If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 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 judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

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

- John 8:21-32

In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles.  It is now the eighth day, the last day of the feast, when water is first taken from the pool of Siloam for a particular ceremony commemorating the water from a rock struck by Moses, and great lamps are lit in the outer court of the temple imaging the pillar of fire by which God led the Israelites by night.   In Friday's reading, Jesus taught, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  On Saturday, 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."  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."  Jesus speaks here of His going away -- His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  He is speaking to the religious leadership, among whom there are some believers, but nearly none dare speak openly for fear of those who want to kill Him. 

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 judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.  There is that important question again, the center of debate, "Who are You?"  Jesus says that they will lift up the Son of Man.  This has the double meaning of both being nailed to the Cross and also of being exalted by His Father upon completion of His work.  Earlier, when speaking privately to Nicodemus, the only member of the Council to have spoken in Christ's defense (see Friday's reading), Jesus also used the same phrase, when He said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed." My study bible says that Jesus expects all who follow Him to be disciples, that is, literally "learners."  To abide in Christ's word is the responsibility of all believers, not just for the clergy or an "elite class of zealots," says my study bible.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  The truth here refers to two things.  One is the virtue of truth, says my study  bible.  The other is Christ Himself (see 14:6).  To be free refers to the freedom from "darkness, confusion, and lies, as well as the freedom from the bondage of sin and death."

Jesus teaches:  "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  There are things here that we must think about that extend beyond the literal understanding of these words (as it happens so often in John's Gospel).   As my study bible emphasizes, Jesus will also teach about Himself: 
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (14:6).  What we understand from this statement, and in the subsequent theology developed in the early centuries of the Church, is that truth is a Person.  This may seem like a crazy statement in terms of common parlance, and a common way of understanding ideas.  But there is nothing common about Christ, and about the extraordinary "other-worldly" reality that He brings into the world.  Jesus comes from a place of cosmic identity, something beyond all our understanding of reality.  We think of ideas as lacking real substance -- a sort of ethereal reality that has its impact on our thinking, on intellectual discourse, on the ways in which we choose to analyze our lives.  That in itself has an impact we can't even begin to calculate properly.  But that in itself is a somewhat watered down, inconsequential understanding of what this kind of truth really is.  Jesus isn't just a heavenly being, a man from "outer space," or the "sky" (heaven).  He is Logos Incarnate.  He's the Second Person of the Trinity.  This is a reality born into the world that is of an absolute level of reality, of dimensions within which our world exists but that we are "commonly" unaware of in our worldly state of consciousness.  When we speak about a Person who is Truth, when Jesus states, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," this is something much more than can be understood by thinking of "truth" as an idea, or even one we may easily disagree about, or say all kinds of things about.  This is Truth as a reality that exists beyond us, within us, within which we and all the things we know exist.  This is Truth that shapes what is, even giving us life.  And it is Truth that is mostly beyond our comprehension, our ability to grasp in its completeness and fullness.  Moreover, it is a Person.  We have to start to grasp toward what it is that constitutes personhood, exactly.  What do we have in common with this Person who is Truth, as we are also persons?  How can Truth be a Person?  Jesus teaches, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."  This is linked to the understanding of Truth as a Person.  We must abide in His word, but He is also the Word, Logos.  To follow His teachings is one thing; to abide by His teachings is something we can understand.  But He has already just taught, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" (see last Monday's reading).   To abide in His word, in the Word, then, is something akin to abiding in Him -- as He abides in us.  This is what it is to relate to a Person, beyond an "idea" or intellectual concept.  To truly abide in His word, to abide in Him as He abides in us, is to know the Truth as we come to know a person.  That is, with something more than merely an intellectual assent, or with debate, or with something that is not personal.  To know this truth is to come to know Someone as a lifelong -- even eternally long -- relationship unfolds and grows.  It is also a relationship of love, as He abides in us and we in Him.  In John's 15th chapter, Jesus says, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me" (15:4).  This is a depth of abiding within one another, of relationship, of love and sharing, that is all about the personal.  It is all about extending what it is we share in image and likeness of God; it is about shaping, affirming, growing, and transformation of the fullness of what it means that we are persons.  This is not merely intellectual choice alone.  It is a truth that affects all of who we are, that shapes our experiences and understanding, and will change even the ways in which we make decisions and grow in our own relationship to the world and our environment and the persons around us.  It will shape everything we look at and make choices about.  It will shape our joy and our serenity.  It will give us the fullness of the reality of love we don't know.  These are all components of what it means to truly be a person created in the image and likeness of God.  We cannot really understand truth in the fullness of this reality on offer to us unless we understand Truth as a Person, or rather the Person who is Truth -- who is the gift to the world, for the life of the world.  When we begin to grasp this reality, we begin to understand not only the fullness of life that we don't fully know beyond ourselves and our world, but even the fullness of what it means to be persons beyond what we already know and understand and experience in the world, from a "worldly" perspective.  We don't even really know what the fullness of our own identity is, our own "self."  It all comes from relationship, and love, and touches us in places we don't know in ourselves, depths we don't know are there.  This is the truth we need that makes us truly free.  We need relationship to find that, this relationship of abiding in His word, in Him, and He in us as well.

Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

- Matthew 22:15-22

In yesterday's reading, Jesus told a parable to the chief priests and elders in the Temple at Jerusalem. This is the third parable He has told them after He was questioned as to His authority to cleanse the Temple. In yesterday's parable, Jesus told the story of a king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to all who were invited. But they weren't willing to come. He sent out his servants again describing all the preparations for the wedding feast and what awaited the guests. But the ones who were invited spurned the invitation, making light of the wedding, and going off to their own business or their farms. The rest of the invitees did worse: denigrating the servants and having them killed. So the king was outraged and had the murderers killed, and burned their city. Then he sent out his servants to the highways and invited everyone they found, both bad and good, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in, he saw a man without a wedding garment. He asked, "Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?" And the man was speechless. Jesus said, "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" To tell Jesus that He "does not regard the person of men" is to say that He has no prejudice, He judges fairly. This is a question meant to trap Him into a choice: His answer will either make Him look like a revolutionary against the Romans or a collaborator with them. The Herodians are the party of those who supported Herod, the local king who ruled in the name of Rome. Herod the Great extensively built up the Temple in which they are standing.

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money." "Hypocrites" is literally "actors" in the Greek. They are those who wear a mask in the ancient plays. So, Jesus -- who has just been told He does not regard the person (or more literally, the face) of men -- is calling His questioners those who wear a false face, a mask to cover up their true person. It's a unique kind of irony, the type of which fills the Gospels. My study bible points out that it is a characteristic of His divinity that Jesus reveals the true face of these people, "the secrets of their hearts." The One who does not regard the face of men knows the true face, the person, in the heart.

"Show Me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way. We remember that Jesus has cleansed the Temple by overturning the tables of the money changers. The money changers were those who exchanged Roman coins for temple currency, precisely because of this face of Caesar which was considered defiling by the devout Jews. Caesar, after all, was hailed as a god. But we get a deeper sense here of what is "in the name" of Caesar as opposed to the name of God. Jesus' answer confounds their question: He will not choose from the opposing points of view they present to Him. He will teach His own way. He remains supremely independent, and in a deeper sense of irony, "disregarding the face of men" even as He speaks of the face on the coin. In another characteristic of His divinity, He refuses to be pigeonholed into the alternatives they offer Him, and silences them with His own questions.

My study bible has an important note here: "The distinction between the things that are Caesar's and the things that are God's does not imply a division of life into two domains, the secular and the sacred. Rather, God is Lord over all. We must fulfill legitimate governmental requirements which do not conflict with our responsibility toward God (Rom. 13:7). Paying taxes and similar duties are not detrimental to godliness. The fact that the Jewish establishment had a Roman coin in hand proved they accepted and used this coin, thereby accepting the earthly rule of the one who issued it." In our worldly lives, it can be truly difficult to distinguish between good and bad. What is worth our time and effort, and what is not? But if we remain like Christ, we have a good start in discerning where it is we need to go in life; what do we use and what do we not use, how do we live our lives? If we understand that the supreme hand behind all things is God, then that means that our choices rest in God's hands. The world may seem to offer us one alternative or another, and this will always be the case. But the worldly perspective, the worldly deals that always seem to be on offer, can be entirely misleading, and for hidden, hypocritical purposes. Often, Jesus will allude to such worldly deception, such as in the phrase "wolves in sheep's clothing" by which He will also teach us to use discernment. By "disregarding the face of men" but always regarding the face (or the Person) of God, we retain our independence, like Him -- our discernment. And that is what we are being taught by today's reading. When we really can't find our way out of a "bad or worse" situation, we know where we need to turn to see outside of that box of what the world seems to offer to us. We have Him to show us the way, His Way. Christ is our gift for many reasons, but especially when we find ourselves in this type of dilemma, when we are offered one way or another, neither of which fits the real person we want to be. How does He teach you to be yourself today? How does He lead you beyond the hypocrisy and deception, the inauthenticity, we might find in our supposed alternatives in life?

