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 say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. 

 

Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.   And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.  

 

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

 

- John 8:21-32 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke to the religious leaders 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."  Then they said to Him, "Who are You?"  And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.  I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.   Jesus says, "I am going away. . .."  My study Bible tells us that going away is a reference to Christ's death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.

 

 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.  According to my study Bible, lift up has the double meaning here of being nailed to the Cross and of being exalted by God the Father upon the completion of His ministry.

 

 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word,  you are my disciples indeed."  To be a follower of Christ means to become one of His disciples.  My study Bible suggests that this is what Christ expects of all of His followers.  The word disciple literally means "learner."  We are all His pupils, and we are all to be continually learning from Him.  To abide in His word, my study Bible adds, is the responsibility of all believers; this is true of all, not just clergy or an elite class of zealots.

 

 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  The truth is a reference here to both the virtue of truth -- but even more essentially to Jesus Christ Himself (John 14:6).  To be free, my study Bible adds, means to be free from darkness, confusion, and lies (see yesterday's reading and commentary), as well as the freedom from the bondage of sin and death.  

 

 In our current readings, Jesus is attending the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  He has spoken vividly of Himself as the light of the world (in yesterday's reading, above), and in today's reading we find out more about what that means.  To abide in His word, as He teaches us to do, is also to walk in that light.  His is the light of life, that brings us the truth that makes us free:  free from the delusions of the world, the false things we might chase after, the passions that mislead us, idols that will take everything from us and defeat our spiritual intentions, the cares of this world that ensnare us and set us on the wrong track.  These are just some of the things Christ's light is here to illumine for us, and to help us find a way through the world on the sure footing He offers to those who would be His disciples.  If we think about it -- something we must do, given His word -- He frames this teaching in a particular way.  He doesn't just say, "Follow Me," as He did when He was first calling His disciples.  Now He is teaching them and us to abide in His word.  This word "abide" is His command, and it has several meanings.  It means to stay or remain in His word, to continue in it.  Keeping in mind that by now in Christ's ministry He is in His final year of His worldly life, we begin to hear notes that suggest He's preparing His disciples, and those who would be His followers, for the time to come, and for His departure from this world.  This is the context of today's reading, as Jesus nears the finish of this autumn feast (the Feast of Tabernacles) and begins to lay the foundation of understanding of the events that will take place the following Passover.  He warns those who fail to hear His word, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come."  He speaks of judgment, and finally of the time He will be lifted up -- a reference to His Crucifixion.  Ultimately, He speaks to His followers, to those who believe in Him, even those among the rulers 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."  And this teaching, this command, is for us today -- we who believe and who are His followers.  We're to abide in His word, to live His teachings, to persist in seeking to live the life He has taught us to live, to try to understand and discern His commandments for us.  For it is in this persistence that we will grow in the ways we need to, to see our ways through the "thorns" that threaten to choke us, to find the light that leads the way -- the way, or road that is His.  To abide is to be persistent, to endure, to know that there is always more to learn, and that we need minds and hearts always open to His light and His word, and to the places He would lead us.  For we will always be His students, His disciples, and there will always be new things to learn.  Let us remember His command, and grow in His truth, and in true freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them

 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father!  The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.  And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

- John 17:20-26

Starting from last Monday, we have been reading through Jesus' words and teachings to the disciples at the Last Supper.   This is His farewell discourse.  Chapter 17 constitutes what is called the High Priestly Prayer (begun in this Monday's reading).  Yesterday, we read that Jesus continued to pray, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.  Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.  But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.  I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth."

 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved."  Jesus prays not only for His immediate disciples (these alone), but also for those who will believe through the word of the first apostles.  My study bible says here that the Church in every generation participates in the life and the glory of the Trinity.  Christians have two kinds of unity:  with God and with one another.  The latter is rooted in the former -- thus the two greatest commandments.   And if we look closely, we observe that this conclusion to the High Priestly Prayer is all about the unity of Father, Son, and Spirit, and with those who will follow and believe.  Jesus also speaks here of glory and being made perfect in this union and participation.   But ultimately the real crux on which hangs everything about our faith is the love of the Father.

"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father!  The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.  And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."  Here is more about the quality of unity:  Jesus prays that those whom the Father has given Him may be with Him, that they may behold His glory given by the Father, because the Father loved Him before the foundation of the world.  To declare the Father's name -- the extension of His Person, is to declare, know, and dwell with the Father's love.  My study bible says that the ultimate goal of Christ's prayer, and even of life itself, is for the love of the Father to dwell in each person.  This is the real definition of faith, of what our faith teaches us to believe and know.

