4th Thursday of Lent
But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. Who do you say I am? This question is not one we answer once and for all and then go on with life. It is THE question – the answer to which or even our non-answer will determine our very lives. Jesus tells us that the evidence is right before our eyes. The Father testifies on His behalf. There is a light that streams from Him that engages us, even snags us.
It is the testimony that comes from one Person, here the Divine Son to another – you and me. It carries its own verification with it known by the one who is snagged by it. The people around Jesus got it – they noticed something different, totally different and were astonished and amazed. He taught as one having authority and not as the scribes did. The scribes appealed to the authority of Moses. The evangelist is telling us that the people grasped intuitively that the authority of Jesus went way beyond Moses. In short they knew they were in the presence of the Word itself and the Father who begot the Word. They would not be able to articulate all this but it mattered little.
What was important was the surrender in faith to the Christ before them which in turn was surrender to the invisible Father. The scribes on the other hand had closed their hearts and so demanded proofs and signs. None would be given to them because no proof or sign could ever be adequate. This is not mathematics. This is much higher than that – this involves the world of persons. To know and to believe Jesus is also Divine is a Person to person communication – when deep calls the deep. The form of the revelation speaks for itself and proclaims to the one who is snagged by the beauty of the form that it is sufficient.
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