Read John 5:1-30
"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" John 5:21
In John 5, Jesus heals a man who had been paralysed for 38 years. The man had been waiting by a pool that many believed could bring healing, but he had never been able to make it into the water. Instead, it’s Jesus’ word—not water—that gives life to his legs. Immediately, the man stands, picks up his mat, and walks.
But the healing takes place on the Sabbath, and this sparks controversy. The religious leaders confront Jesus, not because the man was healed, but because he was carrying his mat on a day when no work was supposed to be done. Jesus replies that he is simply doing what he sees his Father doing.
This response shocks them even more. Jesus isn’t just claiming to be a miracle worker; he is claiming to share in the very authority and activity of God himself. God created the world, gave life to everything in it, and then rested on the seventh day. Jesus is saying that he now does the same: he brings life out of dead places, even on the Sabbath, because he is the Son of God who instituted the Sabbath in the first place.
Jesus then expands his claim. He has authority not only to heal bodies but to give eternal life. Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whomever he chooses. His signs point to a greater reality—that those who hear his voice and believe already pass from death to life. And even more astonishing, Jesus says that a time is coming when the dead already in their graves will hear his voice and live.
Trust that Jesus’ specialty is life-restoration for you and your friends. He brings life out of dead places. Pray for them today.
[today’s devotion comes from the Spoken Gospel guys]
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