God in repentance and faith. This is not the case of manipulating someone in a painful and vulnerable situation into going to church or to give money. No, this guy is healed! This guy has had his slate wiped clean - no more problems, no more pain, no more suffering. And yet, here is someone who is blinded by his sin, not because of his pain, but because of his prosperity.

People today who claim we need more faith in order for God to heal us; who claim we need more faith for God to work miracles in our lives - are clearly wrong in their understanding of the purpose of such healings and miracles in the bible. This man had zero faith. Jesus healed him. This man, as far as we can tell, was not a Christian when he was sitting by the pool of Bethesda. Yet Jesus healed him. Why? Because the healing was not an end in itself.

If all you want Jesus to do is heal you from our physical suffering, frankly, you have no idea who Jesus is. Jesus has come to heal us from a more serious condition - something worse than the 38 years of paralysis the man suffered. Jesus has authority to raises the dead to life.

Work

Now, you will have to bear with me a moment because the way in which Jesus raises us from death to life comes at the end of this section. It is important not to skip the part in the middle because some of us need to know who we are dealing with - kinda like the man who was healed but had no idea who healed him. We need to know who Jesus is before we can truly say, “Yes, I believe in him.” Otherwise, we might walk away thinking we’ve been blessed by God when we’ve not; we might walk away better only to become bitter. We need to hear what Jesus says to us about himself.

To put in simply, Jesus says that he has come to do his Father’s work.

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

John 5:16-18

Remember that the Jews were really upset about the Sabbath law being broken by the guy carrying his mat but it looks like the guy has successfully deflected all the attention towards Jesus, “He’s the trouble maker. It’s his fault, not mine.” So, the issue Jesus is dealing with here is the Sabbath law: You shall do no work, says God.

How does Jesus answer? Jesus does not say what many of us would say. We would be tempted to say to the religious leaders: You’re too extreme! You have misread the law! The Sabbath was a command to stop work - not carrying mats around. God meant us to lay down our tools, to cease from our labour. What the religious leaders had done was come up with additional stipulations - 39 additional descriptions of work - one of them was carrying anything in public. You could carry stuff - like your bowl of cornflakes or your iPad - in your own home, but not out in public because that is work! You are “transporting” an item from one place to another. It was possible to use that argument, but notice that Jesus doesn’t say any of that.

Neither does Jesus argue for acts of mercy. Elsewhere in Matthew’s gospel (Chapter 12), Jesus says it is lawful - not unlawful - to do good on the Sabbath. Jesus is healing people. He is helping them get well. Yet, that’s not the argument Jesus uses here either.

What does Jesus say? “My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” Instead of breaking the command, Jesus is saying: I am fulfilling the command. Why do they have the Sabbath? Because God gave the Sabbath in the ten commandments, yes, but also because God finished his work of creation in six days and rested on the Sabbath, according to the creation account in Genesis. The Sabbath is the fulfilment of God’s work. Like when you finish that big project - an assignment, a painting, an XBOX game - and sit back with an ice-cold Pepsi and go, “Ahhhhhh, that’s good!” It’s the accomplishment of work. God sits back and looked at his work of creation on the seventh day and said, “It is very good!”

But the fact that Jesus says, “My Father is always at work,” means, God is working towards a final, ultimate goal that is the new creation. The Sabbath is a hint that something amazing is still to come. And Jesus says, “That’s what I was sent to do: to finish my Father’s work.”

The Son

Very quickly, he gives us four implications of that working relationship with his Father in the following verses: God’s pattern, God’s passion, God’s power and God’s judgement.

Firstly, God’s pattern. Verse 19: “Jesus gave them this answer, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” When Jesus is healing the paralysed man, he is not merely acting as a doctor, he is bringing in the new age when all death and decay will be removed from God’s creation. What Jesus is doing is imitating his Father’s work on redemption.

Secondly, God’s passion and this is his passion or love for his Son. Verse 20: “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” God wants all glory to go to Jesus, that’s why he sends him into the world. So that, verse 23 says, “all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father.” It is the language of inheritance. Jesus is taking over his Father’s business.

Thirdly, God’s power seen in the resurrection. Verse 21: “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.”

All this is relates to the fourth implication: God’s judgement. Verse 22: “Moreover, the Father judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgement to the Son.” This is God the Father handing over all his authority - to raise the dead, to pronounce judgement, to grant life and forgiveness to Jesus.

If you see these four implications of Jesus doing the Father’s will, carrying on the Father’s work as his Son, we can now understand how this fits in with our response to him. What did Jesus expect the paralysed man to do when he healed him? What does Jesus expect us to do today as we read these words from the bible?

He wants us to hear his words.

Hear

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father as life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has granted him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”

John 5:24-27

These words are in the present tense. Whoever hears my words… he has crossed over from death to life. A time is coming… and has now come when the dead will hear… when those who hear will live.

What does Jesus want us to do today? To hear his words and live. He raises us from the dead. Those who hear have crossed from death to life. That is something that happens and can happen right now if we hear his words today.

Later on, Jesus makes a distinction with what will happen on the last day.

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”

John 5:28-29

On the last day, Jesus will come again and all will hear his voice. “John… rise up!” “Calvin… rise up!” Good and bad will all hear his voice. By the way, the word for “rise” as in “rise to live” and “rise to be condemned” are the exact same words Jesus says to the paralysed man, “Rise up! Take your mat and walk!” It is his command that speaks life to the dead. Not even death will prevent us from facing him on that last judgement day.

The question is: Will you hear his voice today? “I tell you the truth,” Jesus says in verse 24, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” To hear his word and to believe God are not two separate responses. To hear is to believe. Jesus says, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me.” He is saying: To trust in his word is to trust in God who sent him. His voice is God’s voice. He speaks with all of God’s authority. When we gather like this on a Sunday to hear the bible read, we are hearing Jesus; we are listening to God speaking to us.

That is so important because here Jesus is speaking to a group of people - the religious leaders - who think they can trust in God’s word on the Sabbath by ignoring what he says about the Sabbath. He is talking to a man so aware of his physical suffering but so blind to his spiritual condemnation. “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you,” Jesus says only to be ignored by the very man he healed. “My Father is at work, so am I,” Jesus says to the religious leaders who become all the more determined to persecute him and eventually nail him to the cross. Here is a guy in the temple; here are leaders of God’s people - all thinking they are doing God’s will by ignoring God’s only Son.

We are no different. I say to you quite soberly, we are no different, unless we strive to make this word - this bible - the very centre of who are and all we do here in the Chinese Church, we will have been no different from these pathetic men. We will be tempted to make a big deal about our problems. When times are tough, we whine and complain. When times are good, we are less inclined to turn to God in repentance. Only God’s word speaks life into the dead. Only God’s Son can raise us from the dead.

Make this word the centre of who we are and all that we do. God is speaking today and he speaks to us by his Son in his Word. These are the words of eternal life. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus says in verse 25, “A time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”