John 5:19-20 19So Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son is not able to do nothing by himself, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, these things the Son does likewise. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things he himself is doing, and greater works than these will he show him, in order that you may marvel.
Jesus’ controversy with the Jews over the Sabbath led to a new discourse that reveals more about Jesus, his relationship to God, and his authority as the Son of God. Jesus begins with one of his truly, truly statements of divine authority and solid, timeless truth. The first statement shows the Son’s dependence on the Father. Everything Jesus did was in imitation of what God the Father does. To study Jesus is to study God. Jesus is the best imitator and follower of all time. He was human yet modeled what God would do in a given situation. He got all his directions from the Father. What he said and did were what the Father would do. The Son is like the Father. Jesus was not independent of the Father but united in purpose, strength, and message.
There are many important implications for this idea. For example, the characteristics of God as revealed in the Old Testament should be and are evident in the life of Jesus. Unfortunately, we only get a small glimpse of his life in the four Gospels, but what we see is consistent with the character of God. An important question to ask is, what does Jesus reveal about the Father? The Gospels focus on certain qualities of Jesus, for example, his love, compassion, forgiveness, healing, miraculous power, and connectedness to people. Son is so connected to the Father that there is unity. Yet, they are not the same. The Father sends, and the Son obeys. The Father has authority that is passed on to the Son who acts on the Father’s authority. Jesus, as the incarnated Son, shows the human form of God, not in visible appearance but in character and action. Jesus is the perfect representation of his heavenly Father. To see the Son is to see the Father.
Verse 20 indicates that at the heart of the relationship between Father and Son is love (see 3:35). The reason (for, gar) the Son follows the Father in perfect obedience is because of the Father’s love toward the Son. The Son shows his love for the Father by obeying the Father’s will. Since Jesus models the perfect human, the Father loves us through grace and shown through Jesus Messiah Son of God; we respond to God’s love by obedience to what the Son has shown us is the Father’s will. At the center of all this is love. The Son reveals the Father by his obedience. The disciple reveals both Father and Son by obedience to Jesus’ teachings. The beginning of all this theology is the Father’s love. Our obedience is only made possible by this love.
Two key thoughts about Jesus emerge from these verses. First, Jesus has the full authority of the Father because he lived in perfect obedience and was the direct revelation of God’s loving and holy character. Second, Jesus shows humanity what it means to live in perfect obedience in response to God’s unfathomable love for us. Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father’s love. Our response ought to be believing in Jesus as the Son of God and perfect and ultimate revelation of God. The healing Jesus did with the invalid is small compared to what will come in the future. Many other signs will give proof to the ideas of these two verses.
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