Honor the Son!

2nd Sunday of End Time, Last Judgment, 11/11/12
John 5:19-24


Honor the Son!
I. As the divine judge of all
II. As the life-giving Savior of all


Perhaps you’ve noticed the same thing I have in human behavior. I haven’t been inside a courtroom very many times, but every time I have, I’m struck by the fact that, suddenly, people are more respectful than they usually are. People who were loud and disrespectful outside the courtroom doors now are suddenly well-mannered and well-behaved and they have suddenly learned to address people as “sir” and “ma’am.” And all their negative expressions about the people in authority have been checked at the door. They are suddenly filled with the utmost respect for the man or woman sitting behind the bench dressed in a black robe. They address that person with the utmost respect as “Your Honor.”

And rightly so. That person dressed in black in many cases has the authority to let them off easy or level heavy penalties. In the most extreme cases, they hold a convicted person’s very life in their hands. And in such cases, only the very hardened of criminals would refer to their judge as anything less than, “Your Honor.”

If that is true of the judges in our court system, who undoubtedly have broken a few laws themselves in their lifetime, wouldn’t it be all the more true of the Judge of all people, Jesus Christ?

And yet what do we find? During his days on earth he was constantly defending the truth that he was the Son of God, the Judge and Savior of all. We have one such incident before us today from John 5. We’ll discuss it in depth in a moment.

And it’s still true. Our world thumbs its nose and worse at Jesus Christ. It drags him through the mud and slime. It makes him out to be a radical prophet at best and a misguided buffoon at worst.

But that’s not true of us. Instead, we’re here this morning to honor him as our Savior. And that’s precisely what Jesus encourages us to do in these words of John 5. Honor the Son! Let’s see what that involves as we ponder these words.

Part I.

We don’t like to be wrong about a person. It’s embarrassing. We should have known better. The signs were there, but we just missed them. Or we saw the signs, but this time the person’s sincerity impressed us or and we thought we’d give them a second chance. So we trusted them. We took their word. We followed their advice. We gave them a position of responsibility or authority. And then it happened. Again. They let us down.

But occasionally the opposite is also true. We didn’t trust them. We didn’t give them the opportunity they wanted. But someone else did. And they excelled. They flourished. They did what they said they would. We don’t like being wrong about people.

That’s what was happening in the event John records for us. It was a situation Jesus had faced before and would face again. He had performed a miracle on the Sabbath Day and his enemies accused him of violating the day of rest by working. Their accusations were obviously groundless. Jesus wasn’t breaking his Father’s will be healing on the Sabbath; he was keeping it.

But that’s where his enemies were even more wrong. In fact they couldn’t have been more wrong about Jesus when they refused to recognize his connection with his Father. Jesus often didn’t mention the fact that he was true God in order not to arouse their opposition. Instead, he let his divine works support his divine words. On this day, he had just done something that only God can do. He had just healed a paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda. Wouldn’t you be impressed by such a sign? But not these people. They refused to believe his connection with the Father.

So Jesus addressed that very issue with them in unmistakable words. He stated, “I tell you the truth, 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.” You understand what Jesus is here stating about himself, don’t you? He’s declaring a unity of essence with God the Father. He’s stating his divine connection with the Father that no one else ever could or would. Listen to him again, “Whatever the Father does the Son also does.” In healing this man, Jesus was doing the Father’s work. In carrying on his ministry, Jesus was doing the Father’s work. But his enemies refused to see it. In another incident they even went so far as to state that Jesus was doing the work of Satan, not the work of the Father. Their hard hearts made them blind to what was happening before their very eyes. They were wrong about Jesus, dead wrong!

So Jesus confronted them with one more truth. He stated, “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.” The evidence was being presented to them right now. Jesus does things only God can do. Therefore Jesus must be true God. But they refused to believe it. Sadly, they would believe it one day, but by then it would be too late. They would face this same Jesus as their Judge on the Last Day. This was one last attempt by Jesus to call them to repentance. He was calling for them to honor the Son, just as he calls on all people of all time to do.

Honor the Son! Honor him as the divine judge of all.

The Last Judgment. We treat this topic like an unwanted medical procedure. We know it’s inevitable but we choose not to think about it. But that won’t make it go away. The judgment on the Last Day is a reality. Inherently every person knows that he or she will face God as Judge. And it fills them with terror. They result in hoping God will let them in to heaven. They wrongly depend on their own good deeds to avoid an unfavorable judgment. But they’re fooling themselves. The only hope we have in the judgment on the Last Day is in Christ. And that’s exactly why he came—to take the punishment for our sins upon himself. He did that when he died as the Lamb of God on Calvary’s cross. He came to give us his righteousness or holiness. It’s ours by faith in him. He did all that so that we could be certain that on the Last Day he tells us, “Not guilty. Innocent.” In fact, that’s exactly what he tells us in his word. Our verdict is already certain by faith in Jesus. So rejoice that your judgment is certain. Honor the Son as the divine judge of all.

Part II.

At this time last year our Sunday Adult Bible Class was studying the religion of Islam. I learned many things and among them was the teaching that a Muslim person cannot be certain of anything when it comes to Allah. It’s all up to whatever Allah wills at that particular moment.

Jesus seems to state something similar in our text. He says, “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.” That sounds as if Jesus is saying, “I’ll give heaven to whomever I want,” a statement that might cause us to wonder if we’re one of those people.

But to understand this statement properly, you have to consider all that Jesus said. Recall John 3:16. God so loved the whole world. Jesus lived and died as the Savior for the whole world. He paid the price for the sins of all people. He won heaven for everyone and whoever believes that he is their Savior receives eternal life.

Jesus states elsewhere that he does not want any soul to perish eternally in hell. He wants all people to be saved by believing in him as their Savior. In fact, that’s God’s highest will—for every person to enter eternal life with him.

That’s what Jesus’ work here on earth was all about. He came to pay the price to redeem or buy back every person, so that they would belong to him forever. On the cross Jesus declared that he had finished that work and by his resurrection God the Father showed that he accepted Jesus’ work as payment in full for the sins of all people. That’s to whom he is pleased to give life—to all people.

That means that you have life. Jesus said it like this, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” You have already crossed over from death to life. When the Holy Spirit brought you to faith in Jesus, likely at your Baptism, he gave you spiritual life. That spiritual life consists in faith in Jesus as your Savior. With that spiritual life you have real life—life with God, a life that will never end. It’s all yours because Jesus, your Savior, won it for you.

Is there any better reason to praise and honor Jesus? Of course not! So honor the Son as the life-giving Savior of all.

Again, this is the Sunday in which we celebrate the Last Judgment. Yes, we can celebrate it because your Judge is also your Savior, the one who sacrificed himself for you. In legal terms, it’s like having your defense attorney serve as your judge and jury. What bothers us is that we know we’re guilty. We can’t even properly show our love and faithfulness to our Lord and Savior. But that’s what the work of Jesus was all about. He won our forgiveness by his death on the cross. He gave us life with him. And on the Last Day, as the Judge of all people, he will announce before all that you belong to him by faith. So rejoice! Rejoice and honor the Son as the life-giving Savior of all. Amen.