And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free

 

 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, but 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 our current readings, Jesus is in the final year of His life and ministry.  He is at the autumn Festival of Tabernacles.  Yesterday we read that Jesus 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."  Then 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."  Going away, according to my study bible, refers to Christ's death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.

 

 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, but I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.    Let us remember once again that the term the Jews refers to the leadership.  My study bible comments that lift up has the double meaning both of being nailed to the Cross and also being exalted by His Father upon the completion of His work.  

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."  The Greek word for disciples literally means "learners."   It is also a word for "students."  My study bible notes that Jesus expects all who follow Him to be disciples, learners.  To abide in His word is the responsibility of all believers, it says, not only of the clergy or of an elite class of zealots.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  My study bible says that the truth refers both to the virtue of truth, and, more importantly, to Christ Himself (14:6).  To be free is a reference to the freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies, as well as freedom from the bondage of sin and death.  

Jesus tells those who believed Him, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  It seems from the text that He is directing these words at members of the leadership.  We've already been told that there were many people among the general crowds at the festival who believed in Him, as well.  But what leads Him to make this statement?  What is the truth?  What does it mean to be made free?   Jesus' statement connecting truth and freedom is predicated upon this teaching:  "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."   So it is first of all abiding in Christ's word, becoming His disciples -- those who learn from Him --  that leads us to know the truth, and from there the truth makes us free.  What is this truth He offers?  Is it freedom from the law?  Certainly that is a part of it, although Christ specifically calls Himself the fulfillment of the Law, and that as disciples our righteousness should exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:17-20).  As is so often the case, a great clue is given us by His earlier statements regarding Himself.  He tells them they will die in their sins without this faith, because where He goes they cannot follow.  So one freedom, as stated by my study bible, is surely freedom from sins.  That is, the freedom of a life where mercy and forgiveness rule.  This is only possible through a deep and close relationship with God; purely human rituals and rites cannot free us in this sense to a closeness of communion with God in which to find the kind of truth and freedom that Jesus is talking about.  Jesus emphasizes the communion of wills between Himself and the Father:  "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."  So truth is directly connected to this closeness to the Father, the One who sent Christ.  Jesus later says, "He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, but I always do those things that please Him."   So here is a key to truth.  Christ presents Himself as a disciple to God the Father, as one who will "always do those things that please Him."  To abide in Christ's word, therefore, is to do the same, and to draw closer to the Father as Christ shares communion with the Father.  This is both our truth and our freedom.  The communion of this relationship enables us to know who we are, and sets us free to be -- and to more deeply become -- the persons our Creator knows us to be.  This is the homecoming of truth and freedom,  to the place where we are deeply loved, deeply accepted, and also where we can find the correction that frees us from our illusions about ourselves, the world, and our place in the cosmos.  The light that illumines our own darkness makes us free from that darkness.  To my mind, and in my own experience, this is how we are set free.  We find that rather than pleasing the crowd, we seek to please God.  We compare the hostility of going against the groove of the world to the love we find -- even in our mistakes -- with God.  We compare that place of homecoming with the world that will penalize us for being different.  We are free to forego the praise of men and seek the praise of God instead.  In chapter 12, John writes, "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (12:43).  How will those rulers who believed in Him, the ones He addresses in today's reading, come to truth that liberates and frees?  How do we get there?  

I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life

 

 Then Jesus 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."  Then 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.

 

- John 8:12–20 

 

Yesterday we read that on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."

 

 Then Jesus 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."  My study bible explains that Jesus is speaking these words in the context of the great lamps being lit at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles.  The great lamps were huge menorahs, so large and tall that they illumined a great deal of the city when they were lit.  My study bible explains that Jesus is declaring Himself to be the fulfillment and the divine object of all celebrations of light.  In the Scriptures, God the Father Himself is light (1:4-9; 1 John 1:5), an attribute which God bestows on God's followers (Matthew 5:14; Philippians 2:15).  Christ confirms this claim in the following chapter, in which the eyes of a man born blind are opened (9:1-7; see especially verse 5).

