John 5:33-36 - The Father has sent me

5:33,34

The religious leaders had already sent a delegation to investigate John the Baptist (John 1:19), so they would have known about John calling Jesus the Lamb of God, the Messiah. So they knew that John kad borne witness to the truth. Now Jesus was pointing this out not for His own benefit, but for that of the Jewish leaders. Jesus did not need the testimony of man. He had been with the Father from all eternity, He didn’t need any reassurance as to who He was! But men need the testimony of men, though they will often ignore it even then.

5:35,36

“He was a burning and shining lamp”. The Greek actually suggests that “burning” is “was ignited”, implying that God had set him off. The people had enjoyed John the Baptist, even some of the religious leaders seem to have done so as well. But they had not truly believed. People can “enjoy” the words of a prophet or a preacher without truly taking them in, i.e. believing them and acting upon them. One greater than John was now with them, the Messiah Himself, so they should have rejoiced all the more. The things that Jesus was doing were causing an offence to the religious leaders, when in fact they should have been confirming to them that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.