The Trial of John 5

Hello Family,

Here is the sermon I wrote and preached last Sunday. I had and audience of 6 and both of the other men of the congregation were out so I had to lead singing and the Lord's Supper as well. Hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think.

John 5:16-23

Good morning. During my years as an undergraduate student at ACU I was a political science major. Along with watching lots of news coverage and CSPAN I also really enjoyed the TV show Law and Order. I really liked watching the court room scenes in the last half of the show. Even though I knew that it wasn’t REALLY like this in real life I thought it was really neat. I enjoyed watching the lawyers sift through information that the police had gathered. I enjoyed watching them argue about what evidence could or could not be used in court before the judge. I enjoyed getting to watch both lawyers try and convince the jury of their point of view. Finally, I enjoyed watching the jury come out and deliver the verdict.

Chapter 5 of John reads like a courtroom scene to me. My text this morning is only on section of the chapter but I encourage you to read the whole thing in one sitting and see what kind of thoughts you have after this. In the first 15 verses of the chapter is like the first half an hour of Law and Order. There is a ‘crime’ that has been committed. What happened? A man has been healed on the Sabbath! The man is interrogated. Who did it? This man Jesus has committed the crime! These are questions that are being asked by those in the story.

In verses 16-18 we see the prosecutors outline their case against Jesus. They have two reasons for prosecuting Jesus in this case. He violated the Sabbath! He is making divine claims about himself!

Then in verses 19-47 we see Jesus make his defense of who he is and what he has done. This trial is not one that will just have consequences reaching far into the future but it is one which has consequences right here and right now in the present. Jesus talks about the judgment he brings and the life he brings in the here and now. Jesus very basically outlines his defense and then dramatically, he turns the tables on them.

Jesus develops his defense slowly from verse 19 on through verse 38 and then suddenly the whole tenor of the trial changes. Suddenly it is not Jesus who is on trial but the Jewish teachers of the law who he accuses. This doesn’t really make sense to us in our American sense of the judicial system. In the Jewish system of law when accusations were brought against someone it was a serious business. If someone was making false accusations though the accusers could suddenly find themselves on the defensive. That is what Jesus is doing here. He has been accused and he has brought forth his defense. Now he turns the questions on those who are questioning him.

He makes several accusations against them. He says that they search the scriptures because they believe that it is through them that they will have eternal life. And yet it is the scriptures that testify on Jesus’ behalf! They think that the law of Moses will save them and they reject the one to whom the law actually points them! They refuse to come to Jesus to have eternal life. Jesus next says that he does not accept glory from human beings but they do not accept the love of God. And because they do not accept the love of God they reject those who he has sent. They only accept those who look like them, believe like them, and act like them. In fact, they are so caught up in what they want that they would rather have glory from other people than have glory from God.

This is what Jesus is talking about when he says that he doesn’t accept praise from humans. He is only interested in glorifying the Father. This goes back to his relationship with the Father in which he opened his defense. He opened by saying that he can do nothing except that which he sees the Father doing. He says to them, how can they believe when they accept only glory that comes from one another and they do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?
This is the question for us today as we look at this trial of Jesus in John chapter 5. So many times when I read scripture I read myself into the position that I like to think I would have taken if I had lived with Jesus. I like to believe that I would have gotten it. That I wouldn’t have rejected him. That I would have been the faithful disciple. But I often come to the realization that I find the most appropriate place to read myself into is the disciples who doubt. Those who don’t want to give up everything to follow Jesus.

You see, this trial of Jesus that has been going has the aspect of asking who Jesus is. That’s true. He defends who he is, what his mission is, and appeals to testimony of others, like John the Baptist. But it is also a trial of who we are. Sometimes I think we forget what the Jews actually had at this time. They had the word of God. They had the law. They had the prophets and the writings. God had spoken to them in the past. They had the ability to figure out who Jesus was and they had the opportunity to believe in him.

Today we too have these things. We have the writings of the Old Testament and the New Testament. We have the gospels. We have the writings of Paul and of the apostles. God has spoken to us and we can figure out who he is. The great irony of this passage is that it is not really Jesus who is on trial but his accusers. This isn’t some trial that will only have consequences extremely far ahead in the future but one that has consequences here and now. Jesus says in vs 22 that the Father has given all judgment to him.

Now, I’ll admit this is a fairly confusing part about what John is saying in this gospel. Jesus himself says in 8:15 and in 12:47 that he comes to judge no one and he comes to save the world. In John chapter 3:19 Jesus is again talking about the kind of judgment that he brings. He says that the judgment is that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light. Even if Jesus comes to ‘judge no one’ his light coming into the world makes us decide if we are going to accept his light or if we are going to reject it.

Jesus is here offering us the light that gives life to men, everlasting water, he wants to reveal his glory in us. The question is are we going to believe in him. Are we going to accept the light coming into the world or are we going to continue to live in darkness. Sometimes the darkness we live in can take a surprising form. Sometimes the darkness we live in can be religious in nature. Can we, like the Jews, become so involved in all the ‘shoulds’ and ‘should nots’ that we lose sight of the one who saves us? Can we become so involved with what people think of us, even at church, that we lose sight of what God wants us to do and be satisfied in the glory he gives us? Can we get so bogged down in ‘religion’ that we lose sight of doing what is truly right?

This might seem like a sermon of judgment this week and in a sense it is. But it is also a message of hope. We take hope from the fact that Jesus was persecuted and tried while he was on earth. We take hope from the fact that we have others who will join us in this journey in living for Christ. We take hope from the fact that Jesus suffers with us in whatever trials come our way. Whether they be spiritual, social, physical, or emotional he is with us and we can trust in him. This trial is not one of condemnation and suffering but one of great joy! This is the good news! That light has come into the world and that light gives us life.

The trial of John 5 has so many different facets in it. Is it a trial about who Jesus is? Yes. Is it a trial about what we believe? Yes. Is it hope and encouragement for us who are going through trials hardships in this life? Yes. What does this trial mean to you? Where do you find yourself? Do we find ourselves being persecuted with Christ? Do we find ourselves among those genuinely seeking him? Or do we find ourselves seeing but not understanding like the teachers of the law.

Like Law and Order what will the verdict find? Only instead of Jesus being on trial it turns out that it is actually us. Will we accept the light of the world or will we continue to try and find acceptance and love in all the other things that our world throws at us? Just as the judgment that Jesus brings comes with him and not at some later date so to should our decision and our obedience to him. For some of us this might mean coming forward to be baptized. For others it might mean confessing and stopping a certain sin. For others it could mean giving a source or worry and anxiety up to Jesus. For others it might mean standing up for what we believe in instead of quietly standing aside. It might mean showing respect and submitting to others in a spirit of love. What will the verdict find?

Song

Let us go out into the world today and this week fixing our eyes upon Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith. Let us trust in him when we feel like we are being put on trial by the world.