 

 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."   Earlier in John's Gospel, Jesus gave four witnesses to the religious leaders (see 5:31-47).  Jesus remarks here that "it is also written your law that the testimony of two men is true," citing the requirements of the Law in Deuteronomy 17:6.  Here Jesus gives two witnesses, and contradicting the statement of the Pharisees, He defends Himself as witness, but for only one reason:  His close relationship to the Father.  Jesus does not judge according to the flesh; He states that He judges no one.  But if He judges, it is with true judgment because He is with the One who sent Him.  His witnesses are Himself and the Father.  

Then 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.  My study bible comments here that because the Son and the Father share the same divine nature, one cannot be known apart from the other (14:7-11). 

Jesus interestingly makes one strikingly powerful statement in the last part of today's reading.  He says, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."   So much comes down not to worldly considerations and reliance on construction of intellectual ideas and rationale of authority, but rather to loving and knowing God.  Jesus makes many assertions like this through the Gospel, that the first way to know and judge anything is to love God first.  If we know God, then somehow can find our way to what makes sense, what we trust, what we can place our faith in.  As Jesus says about His own judgment, it is important to seek God when we try to find discernment about anything.  It is God who forms the structure of order and truth that sets other things in proper order.  Just as in the two greatest commandments which Jesus gives, one follows the other:  "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).  It is the love of God that guides us into how we are to relate to one another and to practice love.  With Christ's statement to the Pharisees in today's reading, we're given a real sense that He is in this world so that we can know the Father through Him.  And in this sense of coming to know the good, Christ speaks of Himself as the light of the world.  He is the light through which everything else is defined, distinguished, and discerned.  It is His values and order that help us to establish order in our lives, and move on a positive path, even coming to acceptance about the negative things in our lives -- and in ourselves.  For these things we need His illumination; otherwise we judge "according to the flesh."  Let us consider the important reasons why we seek to know God through love, and why Christ's light makes such a great huge difference in our lives.  Our prayers are our ways and means of doing that, knowing God, becoming closer, asking for the light so that even the dark places may be lit up.  Asking for the positive, so that life on worldly terms doesn't make us feel defeated.  God is love, and this is how we know Christ and seek to find His light.  It is in this sense that we follow Him, so that we shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water

 

 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."

 

- John 7:37–52 

 

Yesterday we read that about the middle of the eight-day Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

 

 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  The last day, that great day of the feast is the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles.  My study bible explains that the ceremony of the drawing of water on this day provides the context for Jesus' words, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink."  The living water, it says, is the gift of the Holy Spirit and the new life that accompanies that gift.  

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  The Prophet is a reference to the expected Messiah, whom Moses foretold would come (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).   The Christ was expected to come from the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).  The people believe Jesus to be from Nazareth; they do not know He was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1).

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"   Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  The chief priests had earlier sent officers of the temple to arrest Jesus in the middle of the Feast (see yesterday's reading, above).  By the time the last day of the Feast had come (this day in the text), they had failed to arrest Him.  My study bible comments that these officers had been converted by Christ's teaching.  It quotes St. John Chrysostom as saying that the Pharisees and the scribes who had "witnessed the miracles and read the Scriptures derived no benefit" from either.  These officers, on the other hand, even though they could claim none of this learning, were "captivated by a single sermon."  When the mind is open, "there is no need for long speeches.  Truth is like that."

Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"    Nicodemus has spoken privately with Jesus, being taught by night (3:1-21).  My study bible comments that since that time he has increased by faith.  But his defense of Christ was still based on our law, and not yet a public profession of faith, which will come later on, after Jesus is crucified (see 19:38-39).   According to the law, Jesus has to be given a hearing before He can be judged (Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 1:15-17). 

They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."  The Pharisees here show what my study bible calls their blind hatred and also their ignorance of the Scriptures.  The prophet Jonah came from Galilee, the town of Gath Hepher, only three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25).

