Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"

 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

- John 6:1-15

This week, the lectionary skips back to chapter 6.  Last week, we read through most of chapters 7 and 8, in which Jesus was attending the Feast of the Tabernacles (an autumn festival, Sukkot in Hebrew) in Jerusalem.  In our last reading, Jesus was speaking to the leadership in the temple:   "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."  Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered:  "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

  After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  My study bible points out the parallels in the whole of chapter 6 to the events of Passover and the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.  In the Exodus account (Exodus 11-17), it says, god first performed signs against Pharaoh, then gave instructions on how to be saved at the time of Passover (Exodus 11:1-12:14).  In today's passage, we read that the multitudes follow Christ because of His signs.  We're also told it is the time of Passover.  In the Exodus, the Jews ate unleavened bread because they were hastily driven out of Egypt and had brought no provisions (Exodus 12:39).  Here the multitudes are fed with earthly bread because they had brought no provisions, rushing to see Him and taking no thought for other things.  In the Exodus, Moses leads the people across the Red sea and walks on dry ground in the midst of the water (Exodus 14:15-31).  In tomorrow's lectionary reading, we will see that  Jesus sends  His disciples across the sea and then walks on the sea as if it were dry ground.   Finally, in the Exodus, God fed His people manna and gave them drink from a miraculous water source (Exodus 16:1-17:7).  Later on in chapter 6, Christ declares Himself to be the true food and drink, the true bread that has come down from heaven.  My study bible says, "These parallels show that Christ our God is the fulfillment of the old covenant, and that the breaking of His body and the shedding of His blood, which free mankind from the slavery of sin, fulfill the sacrifice of the Passover lambs (1:29), which brought the people out of slavery into the Promised Land."

Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  My study bible suggests that Christ is testing Philip here to increase His faith and so that Philip would get help in understanding Him (14:8-10).  Two hundred denarii is worth six months wages for a contemporary laborer.  My study bible says that Andrew has greater faith than Philip.  The prophet Elisha had multiplied bread for 100 men (2 Kings 4:42-44), and so he offers the food brought by a lad.  Andrew, however, also shows a "weakness" in faith, questioning what five loaves could do for so many people.

Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.    This feeding of the multitude is so central to the message of Christ that it is reported in all four Gospels.  It is the fourth sign given in John's gospel.  Jesus' taking of the loaves, giving thanks (which is eucharisto in the Greek), and distribution of them prefigures the celebration of the Eucharist.   Later on in this chapter, Jesus will teach about the bread of life.

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.   The Prophet was a figure predicted by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).   But the faith of these people that Jesus is "the Prophet" is predicated on their being fed with "earthly things," worldly goods, and misses entirely the spiritual dimension of worship and relationship to God.  Because of this misunderstanding, says my study bible, Jesus departed from them.  His mission is not to become a worldly king.  It parallels the image of the people of Israel desiring a king to rule over them in the Old Testament, such as the Gentiles had.  But Jesus is not that kind of King, and His is not that sort of Kingdom.

Over and over again, we return to Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman:  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.   Just doesn't want to be a worldly king.  Perhaps, we could ask, if they had truly understood Him?  But His disciples never ask Him to become king.  Perhaps they expected that this would happen, that the coming of the Kingdom would really fully be a complete kingdom such as the Roman Empire was ruled by Caesar and had conquered pretty much the known world.  Perhaps a king like Alexander the Great, who really had gone to the end of the continent and ruled from the Mediterranean across all of Asia.   But none of this happens.  This is a different thing going on here, a different call, a different kind of rule.  This is a kingdom of love.  Worldly rule is different.  This gift given to the people is given from love.  It's not a "proof" even though it is a sign of the presence of the Kingdom about which Jesus speaks.  Jesus isn't looking for votes, either.  But He's looking for hearts that will respond in spirit and in truth.  He's looking for those who can "recognize" who and what He is.  And He's looking for the hearts that love and respond to God the Father, and in them He will find His sheep.  That's what this is all about.  In that sense, this feeding in the wilderness is a sign to all about what kind of Kingdom this is.  Giving thanks becomes a key to that in the sense that we understand the goodness of God, the goodness of the gifts were given, and that the gifts are given not as bribe or manipulation but as extension of love.  That's where the reality of this Kingdom departs from, and become so much more than, the reality of what we call "worldly."  Not that the world isn't part and parcel of the Kingdom, not that all that is of this world is somehow incorporated and transformed in the grace and energy of that Kingdom, but that the Kingdom is a kind of energy and reality that adds so much as to transfigure what a gift really is and means.  It's the energy of love that transforms a gift into something that is truly of the heart, and reaching to the heart of the recipient.  And that's where we "worship in spirit and truth," in the heart.  What we give thanks for is that sort of a gift.  It may look like our every day currency of life:  bread and fish, food, which are also things we depend on.  But this gift is tinged with something more than that; it's a gift from a Father who loves us and wants us to be fed with more, and to understand our need for spiritual food -- that this is inseparable from true well-being, wholeness, the fullness of who we really are and can be.  That's how the Eucharist links us up with the body and blood of Christ.  It becomes the presence of the Kingdom with us and in us. It becomes a kind of reality that infuses everything else, and that's the nature of grace.  And this is what we have to remember about this Kingdom.  It may touch everything.  It fills with meaning.  It gives everything another added dimension.  It teaches us about spirit and truth.  It also makes relationships, because its whole nature is love, as will be written in a letter of John, the author of this Gospel.  It adds a boundless reality to that which we know with our five senses.  Let's remember what this is, what it is to be fed with this, and the nature of this Kingdom.  For all that, we may be truly grateful.

