John 5:30-36, Witness to Jesus

30 "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 

Jesus never claims personal authority but only that of the Father who sent him. He also asks the crowd to consider John the baptizer and his own miraculous works. All of these bear witness to who he is. John the baptizer declared Jesus as the “Lamb of God” and “the Son of God.” This personal witness of pointing others to Jesus is the work of all disciples. His primary work is to prepare people for and then point people to Jesus. The people hold John in high esteem. Jesus asks them to agree with John and then accept that his work – his ministry – will be much greater than John’s. 

Second, Jesus asks the crowd to consider the witness of his miracles. These actually are weightier than the words of John for they can only have been accomplished by God himself. They offer a “divine voice” over a “human voice.” Jesus says they are the works that the Father gave him because they in and of themselves bear witness to him. 

There is one more critical witness I will take up in tomorrow’s devotion and that is the witness of God’s Word, Holy Scripture. 

Pray for specific people you know that their minds will be opened to the evidence of who Jesus is and the eternal life he freely offers.