Again, John's Gospel keeps us in the middle of the hullabaloo that surrounds Jesus.  As He speaks in the temple, the religious leaders become infuriated and seek to have Him arrested.  But even this attempt to stop Him fails, as the officers are simply stunned by listening to Him.  They respond as if they are spellbound.  Just as we read that St. Peter recently said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life," so these officers also respond to the power and energy in Christ's words.  They return empty-handed, and tell the rulers, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"   We're told that many in the crowd believe Christ is the Prophet, the Messiah prophesied by Moses.  Others say, "This is the Christ."  Still others question how He can be the Messiah, since they don't know He's from Bethlehem.  But one can just sense the rising panic of the leadership.  Nicodemus makes one reasonable suggestion, in support of the Law, which these men are supposed to cherish and uphold.  But they are so beside themselves that they must insult Nicodemus, and they falsely state that no prophet has come from Galilee.  So, as Christ stands in the midst of the people in the temple and cries out regarding the Spirit, all are stirred around Him, making it clear that He was quite true when He said that He came not to bring peace but a sword (Matthew 10:34).   This scene is also, in some sense, a reminder of the truth of Christ's words that "he who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad" (Matthew 12:30), for we can see the scattering happening, while others are growing in faith, including Nicodemus.  Once again, let us consider the chaos and confusion that surrounds Jesus, and the manipulation going on behind the scenes, including shortcutting the law.  The Gospel gives us all a gift by showing us a confusing, disorienting time, in which people truly are "like sheep having no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36), for it is entirely unclear from a worldly perspective where truth really is, and there is so much manipulation by the powerful.  Let us also keep in mind this time in the history of Israel, when the people are under Roman occupation, and there are insurrectionist movements also going on at the same time.  Jesus presents a very different picture of the Messiah than what was expected:  He doesn't have a conquering army and He doesn't preach that kind of nationalism.  He is a different kind of Liberator, His is the Kingdom of God, and the drink He offers to all is "rivers of living water" flowing from the heart, a reference to the Holy Spirit.  How can people understand what is so far hidden from them, even the great mystery about which Christ speaks?  It should be reassuring to us in a troubled and confusing time, and in the midst of our own current challenges, and all those opposing, frightening voices that respond to every rumor and machination.  We must hang on to our faith.  We are called to put our faith and trust in Him.  We are asked to hear and understand His words, venturing deeper into the Kingdom, where we may experience those rivers of living water which are meant for our thirst for righteousness, and to know our way.  Let us remember we are always going to be a bit like the image of Nicodemus, who is on his own way to a fuller faith, for as believers we know we are always on that road.  The Feast of Tabernacles commemorates the time when Israel followed Moses, led by the Spirit as a cloud which hovered over the tabernacle of meeting by day, and in which was contained a pillar of fire by night.   Jesus offers to us all the rivers of living water, the gift of the Holy Spirit, to lead us on our way.

If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority

 

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

 

- John 7:14–36 

 

Yesterday we read that at this time, Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the religious leaders sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.   

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Jesus is at the eight-day Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot), an autumn festival commemorating the time the Israelites wandered toward the Promised Land following Moses, and dwelling in tents (or tabernacles).  My study bible comments on this passage that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.   It says that spiritual blindness comes from unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.  St. John Chrysostom paraphrases Christ in this way:  "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of God.  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be afflicted in this way."  Regarding healing on the Sabbath, Jesus refers to this event which occurred at the Feast of Weeks, or Old Testament Pentecost, which takes place fifty days after Passover.  

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."   My study bible comments that these crowds are mistaken, in both an earthly and a divine sense.  In terms of Christ's human identity, they think Jesus is from Nazareth of Galilee.  But they aren't aware that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem (verse 42; see Luke 2:1-7).  Moreover, they can't comprehend that Christ has come from the Father in Heaven, eternally begotten before all ages, and therefore His divine "origin" is also unknown to them.

Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  Christ's hour is His time of suffering and death, His Passion.  My study bible remarks that He is the Lord over time, an authority which is possessed by God only.  Christ comes to the Cross by His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of human beings (see 8:20, 10:39). 

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."   Christ's statement is a reference to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.

Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"  To go among the Greeks is to go among the Gentiles.  This is an unwitting prophecy, according to my study bible, and it points to the time after Christ's Ascension when Christ's name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles.  