Before Abraham was, I AM

 "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered:  "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

- John 8:47-59

Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, which is an autumn festival.  He has been engaged in dialogue -- confrontation, really -- with the authorities in the temple.  Yesterday, we read that they answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.  How can You say, 'You will be made free'?"  Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.  I speak what I have seen with My Father; and you do what you have seen with your father.   They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father."  Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.  But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.  Abraham did not do this.  You do the deeds of your father."  Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father -- God."  Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.  Why do you not understand My speech?  Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which of you convicts me of sin?  And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?  He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

  "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."    Here is the teaching Jesus gives openly, and the command He gives to His disciples, and has given to those among the leadership who believed in Him:  "Abide in My word."  (See 8:31.)   My study bible points out that these particular individuals who are His enemies among the leadership can't defeat Him through logic or truth, so they resort now to personal insult.   Ironically, it's a sort of projection.  He has told them their "father" is the father of lies, the evil one, because they cannot hear the truth.  They respond by telling Him that He has a demon.

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered:  "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word."  Again, Jesus refers back to the Father, who is witness to His identity as Son.   He has done this twice already, in giving witnesses to His identity.  In John 5:30-47, He gave four witnesses:  John the Baptist, God the Father, the works Jesus does, and the Scriptures.  In John 8:12-20, He gave two witnesses:  Himself and God the Father. 

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.  My study bible says that this phrase I AM (in Greek, ego eimi) is the divine Name of God in the Old Testament.  It was the name revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15).  The power of this name is something incalculable; it is a statement of God.  As my study bible puts it, "It is a direct, explicit, and unmistakable claim to perfect equality with God."    We can see this clearly by their reaction to Him.  (See also Mark 14:62-64.)  My study bible says, "John places special emphasis on the use of this Name to clearly reveal Christ as God.  This divine claim illuminates Christ's authority even over death, a power belonging only to God the Father."

Once again, we observe here in the dialogue with the leadership that Jesus continually refers back to God the Father.  He defines His identity as Son with the Father, His identity comes from the Father and His relationship to the Father.  Furthermore there are more connections necessary here for that identity and for its recognition in us.  Jesus says, "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  There is a recognition here that we are indeed capable of.  It's not just the Son that somehow knows the Father, in the sense of a capacity for recognition.  Somehow our love for God the Father plays into our ability to recognize Jesus' words that come from the Father.   In John's chapter 10, Jesus will call Himself the good shepherd, and teach that He knows the sheep that are His own, and those that are His own know Him, just as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father.   (See John 10:14-16.)  This is a kind of knowing and recognition that comes from a connection of love.  We can't know God as Christ knows God; we don't know God the same way that we would know from speaking in the fullness of  being that Christ does, but we "know" and come to know better, just the same.  We're all in this together, with Him, and we are invited in.  The implication here is that these who listen and cannot hear, who cannot hear nor know, have no love of the Father in them.  They haven't got that deep desire for love in relationship to God.  They may be the experts in the law and the Scriptures, but they're not there in that place with the heart.  In Matthew 15:8 Jesus will quote the Prophet Isaiah:  These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me."  And there's more to it all than that.  This "knowing" is life itself, it's a sign of that life that doesn't end.  Jesus speaks of relationship to Abraham, and the leadership can only think of death, that Abraham and all the prophets are dead.  But they live in Him, and that is the life to which He invites us -- and even this leadership to which He speaks in today's verses -- to join Him in that life, to share in it.  So knowing, recognition, relationship, love, and life itself as Jesus defines it -- all of these things are bound up in faith.  That is something that asks us to touch the heart, to live in the heart, to recognize in the heart.  It's all about the love that comes from the love of God, the desire to know the Shepherd, to realize oneself as "rational sheep."   Just as Jesus is not alone, because the Father is always with Him, so we are not alone as well.  We are never alone.   Jesus' statement, "Before Abraham was, I AM" is a statement that tells us of His constant presence, a presence that's not defined nor limited by space and time.  And so, sharing the attributes of God the Father, He is always with us, always present.  We are not alone.  That ever-present I AM is there for us; He's telling that truth for us, for all time, for all of us.  Let us remember the currency of the Kingdom, the gate that opens the door for the sheep, to the sheepfold that holds us all:  it's love.  It's our love of the Goodness itself, the God who gave us His Son out of love.  By ancient tradition, to know another's name is to know them, to have them revealed to you, a kind of power that is given in the deepest intimacy, and trust.  God gives us the I AM so that we may know God, and know Christ.  It's an invitation we mustn't fail to accept.

