Equal with God
April 2, 2025 - Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
John 5:17-30
Yesterday’s Gospel recounted how Jesus healed a sick man on the Sabbath—a clear violation of the law in the eyes of strictly observant Jews. In the Gospel of Luke, the leader of the synagogue, witnessing one of Jesus’ healings, rebuked the people: “There are six days on which work should be done! Come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath” (Luke 13:14). Yet, in today’s Gospel, Jesus does something even more astonishing—he claims equality with God.
In the ancient world, apprenticeship was the primary means of learning. A disciple attached himself to a master, lived with him, observed his work, and through imitation, gradually became like him. Jesus applies this analogy to himself in today’s Gospel. Everything he does, he has learned from the Father. Interestingly, this works on two levels. As a carpenter, he learned to repair broken chairs and tables from St. Joseph, his foster father. But in his divine mission, he learned to heal broken hearts and restore shattered lives from his Heavenly Father. He declares: “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also” (John 5:19).
Within this divine apprenticeship, two key aspects stand out: giving life and exercising judgment. Like the Father, Jesus has the power to both grant life and to judge. The first is dramatically demonstrated in the resurrection of Lazarus. The second is illustrated in the parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus, the Son of Man, comes with power and authority to judge the nations.
Jesus states that he has been given the authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. This echoes the vision in Daniel, where the prophet foretells a time when the dead will rise—“some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Those who attain everlasting life are those who have led many to righteousness (Daniel 12:3). Similarly, in today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that the final judgment is based on the quality of one’s life: “Those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29).
From the very beginning of John’s Gospel, we are told that all things came into being through the Word, in whom there is life (John 1:3-4). Now, Jesus affirms that it is through his voice that the dead will rise. This confirms that Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is indeed equal with God. For only God can create something out of nothing, and only God can bring life out of death. This is why the one who believes in him has eternal life.