“I love my boy!”

Katy Emslie-Smith July 03, 2024 4 2

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John 5: 19-27 (NIVUK)

19 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. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 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. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.

24 ‘Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 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. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

Do you remember the South African swimmer Chad de Clos who won the gold medal 200m butterfly at the London Olympics, beating Michael Phelps and surprising the world? If you don’t remember him you will likely remember his father at interview, who was possibly the most quoted person of those Olympic games, as he repeated over and over in a state of dazed astonishment,  “Unbelievable! I love my boy!” Chad himself speaks of how his father helped him into competitive swimming early in his life and fostered his training, saying he could not have done it without his father. The father was filled with total joy as the son accomplished his goals and gained the medal.

Jesus speaks into a competitive situation in this passage. He faces not the healthy competition of sport but, from the religious leaders, a piqued and guarded defensiveness, a jealous picking over of detail about sabbath rules and authority. In response to this fractured and hostile dialogue, Jesus does not engage with the petty detail of the day, but rather he speaks with profound grace of the perfect love and honour that exists in his relationship with his father. In love, in trust, honour and respect, God the Father has given to his Son all authority to give life and to judge how and where that life is given. In return Jesus seeks not to please himself but to please his Father who sent him. In perfect teamwork they work together for the salvation of the world, which is the real issue in this story.

When our relationships become dislocated and the small stuff begins to seem important, when little bits of grit abrade the unity between us, we do well to set our eyes on the peace and grace of the community of the Father, Son and Spirit.

Prayer:

Father and Son,

Help us to know how to live

In true, honest, trusting community.

Amen