‘Jesus answered and said to them, “In very truth I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does the Son does in the same way. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does, and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel”.'
Jesus now expands His statement concerning the paralleling of His working with that of God (John 5:17). He Himself now uses the unique term ‘the Son' (the one and only, compare John 3:16-17; John 3:35-36). ‘I tell you truly, the Son can do nothing of His own accord.' He is now making His claims totally clear. Furthermore He points out that His relationship with the Father is such that all that He does is done as a result of Him seeing what the Father is doing. The intimacy of the thought is outstanding. He sees what the Father is doing. He is fully aware of all that God does. And He not only does whatever He sees the Father doing, but He Himself does nothing else. Whatever He does He does in the same way as the Father. Indeed His relationship with the Father is such that His Father loves Him as ‘the Son' and shows Him all that He is doing. No one had ever made such claims. They had to be either true or blasphemous. He is indicating that He and the Father work in such unison that it was impossible for Him to act without it being in line with the Father's will and actions. The two worked as One. And as the Father is ‘the (unique and only) Father', so He is ‘The (unique and only) Son'.
If only they will keep their eyes open they will in the future see greater things than they have seen up to this point so that they may marvel. He will perform many signs. (But because they would not be spectacular signs of the kind that men liked they would fail to acknowledge them). And above all He will take personal responsibility both for the judgment of the world and the future resurrection of the dead (John 5:21-22; John 5:25-29).
‘Except what he sees the Father do.' His actions are always as a result of seeing the Father's will and activity. There is here a claim to be able to fully enter into the mind of God.
‘For whatever He does, the Son does the same, for the Father loves the Son and shows him all that He Himself is doing'. There is such a relationship of love between Father and Son that what each does is fully known to the other and He always does what His Father does, and because of His love for Him His Father always shows Him what He is doing.
So He and the Father are declared to be working in tandem. Whatever Jesus does is what the Father has shown Him to do, and indeed is doing along with Him. Thus the healing of the lame man is the work of the Father and of the Son, and the consequence is that He thus has the right to do what He did on the Sabbath.
We should remember here that the Jews saw a son as being almost the embodiment and extension of his father. There was a oneness between them that was not true of their relationship with any other. The good son reproduced the life and behaviour of his father. Jesus makes clear that He does not work independently of the Father in anything. He does what the Father does, and wills what the Father wills. He is a true Son.
A careful analysis of these claims demonstrates that they are little short of a complete claim to be on the divine side of reality. None other could make such claims. So He is making the Scribes and Pharisees ask themselves how otherwise they could explain the healing, for it was nothing short of proving what He was saying.
‘And He will show him greater works than these so that you may be filled with amazement'. Let them take further note that what they will see in the future will exceed anything they have seen up to now. God has yet greater things to do through Him than the healing of a disabled man and exertion of authority over the Sabbath, as He will now declare.