I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you

 "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 has sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

- John 5:30-47

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

 "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."  Jesus speaks again of His relationship to the Father.  He indicates a complete dependence or reliance.  Judgment is in alignment with the Father's will.  His "obedience," says my study bible, is indicative of His human will.  In this He sets an example for all of us.

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true."  Jesus begins here an anticipation of what these authorities will ask Him.  They need witnesses to His claims, and they will not accept His own witness.  The "charge" is making Himself equal with God.  Is His witness to Himself true or false?

"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."   In Jewish tradition, a valid testimony requires two witnesses (see Deuteronomy 17:6).  Jesus will give four.  Here, Jesus presents His first witness, John the Baptist.  In chapter 3, we read of the Baptist's testimony to Jesus as Bridegroom, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because the bridegroom's voice.  Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease."  Earlier, he had directed his disciples to Christ.  We note Jesus' praise of John the Baptist as a witness to truth:  "He was the burning and shining lamp" in whose light they were willing for a time to rejoice.

"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 has 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."  The works that Jesus does - the seven signs in John's Gospel (so far we have read of turning the water to wine at the wedding in Cana, the healing of the nobleman's son, and the healing of the paralytic at the Sheep Gate) -- testify to the truth of what He says about Himself.  They bear witness to His unity with the Father.   They are another witness.  Yet another is the Father Himself.  There are those will hear His voice, but these men are not among them.  And here is an important understanding of truth as Jesus speaks of it -- without a love of God within themselves, they are unable to "hear."  They do not cherish the word; they will not respond to His word with love.  Everything implied is about a depth of relationship.

"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me."  Here is another witness, the Old Testament Scriptures, through which Moses and other witnesses have given testimony.  These men are supposed to be the experts.

"But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"  Here is a key to the refusal of the life in His words:  so much depends on what they, His hearers, love and respect.  And the contrast is given here, as it is elsewhere, between the love of God and love of the honor from other "men."  Where is glory?  And what do we love?  These are the two crucial questions Jesus presents us with.  They can't truly believe Moses, else they would understand Him.

Jesus speaks about relationship:  His relationship with the Father, and the relatedness of those who can truly "hear" and receive His word, as given by the Father, as given to Moses -- that fills the Scripture and the hearts of those who love God.  There is no getting away from relationship.  Truth and relationship are intimately bound up in Jesus' teachings.  Everything depends on what is first in the heart, what we love deeply within ourselves.  Is it the glory of the world that we love most, or the glory of God?  The Scriptures contrast the two, and always ask us to make a choice.  What do we love most?  What do we love first?  What's going to take priority within us?  We really have to pay attention.  The Gospels, and all of the Old Testament Scripture, ask this question over and over again in one form or another.  But Jesus takes it to another level.  Love and truth are intertwined.  Everything starts with relationship. The ability to recognize, to know another, comes from a basic inner decision.  He promises elsewhere, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).   In Mark's Gospel, He tells His disciples, "There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life" (Mark 10:29-30).  Those who preach an utterly syncretic kind of faith, in which a love of God necessarily means an absolutely trouble-free life, give us a false picture of the challenge Christ speaks about here.  He always asks us to make a choice, to put one thing first.  It may add tremendous benefits and blessings to us, but there is always going to be a choice.  Everything depends on what we love first, and truth is entirely connected up in relationship.  A love of truth is perhaps the greatest asset we have, in the point of view presented to us in these Gospels.  It enables us to really see and to know.  To love truth begins with an even deeper relationship of love with the author of truth, the One who is truth.  It's like a basic chord deep within us that vibrates through everything else, the way that sound and voice truly work.  Let us consider life and the word, what He truly gives us.  What means most to you?

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are 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

In recent readings, Jesus has fed a multitude in the wilderness from a few loaves and some fish, after which the people wanted to make Him king.  He crossed the Sea of Galilee where the crowds followed  Him, and taught them to labor not for bread that perishes, but for the bread from heaven that endures to eternal life.  He has been teaching on the bread of life -- Himself:  "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."   Yesterday we read that The leadership in the synagogue 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.

