How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

 "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom he sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

- John 5:30-47

 Yesterday we read that after the healing of the paralytic, Jesus answered and said to the religious leaders who questioned Him for healing on the Sabbath and stating His equality to the Father, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, 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 He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

 "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."  My study bible explains that the divine will is common to the three Persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- who all fully share the same divine nature.  When Christ says that the Son obeys the Father, it is referring to His human will, assumed at His Incarnation (see the reading from yesterday, above, when Jesus refers to Himself as Son of Man, a messianic title).  My study bible adds that Christ freely aligned His human will in every aspect with the divine will of the Father -- and so each of us are called to do likewise.

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom he sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"  Jesus anticipates the argument of the religious leaders regarding His own testimony about Himself.  By Jewish tradition, two witnesses are required for a valid testimony (Deuteronomy 17:6).  Here Jesus offers four witnesses to His identity as Messiah and Son of God (as well as the title He uses for Himself in His Incarnation, Son of Man).  The witnesses He gives here are God the Father (in the earlier verses above), John the Baptist, Christ's own works, and finally, the Old Testament Scriptures, through which Moses and others gave testimony. 

Jesus says, "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?"  In some sense, Jesus is confirming to us that the sort of worldly glory that is worshiped as a kind of earthly religion of fame is a part of the practice of idolatry.  In a day and age of social media, where so many live for the attention they receive thereby, and "mega-stars" seemingly are made every day, we're reminded of how Christ thinks about the honor that comes from one another.  Idolatry is basically a form of worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.  That is, the beauty of the natural world -- including the beauty of human beings -- points to the Creator who fashioned them.  When they are no longer "transparent" to the beauty and love of God, they become objects of worship in themselves.  In the Old Testament, we read of the constant conflict between the worship of God and the worship of idols.  But today we have other idols we seem to worship.  Twitter and other forms of social media call even our modern journalists into a constant tug of war between what is actually true and what is somehow well-publicized, in an environment where even opinions and theories can become objects of idolatry.  This is clearly the "honor that comes from one another" at work.   With the same understanding of the difference between idolatry and true worship, Jesus calls the works that He does as those things that witness to Him and to His identity.  When first questioned by the religious authorities regarding the healing of the paralytic by the Sheep Gate, Jesus answered, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."    Consistently He shows that in fact the works He does are transparent signs that point to the Father behind all things, and that it is in union with the Father that He does what He does.  The signs themselves are not things to worship nor to idolize, but rather forms of witness to the power and grace and presence of God.  So it must be, as my study bible says, that our lives may point to the beauty, grace, and truth and presence of God in our world.  What can our works testify to?  Do we do things to be seen by others?  Is Instagram the call of meaning in our lives?  Or do we seek as Jesus does to do the will of God in our lives?  Do our lives point to something greater, bigger, more powerful, more deep than just the surface appearance?  To what do we witness through our own works in life?  Let us consider the strong pull of God, the struggle into which Christ invites us to enter with Him.  There will always be those who cannot speak this language, who do not understand, lost in an idolatry that comes from recognition only of the honor human beings give one another, and without a clue about the love of God.  But Christ is working and the Father is working; the Holy Spirit is working and present with us.  The kingdom of God remains present with us and among us.  And so we can witness to a greater and more beautiful glory.   We are invited to dwell within this beauty in our own lives.   This is His gift to us, His legacy we carry, and His grace in which we all can participate.  It's just a choice, and remains so for us among the idolatry we see today in new forms -- but in an old, old story of human beings who struggle for truth and reality that matters as much as it ever did.