John 5:20 tells us that the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and that the Father will reveal even greater works to him, so that people will be amazed. Jesus speaks these words in Jerusalem after healing a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, and he is answering religious leaders who were angry about it. He is explaining how his work relates to the Father’s work.
For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
John 5:20 (WEB)
What John 5:20 Means
The verse begins with “the Father has affection for the Son.” The Greek word here is about deep personal love, not a cold duty. Jesus is saying that the closeness between him and the Father is the reason the Father openly shares his purposes with him. Love leads to trust, and trust leads to openness.
Next comes “shows him all things that he himself does.” The idea is that the Father does not keep the Son in the dark. Jesus does not act on his own initiative, but in step with what the Father is doing. The verse describes a relationship of full transparency and shared work, not a student copying a teacher from a distance.
The final part, “greater works than these, that you may marvel,” points forward. The healing Jesus just performed is only a foretaste. The Father will show him still bigger things, including the raising of the dead mentioned in the verses that follow. The verse does not promise any specific miracle in your life. It tells you something about the relationship between the Father and the Son and says that the purpose of those works is that people will be astonished and come to faith.
The Context of John 5:20
John’s Gospel was written to show that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing in him brings life (John 20:31). The author is traditionally identified as the apostle John, and the first readers were probably Christian communities who needed to understand Jesus’s identity clearly. Chapter 5 sits in a section where Jesus’s claims about himself are growing bolder, and the tension with Jewish leaders is rising.
Just before verse 20, Jesus says that the Son “can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing” (verse 19), and that the Father is “still working” (verse 17). Verse 20 explains why this is possible: the Father’s love and openness make the Son’s obedience and unity with the Father complete. Just after verse 20, Jesus speaks of raising the dead and giving life (verse 21), which is the “greater work” he has in mind. Reading verse 20 in this setting shows that its wonder is tied to the claim that Jesus shares in God’s authority over life and judgment.
Key Phrases in John 5:20
John 1:18
No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
(WEB)
This verse says that the Son has made the invisible Father known. It connects closely to John 5:20 because both passages describe the Son as the one who reveals the Father and shares in his work.
John 10:30
I and the Father are one.”
(WEB)
Jesus says that he and the Father are one. This statement explains the deep unity that makes it possible for the Father to show the Son everything he does.
A Short Prayer From John 5:20
Father, thank you that your love for the Son is real and steady, and that you have chosen to share your purposes with him. Help me to trust that you are never hiding your work from those who belong to you. When I feel uncertain about what you are doing, remind me that you are still working and that you reveal your greater works in your own time. Open my eyes to see what you are doing around me, and let that sight fill me with wonder and faith. Amen.