It's so interesting that John presents us with Jesus' teaching and the perplexed responses of the leaders and the people.  In today's reading John specifically gives us the dialogue of Jesus with the leaders and also the various people from Jerusalem and also the crowds.  The religious leaders at some point even send officers to seize Him, but as we shall see, and as we've been told, it's not quite His time for that yet.  Yesterday we read that the leaders were searching for him at the feast, but also there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews (meaning the religious leaders).  So the people are looking for clues.  People apparently are talking about Him in today's reading:  common people both from Galilee and now from Jerusalem.  The leaders marvel even at how Jesus knows all the things He's talking about.  Jesus asks, "Why do you seek to kill Me?" and the people respond, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"   Some from Jerusalem ask, "Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?"  But on the other hand, how can He be the Christ since "we know where this Man is from?"     And yet, despite this debate, there are also many who believe in Him because of the works He has done.  Everywhere there is discussion and debate.  There is also fear, and a myriad of opinions hidden under an umbrella of that fear of the leadership.   There is more than one opinion here, more than one party with their own perspective and point of view and interests for consideration, and Jesus is in the middle of all of it.  He is the central point of the controversy, with myriad rumors, opinions, ideas, and interests involved.  In short, we are in the middle of a crisis.  Even while the leaders issue orders to have Him arrested, how does Jesus respond to all of this?  What does He do?  Does He clarify everything for everyone?  Does He carefully explain all the things everybody wants to know?  Does He tell the people He was indeed born in Jerusalem?  No, instead Jesus talks the straight talk about His mystical origins and especially about the Father.  He says His doctrine is that of the One who sent Him, and that they must judge righteous judgment.  He tells them that they both know Him and where He's from, but they don't know the One who sent Him, whose will He always follows:  "I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."   Everything keeps going back to the Father.  Finally, as if the climax of a crisis has come, Jesus announces that He will only be with them a little while longer, that He will return to the One who has sent Him, and where He will go they cannot follow.  "You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."   Instead of resolving this crisis to everyone's satisfaction, Jesus tells the mystical truth of the reality of His ministry and mission.  They cannot understand, but we must consider that these words are not meant only for His immediate circumstances but also with the knowledge that they would also become meaningful to His disciples, and eventually be given to us.  Jesus never abandons the mission.  He doesn't seek to explain everything to everyone's satisfaction, but He does reveal the mystical reality of who He is.  He tells the truth about Himself, even though the people cannot understand.  He is leading them somewhere, and just as John's Gospel gives us this portrayal of the confusion and opinions that surround Him, so are we always in a similar place in the sense that we might hear, think, and entertain all kinds of notions about Christ.  But yet we still have only His words about who He is, and He is speaking to us all of these millennia later.  If we follow His lead, He continually points to the Father, that the Father and He are one, and that this is His mission, to be true to that identity as Son.  He knows His mission and what He is about, and yet into that mystery He reveals we are still drawn and invited in to enter.  Where is that place He is going?  Do we really know the Father, and follow the words and teachings we've been given?  How best do we follow Christ, and where is He taking us?  How do we reconcile our own social roles in the midst of a still-confusing life and time, and yet be true to Him, and even wait on His word?  All of these things are somehow with us still, and John does not spare us the confusion, the misunderstanding, the hostility, the manipulation, the desires, and the thousand and one other things that make up this slice of the life and time of the ministry of Christ.  For all of these things are still with us.  We walk through confusing times.  We don't fully understand the mystery of Christ.  But we know one thing, that He stands firm in His truth for us, and He goes to the Cross and returns to the Father for us.  We have our faith.  We have our will to do His will, and Christ's promise that this is enough.

The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil

 

 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews. 

 

- John 7:1–13 

 

Yesterday we read that many of  Christ's disciples, when they heard Jesus speak of eating His Body and Blood, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

 

  After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  The next section of John's Gospel (7:1-10-21) speaks of Christ's time at the Feast of Tabernacles.  The whole section covers eight days of the festival.  The setting is now the final year of the life of Christ.  My study bible comments that during this festival, Jesus taught in the temple and attracted a great deal of public attention.  It says that some thought Him mad (verse 20), others believed He was the Messiah (verses 31, 40), and yet others (such as the leadership of the Pharisees and Sadducees) thought He was a threat (verses 32, 45-52).  The Jews who sough to kill Him, once again, are the religious leaders who feel He is a threat to them, and not the Jewish people in general.  We must remember that Jesus, His disciples, who include the author of this Gospel, and all those to whom He goes and who listen to Him preach, are Jewish.  The Feast of Tabernacles (Hebrew succoth, sometimes spelled as Sukkot) is an eight-day autumn harvest festival.  It commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, a time when the people lived in tents (or tabernacles).  Together with Passover and the Old Testament Pentecost it was one of the three most important festivals of the ancient Jews.  It included many sacrifices and celebrations (Leviticus 23:33-43).  In later times, my study bible adds, the final day of the feast included drawing water from the pool of Siloam, to be mixed with wine and poured at the foot of the altar.  This was both a purification and done in remembrance of the water flowing from the rock struck by Moses (Exodus 17:1-7).  Moreover, it included the lighting of the great lamps in the outer court of the temple.  Elements of each of these events of the festival will be referenced in the preaching of Christ. 