If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed

 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.  How can You say, 'You will be made free'?"  Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

"I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.  I speak what I have seen with My Father; and you do what you have seen with your father.   They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father."  Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.  But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.  Abraham did not do this.  You do the deeds of your father."  Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father -- God."  Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.  Why do you not understand My speech?  Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which of you convicts me of sin?  And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?  He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

- John 8:33-47

 In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His discourse to the leadership at the temple in Jerusalem.  He is attending the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn festival.  It is the last year of His life.  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."

 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.  How can You say, 'You will be made free'?"  Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."  In yesterday's reading and commentary, we discussed what freedom Jesus offers.  Jesus offers truth -- spiritual truth, an understanding of this basic gospel message that God loved the world so much that the Son was sent to us;  He's not sent here for immediate judgment.  He's sent, not to condemn, but to save.  And that is the freedom we have in Christ.  We are liberated from sin, from the lies that teach us that we are incapable of being the ones He calls to Himself.  We are liberated in His love and light.  To be a slave of sin is to be locked in behaviors that keep us limited and bound, that keep us from being the "sons of light" He calls us to be and to become.  We are not free in such a state; we are bound and slaves to the limitations and lies of sin.  Evil makes slaves of human beings; Christ sets free and teaches us about the choices we make.

"I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.  I speak what I have seen with My Father; and you do what you have seen with your father.   They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father."  Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.  But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.  Abraham did not do this."  My study bible tells us that to be a child of Abraham, it's not enough to be simply related by blood.  The kinship Jesus always speaks of is spiritual.  Abraham's true children share his faith and virtue (Luke 3:8).  My study bible says, "St. John Chrysostom teaches that our Lord wanted to detach the Jews from racial pride and to teach them no longer to place their hope of salvation in being of the race of Abraham's children by nature, but to come to faith by their own free will.  Their idea that being a descendant of Abraham was enough for salvation was the very thing that prevented them from coming to Christ." 

"You do the deeds of your father."  Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father -- God."  Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me."  My study bible tells us that here "proceeded" indicates not the Son coming eternally from the Father, but rather Christ sent from the Father to His Incarnation in the world, on the earth.  Again, everything here is related to the core gospel message:  God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten, so that we may have life eternal.

Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.  Why do you not understand My speech?  Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which of you convicts me of sin?  And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?  He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  My study bible says that just as being a child of Abraham is based on sharing his attributes, likewise, those who reject Christ share the same attributes as the devil (in particular, a hatred for truth), and therefore are rightly called "children" of the devil.   Kinship in the gospel message is all about a spiritual connection, a reality of shared attributes.  We repeat our paraphrase of St. Athanasius, found throughout the history of the Church in different expressions: "God became man so that man could become God."  We become children of God in the spiritual action of this Kingdom within us, bearing fruits that make us "like God" (for in this viewpoint, a child is one who shares attributes of the parent), who is love.

