4thweek in Lent, Thursday – 26thMarch 2020 – John 5,31-47
Faithful unbelievers
This discourse of Jesus can be seen in two parts. The first part is about four claims of Jesus’ witnesses: John the Baptist, Jesus’ works, Father, and Scriptures. The second part is about the rejection of Jesus and the unbelief of the leaders. In this second part, Jesus speaks of Moses and presents him as his accuser. This is because Moses also testified to Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the law. The Jewish leaders hadn’t realized that Moses testified to Jesus. Indeed Jesus says that Moses doesn’t speak on behalf of the unfaithful, but will condemn those who do not believe in Jesus. If one believes what Moses wrote, then one has to believe in Jesus. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses said that God would raise up a prophet like him from among the people of Israel. The people whom Jesus condemns are those who had studied for years God’s word as given by Moses. They had time to develop a personal relationship with God. Yet they refuse to understand what God has spoken through Moses, through prophets and other true leaders of the faith. They fail to be open to the revelation of God’s presence and so they rejected Jesus as God’s anointed.
