Thursday, September 10, 2015

Year 5, Day 253: John 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here


Discipleship Focus: Authority

  • Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

John 5 is all about authority.  This story begins with Jesus healing on the Sabbath.  Of course, that sets up a huge conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders around Him.  But this conflict is all about the idea of authority and where Jesus is getting His authority.  Jesus claims His authority is coming from the Father – which makes the religious leaders even surer that Jesus is blaspheming!  However, Jesus also makes sure that He asserts that the authority of the religious leaders is coming from Moses, not the Father.  Of course, this doesn’t sit very well with them, either.

Jesus makes it very clear that the only authority for Him is the authority that comes from the Father.  This is a fundamentally huge point.  There are many sources of authority out in the world.  We often try to be our own authority.  We often have authority based on someone else.  Sometimes we try and make authority out of a position or title that we hold.  But Jesus is right.  The only legitimate authority is the authority that comes from the Father.  All other sources of authority will fade, pass away, or diminish.

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