His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.   Across the Middle East still today, the word brother is used to refer to extended family, including cousins.  In the historical understanding of the Church, Mary had only one Son, and Christ had no siblings.  These brothers are either step-brothers by a previous marriage of Joseph, Jesus' earthly guardian, or cousins.  Jesus' time is the time of His Passion.

But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.  Not openly, my study bible explains, means without a grand, public entrance, such as will happen on Palm Sunday (12:12-16), when Christ's time has come.

 

 Today's reading tells us something about Jesus' personal struggles that we don't necessarily find in other Gospels.  Jesus' own family does not believe in Him.  At least His extended family is taunting Him in today's reading.  They ridicule Him as the religious leaders will later do.  I think this is quite an important element, as it shows us something about the struggle for a spiritual life in the world.  Jesus' response to them characterizes their understanding as "worldly" in that sense.  He says, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."  Jesus is not responding to the lack of belief of His brothers as some sort of personal problem among them in the family, but rather puts this as a spiritual problem.  Their identification is with "the world" but Christ calls testifies that the works of the world are evil.  This is a profound spiritual split, not simply a problem among brothers or family or any other type of nominal social group.  It is an invariable difference regarding an attitude to what might be commonly accepted but is nevertheless evil.  It is, in fact, an issue of the Cross, and where the Cross may come even between brothers.   In the Letter to the Colossians, St. Paul writes, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."  He writes of Christ "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it" (see Colossians 2).  In other words, the Cross calls out the truth of the world, exposing evil and bringing it to light.  It is the Cross that overshadows this passage, even as Christ says that His time has not yet come.  John's Gospel concerns itself with light and darkness -- especially with the rejection of the Light, and the nature of darkness to seek to hide (see John 1:1-18).    In the Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul writes in what we might call very Johannine language about light and darkness.  St. Paul advises them to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light" (Ephesians 5:11-13).  In the following chapter, St. Paul writes in terms of battle, about taking up the whole armor of God, and that the battle is really a spiritual one, in which this armor is truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, salvation, Scripture, prayer and supplication, the help of the saints and the Spirit (see Ephesians 6:10-20).   In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus speaks of this sword He brings that will come between family members (see Matthew 10:34-36).   For monastics, these issues of separation from the world, within so many levels of life and even in personal relations, would become a crucial issue of following the Lord.  For us laypeople, we may also find such issues appearing in our lives, with our faith in Christ seemingly leading us through fissures in our nominally good and desired relationships.  Let us remember that all of this is in the way of the Cross, and that it is essentially a spiritual battle -- not a personal or political or social one -- that we are drawn to as faithful.  Let us remember the armor and weapons named by Jesus and St. Paul, and put on the whole armor of  God.  We should not be dismayed or surprised at the places the Cross may take us, for so went Jesus before us.  But we should remember that we are in a long walk somewhere, a journey of faith, toward that end where all things are reconciled in Him.

 

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life

 

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

 

- John 6:60–71 

 

Yesterday we read that the leaders in the synagogue quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 

  Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  My study bible points out that even Christ's disciples took His teaching on His Body and Blood as a hard saying, and many walked with Him no more.  It states that to this day, there are still those who reject Christ's own words concerning the sacramental eating of His Body and drinking of His Blood, and therefore do not walk in His teaching.  There is a great difficulty in grasping the depth of this Mystery, and so there have been many attempts to rationally define its nature, or to explain away His words as purely metaphor.  But my study bible says that either extreme is dubious.  When one rejects a sacramental teaching, it becomes, in effect, a rejection of the witness of the Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history.  

But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.   It is an interesting way in which this confession of faith by Peter is spoken in this particular Gospel.  Peter's words single out Christ for His compelling testimony which can't be found elsewhere.  In John's Gospel, this remarkable confession on Peter's part also singles out the betrayal that will come.  

