“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” John 5:25 ESV
Reflection: how can you hear the voice of the Son of God?
During dinner with friends, one person said “I get so worked up over all the evil I see on the news”, and proceeded to tell about a pregnant woman who had recently been stabbed to death in New York. How then the people there were sympathetic to the assailant as opposed to the victim and her family. We talked for a short while about this, and why to watch the news when it only fills us with frustration, anger, and even raise questions of why God allows such wickedness to happen. None of us really need more proof points that evil exists in the world. And, there certainly is no “life” or light we can get from watching the news. In fact, quite the contrary. It really brings darkness in us. So, perhaps another way to think of all of this,
are we “consuming” life or death?
We know that if we eat rotten food, or things with no nutritional value, we will get very ill, and may even eventually die. And, in an almost direct parallel, if we consume “rotten” food for our souls, can we survive, spiritually speaking? In our focus verse today, we are introduced to a deep truth. Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” John 5:25 ESV. What is He talking about here? At first glance, it might look like He is pointing to the future, to the resurrection of the dead, right? “The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God”. But, Jesus is talking here about being born again, given life. Let’s go back a few verses to understand the context better.
Jesus was in Jerusalem, where He healed a lame man at the Bethesda pool. And, it was a Sabbath, “And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” John 5:16-18 ESV. But let’s focus on the point about bringing the dead to life.
Now, we understand the physical healing of a body, but Jesus was more importantly after the souls of men. To bring light into the darkness; really to “raise the dead”. And we read “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment,
but has passed from death to life.” John 5:21-24 ESV
And, there it is. The truth that is all that matters. It has nothing to do whether you belong to a certain church denomination, race, ethnicity or whatever. It is only about receiving life, from the only source of life. John explains “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:9-13 ESV
So let’s consider today, whether we are “hearing” His voice, consuming His words of life, to give us life. Let’s reject the “rotten food” that the world offers so readily.