The Son Can Do Nothing On His Own Analysis

Jesus responded, and said, “In very truth, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son, and has shown him everything he is doing – and he will show even greater things, so that you will be filled with amazement. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to those he wishes. The Father judges no-one, but has given the power of judgement to the Son – so that everyone should honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son, does not honour the Father who sent him.”
(John 5: 19 to 24)

The beginning of this passage uses a formula which the author uses quite frequently
What is being explored is the way the relationship between Father and Son shapes what Jesus does. If we speak of “obedience,” it might suggest coercion – the Son acting because the Father requires it. But the Son acts out of love and longing to do the Father’s will – in this way acting as a son who follows what the Father does (like father, like son) – and his actions are freely given.

Jesus heals, since health and healing are God’s gift. The man who was healed at Bethsatha understood what had been done for him; the only place to respond was in the Temple – God’s house. But just as God is the giver of health and healing, he is also the giver of life – even eternal life. This too is only in God’s gift – though it is a boon the whole world longs for – and it is only through the Son that we shall receive
In truth, the hour is coming – it is already here – when those who have died will hear the voice of the Son of God, and hearing it will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so too he has given to the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him the authority to pass judgement, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be surprised at this. The hour is coming when everyone in the grave shall hear his voice and rise from the grave, those who have lived a good life to the resurrection life; those who have done evil to eternal judgement. I can do nothing on my own: I judge by what I hear – and my judgement is just because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.”
(John 5: 25 to 30)

Once again, the formula ‘In truth, in very truth I tell you’ begins what the author thinks of as a new insight: it is belief which changes everything – the response of faith to what Jesus says leads on to faith in the Father who sent him. But this is just the beginning: from this beginning of faith flow the gifts of eternal life and freedom from judgement.

‘The hour is coming – ‘it is already here’ – An unusual way of emphasising the importance of the present moment, and the opportunity it brings. It is as if the great boon which the present brings has been longed for with a passion