If Jesus has the words of eternal life, where else shall we go, after all?  Peter's comment reminds of the story in Luke of the disciples on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).  After sitting down to eat with the stranger they meet, we're told:  Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.  So Christ was known to them, as is often pointed out, in the breaking of the bread.  But my notice is directed to the words the disciples say to one another, once they realize and He's vanished from them:  "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"   This is, to my mind, an echo of Peter's words in today's reading:  "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  Who else can create that energy in the heart?  Who else has living words that reach down deep into a place for which we have no plumb line?  Who else has the words of eternal life that reflect and touch us and highlight what we need, and tomorrow will spark another thought that helps us through, and thirty years from now, and even two millennia after they were first spoken?  Who else has such words that are a burning fire that doesn't consume but enlivens our lives when nothing else does?  There is just one place, one Person, to whom we can go.  We may not know it, and take a lifetime's journey wandering to find some peace, some place where we can rest and trust, but all so that we come back home and realize that what we needed was always there, but we had to find it.   This was my journey:  I studied and looked and explored and all that work led me right back home, to the place of the words of eternal life -- but more importantly, to the One who has those words, in whom I could ultimately really trust when all else failed.  It's not that I left home behind, but I needed to find out for myself.  Perhaps, a little like the wandering Israelites, I needed to work through my confusion and misreading and misunderstanding to come back to where the treasure was hiding all along.   So Peter's words are the words of the disciples going toward Emmaus who think they've lost their Master, and they are the words of the Prodigal, too (Luke 15:11-32).  We return to the One who has the words of eternal life, who is the very living Word.  We return to the place where the One who emptied Himself to us abides in us, and we in Him.  It is those living words, the words of eternal life, which have no end and never cease to give, where we find we hunger and thirst no more -- or perhaps that they always have more to give us to meet our need.  To whom shall we go?  For here with Him is truly home.

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 

- John 6:52-59 

 

Yesterday we read that the leaders in the synagogue complained about Jesus, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give in My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." 

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Let us first remind ourselves that the term the Jews in John's Gospel is most frequently used to depict the religious leadership, as if we are talking of political parties.  Jesus, we're told, is teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum, so these are the rulers in the synagogue who repeatedly question Him for His teaching.  They clearly have no idea what He is talking about, as once again John's Gospel takes us from earthly understanding of things from daily life, to the meanings that Christ gives them.  My study bible comments on the entire passage in today's reading that the eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable.  It says that Christ's declaration that He Himself is the living bread that gives life is a revelation of the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  John's Gospel does not give to us the details of the Last Supper which Luke records (see Luke 22:19-20, which contains the "words of institution").  But John gives to us the significance and truth of these events, by giving to us Christ's own words.  We should keep in mind that the original hearers of these Gospels already knew of the events themselves.  Christ was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross.  On the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  My study bible further comments here that we receive the grace of His sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith (verse 35) and receiving Holy Communion in faith.  In Communion, we mystically eat His flesh and drink His blood, and this grants the faithful eternal life, as Christ abides in us and us in Him.  St. Hilary of Poitiers comments here:  "There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith.  Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ is in us."

For many people, it seems, the meaning of "mystical" is lost in a modern social construct.  But the notion of the mystical is key to all of our apprehension of what faith is, and to the very existence of God.  While we cannot understand God as God understands God (in other words, we cannot know God as an equal or as a being of the same order), we are capable of apprehending that the qualities of God as Being as far beyond us, and yet also exist with us and within us.  God is of such dimensional reality that permeates all existence, has created all of existence that we know, and dwells also far beyond our comprehension and understanding.  These are the things we are capable of grasping.  But where God and the worldly intersect is by its very nature mystical, and the Church from her earliest beginnings accepted the presence in the Eucharist of the Body and Blood of Christ.  This is not, in the eyes of the Eastern Church, something explicable on worldly terms.  It is a given that it is true because we have the words of Christ, the Gospels, the witness of the earliest Church, and all the experience of the faithful since.  Our whole faith really makes sense through this understanding of the mystical, the reality of God's presence in our lives although we don't see God as God sees God.  We can sometimes sense God's presence, and we always must return to Christ's words regarding the Spirit, who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and gloried (as we say in the Creed), also God:  "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8, in which Jesus teaches Nicodemus by night about holy baptism).  In the words of Christ, and to paraphrase, we cannot tell where God comes from or where God goes, but we can know the mystical reality of God in our lives and the evidence of God's interactions with us.  We can know through faith what God has done and is doing within us.  We know when our souls are filled, or when they are longing for something more that the world can't give us.  All of these things are part of what is mystical, the hidden reality of God which is, nevertheless, present with us.  Another term for sacrament is "holy mystery."  To quote from an OrthodoxWiki page, which explains succinctly much better than I do, "The holy mysteries or sacraments in the Orthodox Church are vessels of the mystical participation in divine grace of mankind."  The bread and wine of the Eucharist, as instituted at the Last Supper, and affirmed in the words of Christ in today's reading, are those vessels through which we partake of the mystical presence of Christ's Body and Blood.  We don't know how this happens; we take it on faith that it does.  For the Eastern Church, this mystery is left simply there, until such a time at which we no longer look through a glass darkly but know as we are known.   As St. Paul writes, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).  We accept Christ's words which are truly indisputable, affirmed in so many ways in the Gospels, and forming a coherent whole with His life and ministry and repeatedly stated purpose of His ministry, mission, and Passion.  Let us for a moment retrieve the sense of true Mystery that belongs to our faith, and dwell where He goes and takes us with Him, even as we dwell in the world, for this is where we have been called.

