Eastern Long Island has a few big apple orchards. Every autumn, they have u-pick harvest festivals, where you can go in and pick bushels of apples of all different kinds. Granny smith, pink ladies, macintosh, golden, red delicious. You name it, there are rows and rows of them.

When I was younger, it always used to bother me how many apples were on the ground. It felt wasteful. All these apples on the floor, rotting or going to the bugs. What use is that?

In John 5, Jesus is calling attention to several sources that bear witness to His Godship. Standing in front of the Pharisees, Jesus appeals to several references that the Pharisees should affirm, either because of their position in Jewish leadership or because of their educated backgrounds.

The first witness Jesus uses is John the Baptist. He reminds them that John declared that Jesus was the Messiah the world had been waiting for, the Promised Savior God ordained for us to put our faith in. John was like a light on a lampstand. He proclaimed the coming Christ for the whole of his life. Jesus reminds the Pharisees that they embraced John’s testimony that the Messiah had almost arrived because they were expecting God to send Jesus in a different way.