 What are the attributes of God?  St. Paul tells us what the fruits of the Spirit are within us, evidence or signs of participation in this spiritual kinship:  love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22).   As an interesting note, if we look at these words in the Greek, we see that the words for kindness and goodness are essentially two kinds of what we might say are "goodness" in English.  There's goodness in action:  kindness.  And there's the  goodness that is an intrinsic quality, a kind of virtue that prompts the action of kindness.  It's very interesting how the two are present together (they're really two separate words in Greek, χρηστότης and ἀγαθωσύνη).  This word for kindness comes from a root that indicates value in a sense of usefulness, providing what is truly necessary.  So what we have is the love in action that God declares necessary to the Kingdom, to the people of God.  Interestingly enough, its root sounds exactly like the word for Christ when pronounced:  Christos.   It's even a variant spelling.  And it also resembles (and sounds like) the word for gold:  χρυσός, chrysos.  So, what we're given here is in some the currency of the Kingdom.  Love, kindness, and all the things that are based on this: all the things that we can be and become in all forms from the basic goodness (and that's such a dull word for so much beyond it!) of God, and what it means to be "God-like:"  children of God.  Love and truth are inseparable in this realm of the Kingdom that Jesus brings to the world, and that's something that we have to keep in mind.  If goodness is the essence of God, and the root of all the things that we can become as children of God, then truth must be based in this root.  It's a given, it seems to me, love and truth are rooted together in something that defies conventional "worldly wisdom."  A merely material point of view tells us only that what we need are material things.  We may even quantify how many times we're hugged or touched as sort of "signs" of love even if there is no love in them.  This is a world whose truth without God, without love.  Truth is not about manipulation.  Manipulation is for magic tricks, to pull the wool over someone's eyes.  God's love takes us to a different reality of truth, love, goodness, kindness, an impulse to mercy:  these are the currencies of that world.  They are the one thing necessary.  They make us "like God."   A lie is what tells us that we can't do this, we're not made of this same stuff.  Or that it's not worth it.  Or even that Christ is lying when He teaches what He teaches, or that St. Paul is lying when he writes about these fruits of the Spirit.  The lie is that we're so much "less than" and that the only way to live our lives in a fallen sort of a world is to be just that limited, and not what Christ calls us to be.  The lie is that we're really no good anyway, so we might as well not bother with all of this.  The lie is that we're not worth it, when God gave us His Son in the grandest, greatest, most overwhelming validation that God believes we're worth it!  What's evil is slavery to limitation, that refuses the salvation, the mission, this gospel message of love that calls us forward out of slavery to lies that tell us otherwise.  What's it going to be?  Whose child do we wish to be?  Who are our mother, and brothers, and sisters?  Whose heirs are we?  Let us remember the fullness of this gift of love of truth, of Christ, and how it calls us to be "like Him."

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

In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke again to the temple authorities.   He is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, and it is the last day of the festival.  They have already sought to have Him arrested, and to trap Him with the woman taken in adultery.  Jesus told said, "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."   Jesus' "going away" refers to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  His repeated reference to what is going to happen in the future (He is attending an autumn festival in the last year of His life -- Succot, the Feast of Tabernacles) gives us a sense of the central importance of the Passion and its subsequent events.

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 has repeatedly spoken to them about the love of God in their hearts -- or rather, the lack of it.  He's taught that in order to recognize His word as coming from the Father, one must have a love for God the Father and a desire to do God's will to begin with.

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.   My study bible points out that "lift up" has the double meaning of being nailed to the Cross and of being exalted by His Father upon the completion of His work.  It is yet another reference to the crucial events to come at Passover, in the following spring, and tells us of the central importance of the crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension.  That "many believed in Him" is a great light, telling us about His doctrine, His word, and that it is for all people.  Even many among the leadership believe.  Nothing is black and white here, in the sense that the barriers to faith are only those we erect ourselves.  The territory of the Kingdom and of His word is in our hearts.