For the life of the world

 

 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  

 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give in My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

 

- John 6:41-51 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught the crowds who had wanted to make Him king:  "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

 

The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father."  Here is an interesting exchange, taking place in Galilee.  These religious leaders know Jesus and His extended family:  the reference once again is to the earthly things they know.  How can Jesus claim such things?  But Christ answers in a most interesting way.  All along, He has spoken about His connection to the Father as Son, the close union of obedience.  Here, He shares something about every human being:  that those who are drawn to Christ are also drawn by God the Father.  He also specifically indicates His particular relation as one who is from God and has seen the Father. 

 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give in My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."   Jesus emphasizes the life-giving quality of the bread that He offers, and moreover reveals a hint that He Himself will voluntarily die in the flesh, for the life of the world.  My study bible comments that the eucharistic significance of this passage (and the verses which will follow in Monday's reading) is indisputable.  Jesus' declaration that He is the living bread that gives life is a revelation of the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church. 

To my mind, there is no statement of greater significance than the one in which Jesus tells us that He will give His flesh "for the life of the world."  This is because, in the collective wisdom of the Church, this statement has come to be understood in every dimension possible.  That is to say that "the life of the world" means the life of the world:  all of creation and everything in it.  I would be remiss if I did not recommend here a wonderful book, which can be read and re-read time and again:  For the Life of the World, by Fr. Alexander Schmemann, who gives so much to our understanding.  The word for "world" in the Greek text is not planet earth, but cosmos/κοσμος, the entire created order.  That means a universe of existence, both seen and unseen, and everything in it.  This event of the Passion and Christ's voluntary human death on the Cross, will not be given only that we human beings may be with Him in that promise of life that is eternal, but for all of the created reality -- and that means all things that are part of it.  Christ's sacrifice will be for the life and renewal of everything and everyone.  What is a world touched by this life?  My study bible speaks of the sacramental (specifically eucharistic) significance of Christ's words.  In the Eucharist, bread becomes "living bread," mystically imbued with life, His Body and Blood.  But in this very sense of sacrament, the whole created order can be returned to Christ to be given this life that He is going to offer, enacted and given through His voluntary sacrifice of His human life, His flesh.   Because of His sacrifice, and the life He offers which transforms the dreaded Cross into an instrument of salvation, anything can become a part of a sacramental life.  We can devote our careers, no matter where they are or what they might be, to Christ.  We can dedicate our entire lives to living His gospel, no matter what events may shape our histories.  We can take a garden in our house and dedicate it to the life of God, seeking in prayer how to make it beautiful, finding a purpose in that cultivation of beauty for the glory of God.  We can teach our children, we can nurture a friend or help a stranger, we can cook a meal, we can pray over anything.  Our prayers mean far more than we think for the renewal and help of those living and who have passed.  The smallest effort is not wasted, and time and space are of no barrier to such sacramental practice.  We just cannot limit the dimensions into which this understanding can be placed, put to use, come to help, to survive and to thrive, and especially to save.  A single word in the right place and the right time can save a life, can give the hopeless hope.  An abused and neglected animal can be shown love.  There is no forgotten corner of the universe that cannot be sprinkled with Christ's transfiguring love and mercy through us, through our prayer, through our compassion, in imitation of and work for Him in faith.  Christ our Creator is the author of all creation; therefore His life is for all creation.   Let us consider what we call the world, for it is so much broader and more deeply expanded than what we can imagine -- and He calls us to use our imagination in this service and this sacrament, His call for salvation.  Let us follow and truly hear all that He offers!

