Today's reading is John 5. Some time later, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, a pool with five covered colonnades, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda. On these walkways lay a great number of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. One man there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had spent a long time in this condition, he asked him, do you want to get well? Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on the way, someone else goes in before me. Then Jesus told him, get up, pick up your mat and walk. Immediately the man was made well and he picked up his mat and began to walk. Now this happened on the Sabbath day. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, This is the Sabbath. It is unlawful for you to carry your mat. But he answered, The man who made me well told me, Pick up your mat and walk. Who is this man who told you to pick it up and walk? they asked. But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while the crowd was there. Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you. And the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews began to persecute him. But Jesus answered them, Because of this, the Jews tried all the harder to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus replied, For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes. Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life. Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and has now come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so also has He granted the Son to have life in Himself. And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out. Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing by myself. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies about me, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. Even though I do not accept human testimony, I say these things so that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light. But I have testimony more substantial than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works I am doing, testify about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word abide in you because you do not believe the one he sent. You pour over the scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from men, but I know you, that you have not the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you have not received me. But if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have put your hope. If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me because he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say? This is God's word. Every year, some of the funeral homes in our area drop by the church building at Christmastime and leave me a gift. The one that does this most consistently gives me a tin of mixed nuts. I snack on them in my office for weeks. It's a big tin. And I'm grateful that they brought me something healthy and not just more Christmas cookies or fruitcake. I guess it's good business for them to keep in touch with pastors, but the truth is they're in a recession-proof business. People are dying all the time, so there are always needs to be served in their industry. Everyone likes referrals, as weird as that sounds when talking about funeral homes. But they're going to get customers no matter what. Doing funerals and attending funerals that I'm not involved in are part of the life of being a pastor. I'm always grateful for the opportunity to serve families when they have a funeral, but I hate the pain and sorrow that death brings. I also hate that many families only get together and reminisce about old times when someone dies. That's the reality of the busy lives and people who live in different parts of the world, but it is still sad. Jesus promised to end all of this here in John 5. He promised life to those who believe God through him. We see that in verse 24. Eternal life is such common terminology in our faith that we sometimes go numb to what it means. Jesus' promise to us, however, is that God will raise the dead and that all believers will live with him forever. Visualize this promise. A time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out. Those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. That's verses 25 through 28 in our passage for today. There is an end to death coming. And it will be a great day for those in Christ, and an absolutely horrible day for everyone else. Each of us will be judged according to what he has done. Those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned, as verse 29 in the NIV says. All of us would be in the latter category and would rise to be condemned if it were not for the perfect righteousness of Christ credited to us by faith, as verse 24 talks about, and the payment that is death made for our sins. This is the hope for the dying, the living who will die someday, and those who live who have lost someone they love in death. Because of Christ's mercy and grace, Death will end, and eternal life will reign forever. The funeral business may be recession-proof, but it will be disrupted and made obsolete by the final resurrection. Are you ready?