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

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

So, what is the truth really?  We can paraphrase or imitate Pilate's crucial question to Jesus, "What is truth?" which will be reported later on in John's gospel.  It's common to hear people say that truth is different for each person.  But, you know, everything depends on what truth we're talking about, what circumstances.  We can easily see that truth and freedom are bound up with one another.  We need this truth that Jesus offers -- that Jesus is -- because we need our freedom. We need our spiritual freedom, which feeds every other type of freedom we might wish to claim for ourselves.    The other day I was watching a popular television show.   It's one in which all kinds of problems are presented for help from a psychologist.  It was the woman whose problem was featured this day that interested me.  She had a terrible problem with compulsion.  For example, she was obsessed with certain numbers, and she felt that their repetition eased her anxiety.  She was obsessed with taboos (like, for example, there were certain other numbers that were bad, that one couldn't say, otherwise it would trigger her need to repeat the "good" numbers).  She had had an experience in life where she'd come in close contact with a friend who was expecting a child, and later on that child was born with a birth defect.  This poor woman had concluded that somehow it was her fault that the child was born with a problem.   She decided that somehow she was an evil influence, regardless of her desire or inner choice to the contrary.  At this point in her illness (for that is surely what it was) she slept with her hands and feet bound, because she feared she could possibly walk in her sleep and cause harm to others -- even though this had never happened to her and she did not have a history of sleep disorders.  She was also rail thin, because another component of her illness was the need to constantly purge herself of what she felt were toxins.  She had two children and a blessed husband who loved her.  And she was -- or rather, she seemed to me -- to be a lovely and loving person, but one terribly afraid of condemnation.  She had some sort of belief that she was evil, even malicious, despite her own intent or volition to the contrary.  And she was a slave to this disease.  I have rarely felt so clearly that a great dimension of her problem was a spiritual one.  Clearly, whatever it was that was compelling her to a kind of slavery to the lie that she was at heart malicious in essence was evil.  It was against Christ and against the truth of Christ.    She desperately needed the freedom that comes from the truth Christ offers that He came to the world not to condemn but to save, and out of the tremendous love of the Father that is so great for us that we're not even fully capable of grasping how great that love is.  She needed that truth, desperately.  Jesus tells us the truth about who we are.  The lie that told her the opposite thing was literally killing her.  She needed the life in abundance that comes from the truth that God loves us, and that what Christ has done for us -- that great, crucial, central point of the Passion, crucifixion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension -- has already saved us.  But that we have to come to accept and realize it and live it.  The Eastern Fathers teach that hell is that state of mind in which we resist and fail to accept this truth, and that's where she was.  And in that resistance it's the fire of God's love that burns!  She was in a hell of her own, right here and now and in this world.  She needed all of that truth to be truly free.  If the truth is God's great love for us, then how many of us are called to the freedom that is really there in that love?  How many of us are called to healing through that love?  How many of us might be slaves to the conviction that we're in at least some way unsalvageable, for whatever reasons we might hold on to this?  We need to remember the truth that with God's help, all things are possible.  We might have all kinds of weaknesses, and flaws, and faults.  But God the Son came to save, not to condemn.  Sometimes I think it's just easier to believe otherwise because then we don't have to make the effort that faith calls us to.  It's work having real faith.  (See John 6:28-29.)  And that's the thing.  Our liberation via His truth calls us toward something, always toward something better, fuller, greater -- toward life in abundance that we can't ever fully get a hold of, because it's just so far beyond our containment.  However "good" God is, we'll never be able to understand how great that "good" really is, because it's so far beyond us, it's so different from us (we're human, not God).  But we can grasp a part of it.  We can participate in it.  Jesus is here to give us a part of it, whatever we can manage to take in, the light that illuminates, and the truth that sets us free in so many possible ways.  That's what that truth is for, it's for our freedom in every dimension:  freedom to be healed; freedom to come to terms with who we are and even our limitations and how grace works with them; freedom to love and to know that God loves us; freedom from pleasing just "the opinions of men" rather than "the opinions of God."  Now that's real freedom.  Let us remember He is the truth that sets us free, and what that means is offered to us.

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

 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.  It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.  I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."  Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"  Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."  These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

- John 8:12-20

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

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  The lectionary skips one section, in which Jesus restores the adulterous woman (8:1-11).  We are given Jesus' teaching as He continues to speak with the leadership at the temple, who have just confronted Him with the woman, in an attempt to trap Him.  Just as Jesus spoke of Himself in yesterday's reading, saying "If anyone thirsts let Him come to Me and drink," alluding to the commemoration of the water flowing from the rock for Moses in the desert, so in today's reading His words reference events happening at this festival.  The great lamps are lit in the outer court of the temple at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles.  My study bible says, "Thus He declares Himself to be the fulfillment and the divine object of all celebrations of light.  In the Scriptures, God the Father Himself is light (1:4-9; 1 John 1:5), an attribute He bestows on His followers (Matthew 5:14; Philippians 2:15).  Our Lord confirms His claim by performing the great sign of opening the eyes of a man born blind (9:1-7; see especially 9:5)."

The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me."  We recall that, anticipating this argument, Jesus has already offered four witnesses, although the Law required two.  Those witnesses He offered were John the Baptist, Jesus' own works, God the Father, and the Scriptures (See John 5:31-47).  So here, in fact, He begins with a different response, speaking about witnessing on His own behalf.  He knows all about Himself, where He came from and is going (see yesterday's reading, in which people were discussing where the Messiah is to come from, and referring to Galilee).  They don't really know anything about Him.  Yet they're judging Him in a worldly sense, and without knowing about Him at all.  But His judgment is true, because it reflects what He's given by the Father.

"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."  So once again, Jesus makes an offering of witnesses, and this time it's two as stated in the Law:  Himself and the Father.

Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"  Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."  These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.  My study bible says, "Because the son and the Father share the same divine nature, one cannot be known apart from the other (14:7-11)."  But again, these words reflect what He's said to them before, that if they had the love of God in them, they'd recognize His words as coming from God the Father.  (See If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.)  Quite obviously, these authorities are ready to seize Him.  They've already told the temple police to arrest Him, and failed (see yesterday's reading, in which the officers answer for their inability to arrest Him by saying, "No man ever spoke like this!").  But His hour has not yet come:  it's not the time yet for His arrest, suffering, crucifixion, death, and Resurrection.