 

 

He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst

 

 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

- John 6:27-40 

 

Yesterday we read that, when evening came (after the feeding of the five thousand), His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.  On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone -- however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks -- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."   

 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."   Here is a fascinating statement:  to believe in Him whom He sent is to work the works of God.   Where do faith and works begin?  They are inseparable, both begin in placing one's trust in Christ.

Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."    These are the people who've just been filled at the feeding of the five thousand.  They fail to understand, apparently, the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, but they know that Christ has fed them, for they also sought to forcibly make Him king as a result (see Wednesday's reading).  But now they want proofs for faith.  Jesus points to the true bread from heaven:  the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  Christ Himself is the bread of God.

Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."  Here is another parallel to the story of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.  The people themselves recall and reference the manna in the desert, the bread from heaven, in the verses just above.   That was the food provided by God, together with a miraculous water source (Exodus 16:1 - 17:7).  Here, Christ is declaring Himself to be the true food and drink, the true bread that has come down from heaven.  Together with the other parallels in this chapter (see earlier readings), the Gospel shows that Christ is the fulfillment of the old covenant.  My study bible comments that the breaking of Christ's body and the shedding of His blood, which free humankind from the slavery of sin, fulfill the sacrifice of the Passover lambs (1:29), which brought the people out of slavery into the Promised Land.

"But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."  Jesus speaks of those who are His, who will come to faith, and come to Him.  These are the ones for whom the Father has sent Him, and of whom Christ should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day.  My study bible comments on Christ's statement that He has "come down from heaven, not to do My own will . . .."  It says that since Christ has two natures, He has two wills:  the divine will and a human will.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, which was held in Constantinople in 680-681, it was proclaimed that these two wills of Christ do not work contrary to one another, but rather, "His human will follows, not resisting nor reluctant, but subject to His divinity and to His omnipotent will."

Jesus once again emphasizes His tie to the Father; that, in fact, they are inseparable, as He follows the will of His Father in all things.  Once again, Jesus says this after having fulfilled yet another "type" of the Old Covenant.  This time, He says of Himself that He is the bread which came down from heaven, and that He offers Himself as the food which means one will never hunger, and drink which mean one will never thirst.  Here is the power of faith:  that in our connection of faith, we will be held, fed, nurtured as we need to be, and never let go.  He says that He will lose nothing of that which the Father gives Him.  So, the question for each of us becomes how reliant we are on our faith.  That is, to what extent are you nurtured and fed, through faith?  For what do you thirst?  The way that Jesus phrases it in speaking to this crowd that has wanted to force Him to be their king because they were fed with earthly food, Jesus teaches that what He has to offer fills a much greater and deeper need.  It reminds us to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).  How often do we think of putting the Kingdom first when we are in need?  We've often heard the statement that money can't buy happiness, but this is hard to know for people who haven't had that experience of possessing wealth.  We all seem to think that if only we had a little bit more, we could find greater happiness and contentment.  But money cannot nurture as Christ can, and neither can earthly food.  Wealth alone cannot bring us meaning, or even purpose.  But Christ can do that.  Neither can wealth generate love or real belonging, as Christ does.  If all of our worldly needs are met, but not our spiritual needs, do we find contentment or do we still seek what is missing?  For most people in the world, we may not get a chance to test such a theory.  It seems to be part of human psychology to keep desiring the things we think others have that we don't, no matter how impossibly far from real need they might be.  But there is one thing to which many have testified:  that being in deep need, and having just a little, God becomes the greatest source of strength and hope.  Faith becomes the way to keep going, to put one's feet forward in a good path, to set one's bearings straight.  It becomes a question of getting down to what is real -- in any circumstance -- and finding where the bedrock of truth is within us, for a foundation that keeps us upright and standing in a blessed and truly rooted place from which we won't fall.  There are so many things that come into this place of deep nurturing, more than we can count.  When we think of nothing but the worldly, we overlook so much.  What is your deepest need today?