  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.  My study bible points out here that even His disciples took Christ's teachings on His Body and Blood as a hard saying, and many walked with Him no more.   It suggests that to reject Christ's own words regarding the sacramental eating of His Body and drinking of His Blood is to be out of step with His teaching.  It's a difficult Mystery; some attempt a rational explanation and some say the words are pure metaphor.   But my study bible comments that either extreme is dubious:  it's a sacramental teaching and one must accept it in the spirit of Mystery, as a mystical reality.   Such a teaching reflects  the "witness of Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history."   We note again the hand of the Father that is necessary to faith in Christ, Jesus' remark that "I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been grated to him by My Father."

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.   In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus asks the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"  But here in John, Jesus asks about their faith:  "Do you also want to go away?"   In Matthew's gospel, Jesus says that it is the Father who has revealed to Peter that Jesus is the Christ.  But here in John's gospel, Peter's explanation is a very human dependence upon the truth we know:  "To whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  In the Synoptic gospels, Jesus warns them immediately about what is to come -- betrayal, suffering, death, and Resurrection.  But here, it's more explicit and also linked to this faith:  "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"

As we have observed in recent readings, everything goes back to the Father.  Here, Jesus enforces God the Father's mysterious working in us when He tells the disciples, "No one can come to Me unless it has been granted by My Father."  It seems that there is a tremendous linkage between all that happens in Jesus' ministry, and those who gather to Him, and the work of the Father.  It remains a Mystery, one more element of the divine at work in this mysterious Kingdom, and yet is linked intimately with us, and in our relationship to Christ.  Here, Jesus' reference to the Father is somehow negative in character:  those who go away are signs of the Father not having granted something.  Elsewhere, this is a positive statement:  Jesus exclaims that Peter's confession of faith in Christ was "revealed" to Peter by the Father.  Nevertheless, it is here, and the Father is at work in all of this ministry, and in us.  We can only assume that the mystery of faith is present to us in the same way:  the Father's work is in all of it.  Where Christ is, so is the Father, and the Spirit.  And I think that when we read about this ministry, these first human beings who gather to Christ, we have to consider it happening in our time as well.  All these elements are present.  And yet, because we are speaking about Mystery and the divine, this reality is also 'outside time' in other ways as well.  Christ has completed His mission, and it was a mission not only to those present in His time and place, but to all people of all times and places -- those "in the tombs" and those to come.  There is no limit to this ministry.  And what that means is that the saving work of Christ is complete and present to us all.  Our freedom is in our choice.  As has been stated by Jesus in this chapter of John's gospel, the work that remains to be done by us is just faith.  As in Peter's confession here, the work that's really to be done in order to work the works of God is simply faith in the One given by the Father.  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"  (John 6:28-29).   We've already been saved, that's the work of Christ, and He's completed His mission.   Our work is to have faith.  But His whole mission is defined and structured by the Father, and that link is also within us.  And there we come to the great sacramental teaching of today's reading, the linkage with His mystical body and blood.  As my study bible says, I don't think it befits anyone to rationally explain how such a divine Mystery happens, because we're not talking about the reality of "this world" of apples and oranges, so to speak.  Jesus' shocking words, the "hard saying," reflect a divine reality, present to us in this world, in which we are totally and completely dependent on the words of eternal life, as Peter puts it, and also on the fullness of His saving mission, in which He will give His flesh and blood for us.  It is something beyond what we can easily understand.  It requires a kind of faith that we can participate in Mystery, that God -- Father, Son, and Spirit -- does the work, but we participate via faith.  And that in itself is a great Mystery whose workings I cannot explain.  We can, however, see its effects.  As Jesus explains in John's chapter 3, when He says to Nicodemus, comparing the Spirit to the wind:  "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit"  (John 3:8 NIV).   In today's reading, Jesus teaches:  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."    It is with the Spirit that we understand what He teaches and what He does.  We don't direct this process, and rational explanations just don't quite cut it, try as hard as we might.   But we can see its effects in us and in others.  We have a whole history of the body of the Church and its effects in the world and on the world to look toward.  We know where  Christ leads by experience, even if we cannot explain it all.  Our work is the work of faith, and this is the Father's work in us as well.  We are bound up in that Mystery, and we must accept that this is so, that Jesus' work of saving mission is complete, but that we can feel and understand its effects alive and at work in us and among us.  We are bound up in Mystery as deep as any depth we can name, and yet it is also a living part of us, and of this world in the elements of bread and wine -- as deeply bound with our own lives as food of any kind we need.  Let us remember that which we are a part of, and which is a living part of us.  That life is in His word, and how that word takes root in us.   As Peter says, He is the Son of the living God.