Jesus speaks boldly about Himself.  In these readings, He's quite openly stated His divinity, and the reality of the Father and His relationship as Son.  This is bound to continue to outrage the authorities.  They aren't going to be convinced by anything He says, because they basically don't want to be convinced.  There are those among them, like Nicodemus, who do have faith that Jesus is true, and who will be counted among the faithful.  But the leaders among these groups that rule the temple are determined to rid themselves of Jesus.  The gospel narrative is such that we're given to understand His confidence in speaking out here:  He knows it's not the time for the full confrontation that will climax with His Passion.  He's the Lord of time, too.  He understands when it is His hour.  Besides, His ministry is conducted with the full relationship to the Father guiding all things.  Without prayer and constant communication with the Father, He does nothing.  In some way, therefore, Jesus' faith becomes a model for our own.  It's a way in which His Incarnation teaches us what it is to be sons of God (with a small 's' - not the only-begotten).  It seems that we're offered an opportunity here, and at all tines in Jesus' ministry, to learn what it is to become sons (male and female heirs, we may say) by adoption.  Jesus receives all things from the Father, and yes, we can't be just like Christ in that sense of sharing God's nature in its fullness.  But, on the other hand, He has already taught that if they had the love of God in them, the desire to do God's will, they'd know and recognize His words as those that are of God, too.  It's a way of thinking that tells us about what it is to be a part of this, too.  It tells us about what His grace will do with us in faith, and how we, too, can participate - as creatures - in this relationship.  St. Athanasius and others have said to the effect, "God became man so that man could become god."  And it seems this is where Christ is expressing that opening, and giving us a hint about His grace.  He's inviting us in to good judgment, to a deeper relationship to God, to those rivers of living water that He's offered as a part of that grace that will come because of Him, because of this Passion He's going to that nobody knows about but Himself; at least, the hour that hasn't come yet.  They only judge according to the flesh, but He's looking for a better judgment, and the sense He's offering here is stating to us that He's expecting more of us human beings.  We are capable of judging good or righteous judgment, the judgment of faith, that is the reflection of God's mercy.  We might not be perfect, full, only-begotten.  We're not angels either.  But we are called to something here.  This Incarnation isn't to call us onto the carpet, and tell us what we're doing wrong.  It's to save us.  To save.  To take us to the Kingdom.  And we have to think about what that means in the context of what Jesus teaches in this Gospel, and how He is expecting so much more of which human beings are capable.  He is the Judge, and yet He teaches us to judge with good judgment:  "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24).  So we really have to understand what He's saying and what He's doing, that it's not just a declaration of His authority.  He's presenting witnesses to His own authority at the request of these leaders at the temple.  He's just responding to them.  He hasn't come to rule and conquer in a conventional or worldly sense.  It's just the opposite.  He's come here with love.  He's come here to offer what He has to give, a kind of sonship on offer to us that makes us heirs to what He has, too, that offers us the grace that will give us rivers of living water in our own hearts.  He's offering a spiritual fullness, so that we can be "like Him."  That's what it means to be saved.  It's the constant action of the Spirit at work, that helps us build up the fruits so wonderfully and fully on display in Him.  He's offering the grace that will work with us to help us become sons with a small 's', and "like Him."  This is the love that has come into the world, not to condemn, but to save.  These leaders who practice a harsh condemnation expect a power of condemnation.  It's what they're offering, and it's what they're demanding of Him in a sense.  They want some spectacular proof of power, and the signs He does are just not in that mold, they're not what they want.  Even should He restore a dead man to life, this will only seal His fate with them, their decision to destroy Him.  They want a "worldly" kind of absolute power, which is what they seem to understand and what they will use in persuading the Roman authorities to crucify Him.  But Jesus offers something else, and His power is something different.  He's come in love and with love, and in order to save.  Worldly power is a power of manipulation, of death, of weapons that destroy, but His is the power of life, and life in abundance.   In some way, we have to remember, we're all already saved.  The Incarnation has shown to that.  The Kingdom is here, and on offer.   But our job is to accept it and live it, and that's what He's calling us toward, as He calls them toward recognition of what is what, and they just don't see.  It's the light He's offering us, to see with.  He is the light.

If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water

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

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

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

- John 7:37-52

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

On that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  This last day, the great day of the feast is the eighth day of this festival, the Feast of Tabernacles.  This is an autumn harvest festival, and it commemorates the time Israel spent wandering in tents or tabernacles.  This particular day had a ceremony of the drawing of water, and thus provides the context for Jesus' words regarding the "rivers of living water" which flow from the heart of faith, an image of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and, says my study bible, "the new life that accompanies this gift."

 Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.   Again, John gives us a kind of chorus of the crowds, the various opinions held about Jesus.  "The Prophet" was another image of the Messiah, foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).  Micah foretold that the Christ would come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).  Of course, this crowd knows Jesus as a Galilean, from Nazareth, although He was born in Bethlehem.  There's an interesting little note to mention here, that a clan of the descendants of David did settle in Nazareth after the Babylonian exile (this is likely the source of the name Nazareth, from Hebrew nezer for "branch" of the Davidic lineage).

