AMEN NEMA Studying the Amen Amen Sayings of

AMEN NEMA Studying the “Amen, Amen” Sayings of Jesus NEMA

AMEN NEMA “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 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. Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, 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. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. ”

AMEN NEMA “Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 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. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. ” - John 5: 16 -23

AMEN NEMA Jesus Heals the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethsaida (Bethesda)

AMEN Three Key Ideas NEMA • The healing takes place at Bethsaida, a Hebrew name meaning “house of mercy”, “house of grace” or “dwelling place of mercy”. • The healing waters of Bethsaida were imbued with power by an angel, yet Jesus – who as we learned two weeks ago was the Son of Man upon whom angels ascend and descend – heals by word alone. • The charge of Sabbath breaking levelled against Jesus is a tenuous one at best. All Sabbath rules could be set aside for the reason of “pikuah nephesh”, to “save life” or “tzar baalei hayim”, preventing suffering to living things.

AMEN NEMA • With their Sabbath-breaking charge in hand, the religious leaders began to “persecute Jesus. • In response to the charges hurled His way, Jesus made a profound statement - “my Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working”. • Jesus suggested that God is always at His work, remaining active, though resting on the Sabbath. God gives life to His creation – by His faithful and merciful sustaining of things – even on the Sabbath. God’s merciful giving of life and outpouring of His love never stops, nor is it suspended even for Sabbath rest. • The point is that, just as God prioritizes mercy over rest, so too ought the people of God prioritize mercy over sacrifice and burnt offerings, mercy over legalistic Sabbath activities.

AMEN NEMA • The religious leaders of Israel were so infuriated because they believed that they were the ones who determined what acts were permissible on the Sabbath and yet Jesus was claiming an authority to Sabbath-work beyond them. • Jesus was claiming: 1. a direct connection with that appeared to put Him on equal footing with the Father 2. an authority that far surpassed the authority of the religious leaders of Israel 3. an equality of work, suggesting an interesting unity of purpose.

AMEN The Amen, Amen Statement NEMA • “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 5: 19) • God’s work of dispensing mercy was now not only active in the ministry of Jesus, but active in Christ, so much so that He was capable of suggesting that God’s work is His work; whatever the Father does, the Son also does. • Note also that Jesus – the Son of Man and Son of God – explained that He can do nothing by Himself; He can accomplish nothing of significance if not through dependence upon God.

AMEN NEMA • The Son also “sees” what His Father is doing; the implication was that, like Nicodemus in John 3, the religious leaders could not see the Kingdom of God because they were not, by faith, born again. • Their inability to grasp the significance of the healing – that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah who would make “the lame leap like a deer” (Isaiah 35: 6) - shows their lack of connection to the Father. • As the Son of Man, the One sent from heaven, Jesus had literally seen His Father’s work from eternity, but as the bridge between heaven and earth, He also sees His Father’s work in real time.

AMEN NEMA • The Son is privy to the Father’s work because God loves Him. It is the Father’s love for the Son that creates both unity of relationship and purpose. • Reiterating the idea in Daniel 7: 14 that as the Son of Man, Jesus “was given authority, glory and sovereign power” by God, He explains to the gathered crowd that part and parcel of this authority shared with Him by God the Father is the ability to “[give] life to whom He is pleased to give it” and that He has “entrusted all judgment to the Son”.

AMEN • “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. ” (John 5: 23) • The implication is clear; to honour God, the Son must also be honoured and the dishonour being shown to Jesus at that moment was profound dishonour of God. NEMA

AMEN NEMA 1. Have I come to know Jesus as a source of profound mercy? 2. Do you know Christ’s life-giving power and His righteous judgement? 3. Am I attempting to accomplish things apart from God or for my own benefit? “Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. ” (2 Corinthians 3: 4 -5)

AMEN Might our confidence be sourced in Jesus and might we become a “not my will but Yours” sort of people, who find mercy and grace when we need it through Jesus Christ. Might we be a people who share this confidence in Christ with others, introducing them to the life-giving relationship with God made possible through Jesus Christ. NEMA