Arulvakku

12.04.11 JESUS WAS FROM THE FATHER

He said to them again, "I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come." So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM,   you will die in your sins." So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world." They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said (to them), "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him." Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him. (Jn 8:21-30)

 

 

Jesus was misunderstood by his listeners. This misunderstanding seemed to have been usual. Jesus said many things about himself. He wanted them to understand all in the kingdom concept and God’s action in the world. But his listeners understood them all in social and their cultural concept.  Jesus said that he was going away from them. But they understood as: "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?".

 

Thinking of the people was very much earthly. They saw everything in social, cultural and earthly context. Jesus spoke everything in heavenly context. Whatever Jesus said and did was influenced by his idea of God and the kingdom. God was his priority and God was the first.

 

The question, then, was who was Jesus? Where was he from? Jesus had given answer to this many times during the course of his discussion. He was from above and from the Father. Whatever he did was by the decision of the Father. Even if the people were not ready to accept this now they would realize it at the end of his life. At the fulfillment of his mission people would realize that Jesus under the guidance of the Father.