No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." And they went to another village.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

- Luke 9:51-62

On Saturday, we read of Jesus healing a little child (through exorcism) that His disciples could not heal. He then warned His disciples once again what is to come to Him in Jerusalem. Jesus taught His disciples about the necessary humility in their work in the kingdom, that even the little children are great who are of this kingdom - "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great." He further added to the lessons of humility when He was asked by John about others they saw casting out demons in Jesus' name, who were not a part of their own group. Jesus said, ""Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. My study bible notes, "He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem marks a turning point in Jesus' life and ministry. From this point in the Gospel, Jerusalem and the Passion is the next step of Jesus' journey. The Greek verb received up describes the Ascension, the ultimate goal of His Passion and Resurrection." To set one's face toward something is to be resolved, and clearly Jesus is now heading toward Jerusalem and all that He will undergo there (as He has now repeatedly warned His disciples). To "set one's face" is an interesting expression; it occurs also in the Old Testament in words of prophecy (Isaiah 50:7). But the word for "face" (prosopon/προσωπον) is also significant in other ways in this context. It can also mean "Person" in the sense of one's entire personhood, the true image of the self. Therefore, I presume, we are to understand this word applies to all of Jesus' personhood - both divine and human, in the fullness of His true identity. This is His mission being fulfilled - as He discussed His "exodus" with Elijah and Moses at the Transfiguration. The "face" as indicator of personhood or persona is an important spiritual understanding in these texts: just as Caesar's face is imprinted on a coin, so all set with the seal of Christ belong to Christ, and act "in His name" (as are the messengers he sends before His face). The word for "messengers" here is angelous/αγγελους - the same as that for "angels," giving us an allusion to a double picture of sovereignty of this kingdom and His "face."

And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And they went to another village. My study bible notes that, "Jesus does not exclude the Samaritans (v. 52) from salvation, even though this village refuses to receive Him (v. 53). Other Samaritans welcome Him (John 4)." (See the readings referred to in John 4 here and here.)

And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." Jesus has just finished (in Saturday's reading) teaching His disciples about humility. This is very soon (in Luke's Gospel) after the apostles have returned successfully from their first mission, in which Jesus' power was invested in them and used by them to heal and to preach, and to cast out demons. But shortly after this return, they have been taught several lessons about their use of that power: that they can go further, that He will give up His life and they must be prepared to give up their worldly aspirations and needs as His followers, that they need more faith, more humility - to recognize that even a child is great in this kingdom, and that others who work in His name should also be allowed to do so. When Jesus tells them here that "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of," He is once again speaking about His kingdom and this sovereignty of His face, His name. They are "of a spirit" that is to save, not to destroy. They still need to learn about this power which He shares with them.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." And here we have further lessons on discipleship - not only for Jesus' immediate disciples, but for those others who come to Him and would follow and be a part of this mission, this kingdom. My study bible has a lengthy note which I will repeat here: "I will follow You: There is a cost to discipleship. Jesus talks of three such costs: (1) Provision for personal security does not mix with true discipleship. The disciple will be no more secure than the Teacher. If the Teacher has nowhere to lay His head (v. 58), neither will the disciple. (2) Discipleship demands singular commitment to the Kingdom of God. A disciple must be willing to let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead (v. 60). (3) Discipleship does not look back to reconsider, or operate by delayed response. It means taking hold of the commission given by Christ and moving forward."

Jesus has His face set for Jerusalem - and what is to come, His "exodus." (See the discussion of this word at His Transfiguration.) He will endure suffering and death, a humiliating and excruciating death by crucifixion, reserved for the greatest criminals. He risks all -- all that He has invested in those whom He loves and has gathered to Himself as disciples. What will become of them, His flock? Yet He has "set His face" and set His own "hand to the plow." He is working for something greater than Himself, in the name of the Father. He is on a mission to which He is singularly dedicated, and He asks no more of us who would follow Him than He is prepared to give Himself. This is not a sovereign ruler of a kingdom that demands slavery in the sense that we pay for Him - no, this is a ruler who shares everything with us, and sets down His life by example. We are family, with Him. This kingdom is linked by love. And He is here to save and not destroy men's lives: He is a ruler of compassion and mercy and justice, and so it must be with His followers as well. How will you set your hand to this plow? What do you do to "set your face" with His? Can you let the dead bury the dead? What will you forgo for this true kingdom of love and salvation? What does discipleship call you to at this time in your life?