To You, Who Is Jesus?
John 5:17, 18 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more 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 5:17–18 NIV
To you, who is Jesus? If you miss the person, you miss the point.
Opinions Are Flimsy
Opinions are limitless; facts are few. Opinions are more important than facts in media, including news media.
Opinions are far too flimsy to build lives upon. No one should choose to determine his or her eternal destiny on an opinion without considering the facts.
The Jewish leaders in this chapter do not like the fact of a man carrying a mat on the Sabbath. They do not like the fact that Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. They do not like the facts of Jesus’ self-identification.
Take a look at verse 25:
“Very truly I tell you, 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.”
Facts Are Powerful
Jewish leaders like these, and likely including these, were really not going to like what happens in John 11. Verse 25 will come alive, pun intended, before their very eyes.
It’s hard to argue with a man who heals a man who has been an invalid for thirty-eight years (verse 5). It is much harder to argue with a man who raises a man from the dead (11:43, 44). It is much, much harder, impossible even, to kill a man and make him stay dead when what he says in 5:26 is validated in 20:1–29.
To You, Who Is Jesus?
Again, the question we must answer is, “To you, who is Jesus?” Either he is God or the figment of imagination of two billion people currently alive and who knows how many who have preceded us into his presence.
Don’t miss the point. Don’t miss the person.
Application
I will see Jesus for who he is.
Prayer
Our Father, help us accept all you made possible because of Jesus. Help us accurately and authentically answer the question of who Jesus is. Amen.