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  My study bible reminds us that the chief priests had sent officers of the temple to arrest Jesus in the middle of the Feast (7:32).  But this is the last day of the Feast, and no arrest has been made.  These officers, it suggests, have been converted by the Lord's teaching.  We can hear in their response that it was impossible for them to arrest Him because of the words He spoke.  My study bible cites John Chrysostom who said that the Pharisees and scribes who had "witnessed the miracles and read the Scriptures derived no benefit" from either one.  These officers, although they can claim none of the learning of the leadership, were "captivated by a single sermon."  When the mind is open, says Chrysostom, "there is no need for long speeches.  Truth is like that."

Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."  And everyone went to his own house.  In chapter 3, we read about Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus (see How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?).   My study bible points out that by this time Nicodemus' faith had grown.  "Yet," it says, "his defense of Christ was still based on our law and was not yet a public profession of faith.  According to the law, Jesus must be given a hearing before He can be judged (Exodus 23:1; Deuteronomy 1:15-17).  It's also noted here that the Pharisees are mistaken in saying that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.  My study bible says, "The Pharisees show their blind hatred and their ignorance of the Scriptures, for the prophet Jonah came from Galilee, from the town of Gath Hepher, which was only three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25)."

We have this struggle going on between those who are the experts in the Law and Scriptures and regulators of the religious life, and this phenomenon, Jesus.  Jesus is in some way like all the prophets, and especially like John the Baptist, because His work is driven by spirit, by the God who is Spirit, and must be worshiped in spirit and truth.  That God has given the Law, the Scriptures, the Prophets.  So how do we come to reconcile these two things?  How do we take what we've been given through the blessings of Spirit, and shape our world around it in a way that doesn't lock out the "new things" God brings us?  Jesus alludes to this when He speaks about new wine needing new wineskins in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 2:22, Matthew 9:17, Luke 5:38).  Interestingly, Job uses a similar illustration to say, "I am full of words;  The spirit within me compels me.  Indeed my belly is like wine that has no vent; It is ready to burst like new wineskins"  (Job 32:18-19).   There has to be room made for God's revelation to us, whether that be by the "living water" Jesus talks about in today's reading, or, indeed, something spectacular like the Incarnation.  This promise of the "rivers of living water" that are to flow out of a faithful heart really is the promise of a gift that comes to us in order to make us expand, and in order to help us to continue to incorporate those changes that come from an ongoing experience as described by Jesus' phrase "rivers of living water."  As my study bible pointed out, this statement reflects events on this last, great day of the festival occurring in John's Gospel, when libations would be poured from a pool commemorating the water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7).  It's interesting to think about, because that incident in Exodus resulted in Moses naming the place for the contention that rose among the Israelites, in which God was tested by the people asking, "Is the Lord among us or not?"  A stony heart may represent something similar -- how can God be among us when things aren't going well?  And yet it is faith that Jesus promises will result in the rivers of living water that flow from the heart, the life He offers, full of grace.  A stony heart is like the old wineskins that can't expand, and it's like the Pharisees who won't open their eyes regarding Jesus because they really have other things standing in the way (like fear of losing their own positions, for example).  So one thing that holds us back, I suppose we could say, from being like the new wineskins that can expand with God's grace and gracious gifts, is just that tendency to hard-heartedness, to that stony place where we think we have all the answers (and certainly there are hidden motives, even possibly hidden from ourselves), where we are afraid of the place grace is bringing us to.  There's a lyric to a popular song that says, "Fear is easy, love is hard," and that just about sums it up.  How do we maintain faith in the face of our fears?  In the face of the things we're afraid we'll lose?  Or the ways we may end up being "the losers?"  Think of the faith of those following Moses into the desert.  Think of the people at this ceremony, this feast in Jerusalem, in a time of occupation, and all kinds of strife.  How are they supposed to think about Jesus and what He's telling them?  What -- and more especially -- Who do they trust?  The temple guard are told to arrest Jesus, and they just can't do it.  His words have too much power.  So what do they do?  What do we do?  Jesus offers the God who is Spirit.  He offers the power and authority of that God, just the way that Moses did.  How do we put our fears aside to follow Him?  And to encounter those rivers of living water within the heart that He offers, and the new life they bring?

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

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

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

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

- John 7:14-36

On Saturday, we began chapter 7 of the Gospel of John.  (The lectionary has skipped over chapter 6 which we will read next week.)  At this point in His ministry,  Jesus chose to walk in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.   Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority."  My study bible explains that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  It notes that spiritual blindness comes from the unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.  It quotes St. John Chrysostom, who paraphrases Christ: "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of God.  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be afflicted in this way."

