Do They See Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

DO THEY SEE JESUS

John 10:31-42

31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"  33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? 35 If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? 37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."  39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. 40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed 41 and many people came to him. They said, "Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true." 42 And in that place, many believed in Jesus.

NIV

Jesus had just made the statement, “I and the Father are one”, at which the Jews were inflamed enough to want to stone him. It would seem the reason is not that he claims to be one with the Father, and that is truly blasphemy, but that they knew he was and he was overshadowing their power over the people or challenging everything they believed. They were happy in the law, they believed by obedience to the law it brought salvation. Their traditions were their god, although they believed in God. Jesus threatened everything in their lives. Then to top it off claims to be the Son of God. Yet in response to their anger, their self-righteousness, he quotes from the eighty-second Psalm where David writes,

Ps 82:6-7

6 "I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' 7 But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler."

NIV

Mere men are gods, sons of the Most High. We have been given the right to be called the children of God, sons, and daughters of God, yet who would stone us for making that claim? Of course, we know Jesus was the true one and only divine Son of God. Jesus makes the point that he only does what the Father does, that he and the Father are one. We have been told that we are in Christ and he is in us, therefore it would make sense that we should only do want Jesus does. But then again, Jesus was perfect, he was divine although he was also fully man. We are not perfect although, through the power of the Spirit, he purifies us, that is a process, Jesus has always been holy, pure, without sin. They just could not come to terms with Jesus being the One. So as they were getting ready to stone him, which that alone proves them unworthy of purity, he slipped away. It does not seem that he just walked away from them, as they would have encircled him to stone him. He had to slip away in some divine manner, disappear from their view somehow, or they would have chased after him. How can one mere man escape the grasp of many men? So Jesus leaves the area and goes back to the Jordan River where John was baptizing, where Jesus’s ministry began, where he was affirmed by the Spirit and the voice of the Father. Much is said by our scholars about Jesus going across the Jordan. Some say he did not actually cross over the Jordan, leaving the Promised Land, into Palestine. It does not really matter, the point is he went to the Jordan River and many people who had seen and heard John the Baptist understood he did not do miracles like Jesus, yet he spoke about Jesus being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. When Jesus showed up, they knew it was him and they believed. It would seem right that when Jesus shows up, people believe. Of course, those steeped in their own form of religion or traditional views of religion, like the Pharisees, will not believe, even in the presence of Jesus. Yet we would have to believe when Jesus appears, and when he does what he does, people believe. So then could we say that if Jesus showed up in us, as he should, if we let him, if we get our “Self” out of the way, that people would believe? The question then is: do people see Jesus in us?