As He spoke these words, many believed in Him

 Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come."  So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?"  And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."  Then they said to Him, "Who are You?"  And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.  I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

- John 8:21-32

In Saturday's reading, Jesus was engaged in a dialogue with the Pharisees.  He spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.  It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."  They said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"  Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."  These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

 Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come."  So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?"  Once again, Jesus is speaking about His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  He repeats that He is "going away," but the Pharisees cannot understand Him.  Again we are reminded that in John's Gospel, the Jews most often refers to the religious leadership of that time, and not the whole of the Jewish people.

And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."  Then they said to Him, "Who are You?"  And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.  I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.   Jesus gives us the words that teach that He's speaking about things they can't understand because they're not focused on the love of God.  His origin is divine; and yet they must accept who He is in order to follow Him, to go where He will be going.  His words are true because He is true to the Father; this is where His teaching is coming from.  But they can't understand what He's talking about.

Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.  To lift up, my study bible reminds us, has the double meaning of both being nailed to the Cross and also being exalted by His Father on completion of Jesus' work.  That they are the ones who will "lift up" makes it clear He knows that He is speaking to those who will have Him crucified.  The light in the picture dawns here as we are given to understand that many believed in Him as He spoke.  There are many others in this crowd in the temple at Jerusalem, at the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth), who "have ears to hear" with the love of God in their hearts.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."   My study bible notes of these two verses first of all that "Jesus expects all who follow Him to be disciples, that is, learners.  Abiding in His word is the responsibility of all believers, not only of the clergy or of an elite class of zealots."  The truth, it says, "refers both to the virtue of truth and, more importantly, to Christ Himself (14:6).  Being free refers to the freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies, as well as the freedom from the bondage of sin and death."

While it may seem to us that there are those left out of Jesus' "everlasting life" -- to be with Him in that place where He is going, this is not really so.  A closer look at what is happening here will reveal to us that He is offering Himself, and what He has to give to the world, to everybody in this scene.  But there are those things that depend also upon our own hearts, what we want, what we desire.  Jesus has said earlier that a true desire to serve God -- to do God's will, to love God -- is the key to opening up this faith.  It opens the relationship to Christ.  As we can see, there are many in this crowd at the Feast who come to believe in Him.  Despite those members of the leadership parties who are fearful of Jesus because He seems to threaten their authority, there are many people who have come to the temple in Jerusalem to worship who "hear" what He is saying, and who come to believe.  There is no one left out.  It's important to understand the nature of God's mercy, and Jesus' kind of love.  He is the Judge, and we can't judge from this picture what is the final outcome of the lives and spiritual choices of these people.  We can see hardened hearts, with envy and ambition playing a role in this scene.  But we can't see the scene truly without the love of God and an understanding of the nature of that love.  Since God is love, we must equate the everlasting life which Jesus has on offer to all with the true nature of the love of God:  the boundless reality of that love.  When we pass that up, we are passing on a true Gift indeed.  We are taking on a role in which we reject knowledge and understanding of that love, instead of entering into relationship with it, and finding and knowing what it is for ourselves.  We also thereby miss being able to come to share it with others.  Jesus' promise regarding where He's going is always on offer.  So is the lesson here about what gets in the way of our truly knowing and understanding that love and its everlasting life on offer to us.