Jesus dwells mostly on the unity of Father, Son, and believers in this last part of the High Priestly Prayer.  It's a kind of unity that will always draw and intrigue us, because Christ speaks of a unity that is the configuration, if you will, of what it means to abide in Him.  Christ abides in the Father, and yet both Christ and the Father dwell in us.  Unity here is much more than what is usually signified by the word "unity."  This is an indwelling, and it is an indwelling on multiple levels and through multiple combinations:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (as attested to in the farewell discourse when He promises several times that He will send the Helper), and the faithful:  those apostles to whom He speaks, and all those faithful who are to come: "also for those who will believe in Me through their word."  This unity of faith and indwelling and abiding are hallmarked through several important concepts of which He has also spoken through this farewell discourse:  glory, the name of the Father, and love.  Glory, as we have discussed in an earlier reading, is a kind of weightedness, a sense of value and substance.  Glory is that value which is added unto, assigned, given by the Father, a substance which then is a part of whatever is glorified.  The Father's name is an extension of Himself, just as whatever would bear the initials or stamp of a ruler was treated as an extension of His property and empire.  The name, according to one definition, is a manifestation of character, that which distinguishes this one person from all others, the presence of that person.  A name, in Jewish tradition, was inseparable from the person, something of the person's essence, and thereby the name of the Father is most sacred.  And finally, all of this is contained in and contains within it the Father's love.  Everything that we know and believe in as followers of Christ, all the abiding and indwelling Christ teaches us, the glory God can give and the glorification of the Father of which we are capable, praying and acting in His name -- all of this is within the love of the Father.  If that love is not shared, if we do not know it and live in it, we do not have Christian faith.  Over and over again, Jesus has criticized the religious leadership of His time, because they follow elaborate rules and traditions built up around the Law, but they fail to have the love of the Father in them.  He tells them that if they loved God, they would know Him.  And this is the great key to our faith.  It is quite simply love.  There is love in the Father and in the unity of the Trinity, and love for us and in us -- and we return that love.  Without it, what do we have?  If we do not know that love, what is our faith?  Everything rests in it, and we rest in it, as God dwells in us.  This is the way, the truth, and the life.  This is what He has given us, and it is this love that saves the world.   No rule or abstract principle or custom we make can ever replace this active, known love.  We do not know God without it.  It grows in us and builds in us the kingdom of God, like a mustard seed grows into a sturdy tree where even the birds of the air may take refuge.  It is love that is alive and grows and gives meaning.

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.

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 of 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

In order to understand Jesus' discourse on the Bread of Life, first we begin with the feeding in the wilderness (in this case, on the mountaintop) of five thousand men -- and more women and children -- in the reading of this past Friday.   After being so fed, the crowd wanted to make Jesus king, but He eluded them.  When they finally caught up with Him, He taught:  "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."  When He was asked, "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."  Yesterday, we read that there were complaints against 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 is 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 of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."  Of the last verse here, my study bible says, "Christ's body was crucified and His blood shed on the Cross.  We receive the benefits of Christ's sacrifice by coming to Him in faith, and by communion with Him:  we eat His flesh and drink His blood.  These words refer directly to the Eucharist, the mystery of Christ in our life.  His words are clear:  To receive everlasting life, we must partake of His eucharistic flesh and blood.  St. John Chrysostom (Homily 47:2) teaches we must not understand the sacrament carnally, that is according to the laws of physical nature, but spiritually, perceiving a true but mystical presence of Christ in the Eucharist."

"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."  My study bible cites St. Hilary of Poitiers who wrote:  "What we say concerning the reality of Christ's nature within us would be foolish and impious were we not taught by His very words. . . .  There is no room left for 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" (On the Trinity, Book VIII, 14).  It adds, "This reality, however, is a profound mystery of faith and grace.  Orthodox thoelogy teaches that in the Eucharist we partake not simply of the physical/material, but of the deified and glorified Body and Blood of Christ which give resurrection life."  Similar to His teaching on the living water to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, here His flesh and blood take on deeper, mystical meanings for us as true food, and true drink (as the Greek text of verse 55 reads quite literally). 