"He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  We recall Jesus' healing of the paralytic by the Sheep Gate on the Sabbath during the Feast of Weeks (see Rise, take up your bed and walk).   We look also to Matthew's Gospel, in which Jesus demonstrates that the law is not absolute over human need or service to God (see Matthew 12:3-5), citing Old Testament examples.   In verse 7 of that chapter in Matthew, Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6:  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice,"  suggesting to us that to judge with righteous judgment is to truly understand this command.  We must also note that instead of discussing their motivations and what is truly happening, as Jesus brings into the open, the people deny that anyone seeks to kill Him.

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  My study bible says that these crowds are mistaken, both in an earthly sense and a divine one.  Humanly speaking, they think that Jesus is from Nazareth of Galilee, and are unaware that He was actually born in Bethlehem.  More than this, however, it's incomprehensible to them that He's come from the Father in Heaven, is eternally begotten before all ages (as we're taught in John's Prologue).  So this divine "origin" also is unknown to them.

Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"   My study bible suggests that Jesus' hour is the time of His suffering and death.  It says, "Christ is Lord over time, an authority possessed by God alone.  He comes to the Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of men."  Again we note the tension in the crowds; their opinions are varied and mixed, as some ask whether the Christ will do more signs than what they've seen from Jesus.   Yet, reliance on "signs" isn't the kind of faith Christ is all about.

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and  then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"  Jesus alludes to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  To go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks is to go among Gentile populations (that is, among those who speak Greek, which was the universal language of the time).  My study bible says, "This unwitting prophecy points to the time after His Ascension when Christ's name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles." 

One observation we could make about today's reading is that no matter what the issue might be, Jesus always turns back to the "One who sent Him."  People may be disputing about Jesus' identity, whether or not He is the Christ, but Jesus Himself always refers people back to the Father.   They wonder how He could possibly be a real teacher in the temple.  I mean, He hasn't studied with a famous rabbi or anything.  He doesn't have what would be the equivalent of a degree, or a great credential of any kind.  But what does He say?  "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me."  He focuses completely on the will of the Father.  He doesn't bother to argue about anything, such as why He might have the right to speak, or isn't violating the law, or any sort of defense.  He just points back to the will of the Father, the words of the Father that Jesus gives to others.  And that means that there is even more to it:  if they loved God, they'd recognize God's word in the things Jesus teaches.  He says, "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority."    The people wonder if He could be the Christ.  But that's dismissed, they know where He is from, so they think.  (And then again, it makes us remember the question, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?")   But how does Jesus reply?  Does He defend His birth, or birthplace?  No.  He tells them,  "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Everything goes back to the Father, the true Origin of what Jesus teaches, who He is, where He's come from, and where He's going.  And eventually, back to the Father is His final destination, in every sense of what it means to journey:  "I shall be with you a little while longer, and  then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  While it's paradoxical to think about, these sayings - firstly -  give us a picture of what is quite exclusive and unique about Jesus.  He's the Christ, He has been sent from the Father.  He's the only-begotten.  And then at the same time, the words He gives us are examples for us to follow.  He doesn't claim exclusivity.  He doesn't claim uniqueness in these statements.  That's not the point.  He is Who He is.  But He does say, "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority."  Now that is some kind of a statement!  He's not claiming He's the only one who can recognize something that is of God.  On the contrary, He is inviting all with ears to hear -- or perhaps more closely, all with the love of God in them -- to discern what He teaches, and whether or not it comes from God.  The love of God is simply the will to do God's will.  He may uniquely be the one and only Christ.  But He invites us in to do the same as He does.  He invites us in to discern and to know what is of God.  He offers us the opening to His wisdom.  The key is just simply "if anyone wills to do His will."  We, too, are of God, as creatures of the Creator, but also as adopted children.  We, too, may speak God's word as it comes to us.  We, too, may journey toward God.  In all things, the Incarnation sets the example.  It's such a powerful speech, in today's reading, that both things are true at once:  Jesus is speaking exclusively about Himself, and yet the same words also apply to us.  That is the way that Scripture works.  Both things are true at once, at the same time.  Truth works in many dimensions.  But if we remember and keep in our hearts in the place He takes us, into that invitation to desire to do the will of God ourselves, then we are following in His footsteps, and opening the door to real discernment, to good judgment.  This is the key, and He's saying that it's placed in our hands, it rests on us to choose.  Just like it rests on that crowd to do the same.  He asks the crowd, and He asks us, to judge with good judgment.  What is good judgment but the discernment that comes from participating in the grace -- the mercy -- of God?  Isn't that God's wisdom, the gift He's so willing to share?  Ironically, it's only in the willingness to judge good judgment ourselves that we can follow Him to the place He is going.  It's the failure of those who should know better that means they will not be able to go where He is going.  We are all invited.  How do we respond?