Contemplative Bible Reading

John 5:16-18 (New International Version 2011)

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them,“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

I’ve heard lots of nice things said about Jesus:

• He was a great teacher
• He loved people
• He really knew what was important
• He performed miracles
• He healed people of their sickness
• He served the down-trodden masses

These are true statements. They are awfully nice. Then there is the statement about Jesus shown in verse 18 above:

He made himself equal with God.

Can’t have that one. Kill him! (also in verse 18)

Not much has changed in the last couple of thousand years. As long as Jesus is a nice guy doing nice things, people will read what he said and read about what he did. The feeling, however, changes when we move into Jesus being God incarnate and all that stuff about saving mankind from our sins if only we acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior. No, that stuff is too religious. That stuff requires me to admit my failings as a human: I am sinful and lost without Jesus. People don’t like that stuff. People get downright violent when that stuff comes around.

Do people kill Jesus today? I think so. Not much has changed in a couple of thousand years.