"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. We can just imagine what effect these words would have had on the ones He's addressing (particularly those in religious leadership positions).   As we will see in tomorrow's reading, His own disciples also had trouble with these sayings.  But we have to read them as consistent with the methods of John's Gospel, taking us from the commonplace meanings of His words, to the deeper meanings Jesus is implying and teaching, just as with the teaching to Nicodemus about being born again.

What strikes me powerfully in Jesus' teaching today isn't just the shocking value of His words, although we have to assume Jesus certainly knows what effects He's having, and that there's a point to that, as well.  Certainly, they are words one can't forget!  And they are words one is forced to ponder in their extreme picture given at face value.  But what's most compelling about this teaching, to my mind, is simply the closeness of the relationship He implies.  Up until now, Jesus has spoken about those whom the Father has given to Him, that He will not lose them, that they will be with Him eternally.  There is already a sense of the love implied here between relationships of Father to Son, and Son to those whom the Father has given -- a full circle formed of love between God and human beings.  But here, the depth of this relationship goes further.  Jesus says, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."  The depth of abiding, of relationship here, goes much further than we normally consider human relationships.  While natural familial relationships (say between parents and children) may be considered "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh," the relationship to Christ as true food and true drink goes much further.  It is a closeness that sustains life itself, and this is a life that goes much further and deeper than "flesh and blood" life.  It is that which gives us life in abundance, even to "everlasting life."  For this depth of relationship we enter into mystical territory, into places that define us as something much more than flesh and bone or flesh and blood.  And it is this life that Jesus feeds in us, for which we are so fully dependent upon Him.  Here is a closeness in which the full fabric of this transcendent and surpassing life upon the life we already know made and sustained by Him in us.  This is an "abiding" that changes our sense of relationship, and gives us ties with Him and with one another that go further and deeper than those of the flesh.  Families can be torn apart by all kinds of things, and certainly there can be a lack of love.  But our full dependence on Christ here is by its very nature love, and a depth that gives us a sense of what Jesus will mean when He teaches about life in abundance, when He says that He will give His flesh for the life of the world.  It gives us a sense of what He's saying in today's reading, when He teaches, "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."   As with the Samaritan woman at the well, and Nicodemus when Jesus taught Him about being born again of the Spirit, we must take these words from their face value to their potent and inexhaustible meanings of mystical value to the world, to ourselves.  The depth of relatedness He's speaking of here can only mean that God's desire for us is absolute, in some way:  God's love for us is so deep as to desire an intimacy that is utterly dependent, even for the sustenance of who we are, even in the depths of our very being. It is a relationship so deep that He can say to us:  "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."

I do not receive honor from men

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

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.

"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

- John 5:30-47

As we go through the lectionary in Advent, awaiting the celebration of Christmas, we find readings from all of the Gospels. On Saturday, we read the version of John the Baptist's ministry as herald or messenger of the coming kingdom from Luke's Gospel. Luke's Gospel emphasizes the light that is coming to all the nations, that makes no distinction of heritage but rather comes to all people, for whom His paths should be made "straight, every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight. And the rough ways smooth." The playing field of this Lord is open to all - and "all flesh shall see the salvation of God." In today's reading, we turn to the Gospel of John.

"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." My study bible has a note here which reads: "The divine will is common to the Persons of the Trinity, for all share the same divine energy. In their manifestation in the world, however, all energy originates in the Father, being communicated through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Here there is a sense that the Son obeys the Father. This is because, in His human nature, the Son has human energy -- including human will -- which He offers to God the Father as the source of all. This is His own will which must do the will of the Father." Jesus teaches us about Himself, what is His nature, how this kingdom works, and how His judgment works. There is tremendous love, an emptying to the Father, a service attitude which Jesus will show throughout His ministry and until His death on the Cross. For everything there is a reason, a higher purpose.

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth." Over the past several readings, we have read about John the Baptist, as his story appeared in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. John the Baptist came bearing witness, as prophet, of Christ -- the One who was to come. My study bible has an interesting note which applies to these verses and to the rest of today's Gospel reading: "In Jewish tradition, a valid testimony requires two witnesses (Deut. 17:6). Jesus offers four witnesses to His messiahship and divine Sonship: (1) God the Father (vv.32, 37, 28); (2) John the Baptist (vv. 33-35); (3) His own works (v. 36); and (4) the Old Testament Scriptures, through which Moses gives His testimony (vv. 39-47)."

"Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved." A note here reads, "The testimony from man is that of John the Baptist." This is a powerful theme that is repeated in all the Gospels. Who bears witness to Jesus'divinity? From whence comes His authority? It is repeated throughout the stories of His conflicts with the authorities in the temple, and with other authority figures in these books. Who is He? Who can bear witness of Him and tell us about Him? The key to this mystery is in this verse: Jesus' authority rests in Himself and in His identity with the Father. His mission is to save - to that end He ministers, "for God so loved the world."

"He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of me, that the Father has sent Me". John was the "burning and shining lamp" - a lamp lit with the grace of God, lit by the light of the flame that is God, giving us light to declare what is to come. Jesus also performs the works which the Father has given to Him to perform, and they bear witness of the Father's presence in this ministry. Miracles are not proofs but rather testimony. Can you hear true testimony? Can they? Jesus is speaking to the temple leadership, who seek at this point in the Gospel to persecute Him.

"And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe." And here we have a very interesting passage, with a key to the understanding of the faith which He asks of us. When we read of the confession of faith of Peter, speaking for all the apostles, Jesus tells Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." There is an internal connection to the presence of the Father in each of us, and it is this connection that reveals faith, understanding, trust, connection. It is relationship, relatedness that comes from the Father, working in each of us to create recognition, this bond of faith, of love. This word abides in us, if we let it. For this reason, Christ says, they haven't this seed of truth - the Father's word - abiding in them; the implication is they have rejected it, they do not truly love it.

"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you." A note here says, "Jesus is aware they do not possess the love of God; it does not remain in them because they do not receive Him who comes in the name of His Father." There is a depth of connection, a bond that creates relatedness; it is a shared love. They do not possess it, and cannot recognize that which acts, works, lives in the name of the Father. To be "in the name of" someone is to bear that someone's image, to act as an extension of that person.

"I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from only God?" Jesus makes a clear distinction about the things we choose to love. Do we love God, or the honor that comes from men? If someone is acclaimed by others, socially prominent in the highest places, is this our verification that he or she is someone worthwhile? Or is there another kind of discernment or judgment deep within us that teaches us who and what to love? Which do we place above the other? What do we love?

"Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" And here Jesus gets to the heart of this question -- do we love the praise of men or the praise of God? Moses' words come from Moses' love of God. But the people to whom Jesus speaks read Moses, "in whom they trust," not with the love of God, but with the love of the praise of men, of that which is exalted in the world. Can we, too, understand this difference?

There is a powerful meaning for us as we who feel ourselves a part of this Church 2,000 years later read these words. If it is possible for the experts in the Law, and all the temple leadership, to read Moses and to trust in Moses, without the love of God, then surely it is possible for us to exalt Jesus in all external ways, and to read these Scriptures and say we trust in them, and yet be missing the important connection in our hearts to the love of God. Hypocrisy, without doubt, is not something reserved for the ones whom Jesus rebukes here, those who seek to destroy Him. Rather, we must look to these words and consider what we put first and what we love in our lives. Jesus does not attack Moses, nor does He attack the Scriptures - His condemnation here is for those who do not burn with the love of God, but rather who act for the praise of men, who take honor from one another rather than from God the Father. How can we avoid this pitfall ourselves? In the West, where I live, the great Christmas celebrations are filled with splendor, with planning for gatherings, beautiful appearances and services, and all kinds of holiday frenzy as they are an important part of commerce. It is easy to get caught up in the spirit of this time and all of the spectacle of it all. But now in Advent, these words remind us of something more powerful than all of that, than all of the collective energies of celebration and commerce, and images driven from the season, and that is the love of God, of truth, of that flame that must burn in our hearts - otherwise it is all just spectacle. Jesus' words remind us that beyond the images of our world, and all the things we praise and honor and make a great fuss about, there is a depth within us of connection and love that teaches us how and what to honor, that will always tell us the truth, that speaks in us and lives and abides in us if we love it. Can you make that connection of love in the secret place, amidst all the bustle of this season? This flame lives, it is alive, and we must allow it to live in us, to love and nurture that connection so that we will understand its work and know it when we see it. It's not just about reading the Scriptures, but about life, and what lives within us and in our midst at all times. Remember the child for whom there will be no place in Bethlehem, who will not even be counted in the great census, and for whom comes no honor and recognition, save from those who have the word of God in their hearts. We trust in His words, but do we love them and live them? Can we be like Him?