Jesus cried out and said,
“Whoever believes in me believes not only in me
but also in the one who sent me,
and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.
Those who truly saw Jesus saw the Father also. Jesus was so united to the Father that those who looked at him with faith also saw and knew the Father. But even the friends of Jesus didn't realize this right away (see John 14:7-9). They still desired to see the Father as someone other and beyond even Jesus himself. They knew that Jesus had a special relationship with the Father, that he might somehow help them to attain what was the desire of many pious Jews, to see the Father's glory, just as Moses had once asked (see Exodus 33:18-20). The disciples probably thought of Jesus as someone like Moses who had been in the presence of the Father and could guide others to that place.
I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
But Jesus himself was more than a guide to the light of God's countenance. He was the very light itself. The crowds thought they already had a privileged relationship with the Father and were not eager to hear from Jesus these words by which he placed himself and the Father and one side and all others on the opposite side. The crowds tended to assume that their relationship with the Father was as it was meant to be, that they themselves could simply look upon the Father if they were only given good instructions. What Jesus suggested was shocking. Not even the people of Israel were rightly related to the Father, not offering him right praise, not able to seek him and find him. Jesus himself was the only one who perfectly embraced the will of the Father, who lived in fidelity to him and pleased him, who truly knew his heart. The people of Israel would need to embrace more than just a new approach to Judaism and do more than tweak their existing relationship with the Father. The only way for them, or indeed anyone, to become rightly related to the Father was through Jesus himself. He and he alone gave the Father his due and was able in turn to offer his own relationship with the Father to others, along with the consequent gift of righteousness, to those who would believe in him. It was for this reason that Paul called him the one mediator between God and man (see First Timothy 2:5).
And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,
I do not condemn him,
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.
The words Jesus spoke were intended to give life, to make the offer of life as widely available as was possible. He did not come to set some arbitrary standard as a test in order to condemn those that failed. But neither did he come to force anyone to accept his offer. He himself would not delight in the death of a sinner, but the force of the truth of his words could not be diminished. They were words given by the Father, who himself sent the Son to save the world. Those who would not embrace the rescue mission would not be able to accuse Jesus of lack of effort. His words had been spoken and the offer had been made. He went all the way to the cross to show the truth of the love his words conveyed.
Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words
has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,
it will condemn him on the last day,
because I did not speak on my own,
but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.
When we try to do something other than the will of God as taught by Scripture and Tradition we often experience how it doesn't work, how it leads only to despair, hopelessness, and heartache. His words in those times condemn us, for he has always tried to show us a better way. Fortunately, while this life lasts it is not yet too late. As long as we recognize this, his words do not leave us condemned. When we heed them they show us the path to life.
And I know that his commandment is eternal life.
So what I say, I say as the Father told me.
The heart of the early Church described in Acts was that of a people who was now in right relationship to the Father, offering right worship, and led by the Spirit to act in a way pleasing to him, just as had Jesus himself.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them.”
Jesus is still inviting the world into the dynamics of the Trinitarian life that he alone can reveal. He alone can reveal the Father, and together with the Father, send his Spirit. If we don't live such a dynamically Spirit-led life as did the disciples in Acts let us ask Jesus to draw us more deeply into the life of Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us ask him to help us make he and his words the very center of our lives.
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