The equality between the Father and the Son is absolute.

Greetings friends God bless you.

"The Son can not do anything for himself, but what he sees the Father do"

Jesus begins with one of his most solemn phrases: "Most assuredly, I say to you," as if to say: "I assure you, and I give you my word ...". And what do you affirm with such force? Well, he is responding to the accusation of the Jews to break the Sabbath and to make himself equal to God, so he is going to explain more broadly the truth that he had just declared. And we will immediately notice that he does not demean what he had said, but on the contrary, he will reinforce his just claim, with the certainty that the Jews would grow even worse in their fury against him.

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From the point of view of the Jews, a mere man was making himself God. This seemed to them an arrogance and inadmissible presumption for a simple man. But also, from a logical point of view, this was completely impossible. There can not be two supreme and omnipotent beings at the same time.

Now, the Lord Jesus Christ did not pretend to be another different God, acting independently, and possessing equal rights and power. Let us remove from our minds any idea of ​​competition or rivalry between two deities. Could not be farther from the truth. And this is what the Lord wants to highlight in his speech. The relationship between the Father and the Son is one of mutual love and trust. They are united in the same purpose and work.

Here we have to make a reflection. We have all heard of the Holy Trinity, although such a name never appears in the Scriptures. And although this is true, however, the only way to understand what we are studying, is on the basis of admitting that there is only one God in several Persons, who are equal and mutually dependent on each other. Otherwise, we would have to accept that what Jesus was teaching on this occasion, is that there are two Gods, and necessarily one of them would have to be greater than the other. But when we analyze this beautiful passage we see that the equality between the Father and the Son is absolute.

We see that the Lord begins by affirming that "whatever the Father does, so does the Son equally" (Jn 5:19). This amounts to saying that the Son is omnipotent as the Father, because otherwise he could not do "all that the Father does". However, right there he clarifies that "the Son can not do anything for himself, but what he sees the Father do". With this he shows us that his power is not in competition with that of the Father, but that his works are done in humility and dependence on the Father. We, as fallen men, easily think that such subordination necessarily implies inferiority. In our human relationships, this is the usual. But let's not forget that we are talking about God. In your case, subordination does not imply inferiority, nor is there any type of conflict of interests or wills. What is implicit in this relationship is a perfect collaboration, friendship, intimate union. The Father and the Son are two wills united in one.

On the other hand, we must not lose sight of the "special" situation in which the Son had entered through the Incarnation. When he accepted the mission of the redemption of man, he subordinated himself to the eternal plan of God, so that he acted at all times following the wishes of the Father, which in this context we must understand that it is the expression of the will of the Triune God. In this way, the Lord Jesus Christ lived as a man in dependence and faith of his Father. What a model for us! The one whom we adore as Lord, assumed for himself in an absolute way the position of a servant.

Credits to the author of this letter Luis de Miguel