Courtroom Drama – Jesus in the Dock
Posted on Dec 11, 2016 by Shera Payne No comments
John 5:31-40
Background
In John 5:16 the leaders harass Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. His reply is that the son of God does not work alone and it is by God’s power that miracles happen.
He then goes on to prove that He is the son of God.
In this passage it’s almost as if Jesus is in a courtroom on trial for something. You know in court the first thing that the defendant or witness is asked to do is state their name.
Jesus says “My name is Jesus, I am the son of God”.
Earlier in the book of John, leading up to this passage he makes some amazing claims- he says he is the SON OF GOD, THE ONE SENT BY THE FATHER, THE SOURCE OF ALL LIFE, THE JUDGE OF ALL THE WORLD, AND RAISER OF THE DEAD.
This is a big deal to the Jewish leaders. All their lives they have been reading, digesting and discussing prophesies in the Bible about the coming of the Lord, yet when faced with this man saying “here I am, it’s me” they utterly reject him.
Jesus challenges his 1st century critics to consider the evidence for his claim. He encourages them to reject him if they can find any reason why this evidence does not hold up. This is very much what they are used to doing in law. In fact needing proof of this kind is a strong indicator that these people are more interested in fact as defined by their own rules than faith.
In those days and in that culture, when somebody was required to prove something they would be expected to find 3 witnesses. And this is exactly what Jesus did; he provided 3 witnesses in line with the law of Moses “Out of the mouths of two or three witnesses let every word be established,” (Deuteronomy 19:15).
His 3 witnesses to who he was were:
- John the Baptist- who foretold His coming
- Himself (Jesus)- whose works come from God and speak for themselves
- His father (God) – who had identified Jesus as his son a number of times-“this is my beloved son of whom I am well pleased” – Jesus’ baptism, Matthew 3:17
In verse 31 Jesus says “If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid” This doesn’t mean his testimony would be false, but just that in their eyes it would not be true, they wouldn’t accept it. After all, anyone could say that couldn’t they?
So he needs to elaborate.
He then turns to John the Baptist as His first witness
Verse 33: He reminds them that they sent people (“investigators”) to see John and to witness his behaviour and what he said. He reminded them also that they had perceived John to be a worthy man, “like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message”.
John the Baptist had said 4 things about Jesus in John chapter 1
- He announced him to be the long-awaited Messiah, of whom the prophets wrote. He even quoted Isaiah concerning himself “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “make straight the way of the Lord””
- John called Jesus “the lamb of God” who by his own sacrifice will take away the sins of the world
- He pronounced that Jesus was to be the “Baptiser with the Holy Spirit”
- He declared Jesus to be the son of God, the word made flesh.
Here- in verse 33- Jesus says that all the things that John said about Him are true.
Jesus then says something which sounds a bit odd verse 34: “Of course I have no need for human witnesses but I say these things so that you might be saved”.
What does He mean by this?
Well it’s a kind of get out clause for the Jews who doubt who He is. He’s saying that they needn’t believe what He says here but they did believe John when they saw him so that alone should suffice.
This is a familiar thing which must resonate with us today- people who will not listen to the word of God directly but often will pay greater attention to somebody who relates an experience of God.
Jesus continues to describe John as a burning and shining lamp, saying that they “were excited for a while about his message”.
And it is equally true about us- our ability to be very impressed and attracted to the light (John) for a while and then we get distracted by the trappings of modern life- work, time, leisure activities and so on. It’s almost as if our lives become filled with short term fads.
Is this because other things seem so much more fun, and we seek short term rewards? Or is it that we are afraid to look into the light for fear of finding something so important, so fundamentally amazing that it will change us forever.
Fear of change, fear of reality, fear of losing power was at the heart of the refusal of the Jewish leaders to accept Jesus as the son of God.
For His second witness, Jesus calls Himself (or rather His works): verse 36 “I have a greater witness than John- my teaching and miracles. The Father gave me these works to Accomplish…”
They have all heard of His miracles and teachings. Jesus often appealed to the miracles as proof that He was the Son of God and doesn’t spend time going over it again here in front of people who previously had attributed His miracles to the power of Satan rather than God.
Now Jesus hits them with the big one. Just like a courtroom drama when an unexpected witness takes the stand and blows the case wide open. His final witness- God Himself!
He has almost slipped this in as an afterthought- These works that God gave Him to accomplish?!
Verse 37-38: the Father who sent me testifies about me Himself. You have not heard His voice or seen Him face to face and you do not have His message in your hearts because you do not believe me – the one He sent you.
The leaders cannot deny this. They know that at Jesus’ baptism God said this is my some with whom I am well pleased” (Mark 3:17). They KNOW the father said something very similar at the transfiguration “This is my dearly loved son, listen to Him” (Mark 9:7)
This really puts them in a fix- these are men who dedicated their whole lives to studying scripture, they carried it with them, memorised huge tracts, and could recite prophesies at will.
They thought that knowledge of the scripture would give them life…and here is Jesus saying this is all a waste of time if you don’t believe in ME
38-40: Jesus says: “You search he scriptures because you think they give you eternal life, but the scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life”
We think of the Old Testament as the story of Israel and the New Testament as the story of Jesus. BUT if you read the Old Testament with the aim of discovering Jesus you will find him everywhere hinted at, prophesied and awaited.
So why didn’t the leaders of the Jews at that time also recognise this?
There’s a clue in the next couple of lines after this passage where Jesus says “ …I have come in my Father’s name and you do not receive me. If one was to come in his own name, him you will receive. HOW CAN YOU BELIEVE, WHO SEEK GLORY FROM ONE ANOTHER AND DO NOT SEEK THE GLORY THAT COMES FROM THE ONLY GOD?”
It I clear that such people –Jews and Gentiles today too- are easily drawn to seek the praises of other people and fast! We want glory now, not in heaven later., We want praise for our actions now and are unwilling to set it aside for the glory of God. The philosophy of our world is to look out for No.1, stand up for yourself, make the most of life with or without God’s help.
But, like the Jewish leaders, if we study hard and talk a good talk we can fool ourselves and each other that God is at the centre of our lives.
I read this recently which sort of sums it up:
Trained men’s minds are spread so thin
They let all sorts of darkness in.
Whatever light they find they doubt it,
They love not light — just talk about it.
Sermon: Andy Littlewood 11 December 2016