The Apprentice

Who is Jesus? part 56 – John 5:19-30

I have never been an apprentice. My father, however, has a story he tells about an apprenticeship he went on. After returning home tired, his mother asked what he was doing to be so tired. It turns out he was doing. The next day, she turned up at his place of work, complaining that if he was to be used as a labourer, he had to be given labourer’s wages. She then took him home. Length of time as an apprentice: less than two days.

But I have trained people to do a job. There are a lot of ways of doing that; my method was one-to-one. I’d go through every task the first time, explaining everything I did. The second time was their time to ask questions. Third time was their turn, I’d supervise. When they’d got the hang of it, my job was done. The speed necessary to do the job will come soon. I’d just be there in the background if pace was necessary.

A. So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 

B.²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 

C.²¹ For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. ²² The Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son, ²³ that all may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. 

D.²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

D’. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 

C’. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man. 

B’. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement.

A’. ³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgement is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 5:19-30 ESVUK with added paragraphs to show the poetic structure.

The Gospel according to John, chapter 5, has similarities to chapter 1 in that it is made up of three passages in the form of chiasms or chiasmus. Chiasm, meaning crossing over, is a form used in nearly all Psalms and is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. For this reason, I am referring to these sections as songs, as I did with chapter 1.

In the A sections of this song, Jesus is saying that he knows what the Father wants because he is an apprentice of the Father and that he has been sent to Earth by the Father.

The first B section says,  “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.” (v. 20). That is the same way that Jesus had with teaching the disciples. On sending out the 12, he showed them what he was doing first, then sent them out to do the same. Later, the 72 were sent out, exactly the same thing, only with the 12 as the mentors.

An aside: I called this post The Aprentice, not The Mentor, because I am unaware of any TV show called The Mentor.

The Apostle Paul never met Jesus, except in a vision, but he was keen on mentoring too. In 1 Corinthians 11:1, he says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Theological training is a fantastic thing, but how do you imitate a concept? Apprenticeships and mentoring are based on imitation, being shown how to do it. I don’t think that Christian leaders who say things like, “Listen to God in prayer and do what he says,” have got it right. It’s great advice, but SHOW ME how it is done.

Mentoring can be the key to personal development.

---

< Previous | The Gospel of John | Next >