(Audio)
To us he is the censure of our thoughts;
merely to see him is a hardship for us,
Because his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.
Jesus is holy. Even for those of us who try to follow him there is still a vast gulf between us. When we the perfect holiness in which Jesus walks we realize there is still so much in us that is not yet healed and sanctified. How do we respond to these realizations? Do we test him or do we trust him?
Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him.
Jesus reveals to us parts of ourselves that need to change, parts that we have not yet surrendered to him. Do we believe him when he tells us these things? Or do we resist change, making him reveal to us the ways in which sin is genuinely hurtful. When he invites us to holiness and we fail to change it isn't trivial. It hurts us and those around us. And it hurts the heart of God who took all of those hurts on himself to cleanse us.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.
When Jesus says things to us that reveal his absolute claim over us, are we willing to consider the possibility of change or do we instead try to limit his claim, to convince ourselves that we don't need to make a change that is so complete?
But we know where he is from.
Our expectations of Jesus can become limitations for us. All the times he has invited us to holiness in the past and we haven't accepted the grace become perceived limits on what is possible for him now. Yet the limits we perceive are not limits on Jesus. Our expectations of him are based on a limited part of the picture.
You know me and also know where I am from.
Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.
Jesus is inviting us to trust in the hidden counsels of God, to count on a recompense of holiness, and to discern the innocent souls' reward. If we do, we will be open to change. It is never a change that can happen without grace. But it is a change that will not happen if we close our hearts to it.
Jesus, help us to desire the innocent souls' reward so that we can be open to your call to holiness and to genuinely desire to see it fulfilled in our own lives.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
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