May 2 - Know Jesus, Know God

May 2 – Know Jesus, Know God

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him. (John 8:12-30)

The power behind these statements made by Jesus is the power that created the world.  There is nothing greater than that power and nothing can come up against it.  Jesus speaks and acts with the authority of God.

It is too easy for us to ignore that power.  We don’t see it much these days.  We are expected to haul ourselves up by our own bootstraps, live each day to the fullest, make our own way in the world, be strong.  We train ourselves, our children, our friends to live as though we have to do everything alone and to be honest … we are mediocre at best.

We can not begin to imagine what putting the power of God to work in the world might mean.  It’s beyond us.  When we tap into that power – even just a little bit – we are so overwhelmed that we become satisfied and then move away again to rely on our own strength.

Jesus never did that.  Because He knew that He and the Father were one – He acted as if that were true in everything that He did. He didn’t step away from God and attempt to heal people on His own.  He didn’t speak out on His own.  He didn’t teach on His own.  Everything about Him was true because He was in unity with the Father.

Now, I fully understand that Jesus is God and thus, His power is limitless.  But we have access to that same power.  Jesus tells us that we can move mountains, that we can do anything with just the faith of a tiny mustard seed. 

Jesus always did what was pleasing to God.  There was no question of His righteousness or sinlessness.  When all of the accusations swirled around Him, none accused Him of committing sin.  People had known Him well for 33 years and no one could bring a charge against Him.

This perfect relationship that He had with the Father … as part of the Trinity was the source of His authority and power.  While we can’t begin to achieve that level of perfection, what Jesus tells us in this passage is that if we know Him … we know the Father.  Because of Jesus, we are given access as children of God.

All we have to do is know Jesus.