If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.
According to the Jewish legal principle self-testimony was not to be trusted. It is unlikely that this was ever intended to be directed at the incarnate God who was himself truth in the flesh. Nevertheless Jesus granted it for the sake of the conversation.
You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept human testimony,
but I say this so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.
The Judeans who rejected Jesus did so because they did not give him a fair hearing. They went out into the desert to listen to John the Baptist, were happy for a while to rejoice in his light, but did accept his conclusion that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah, the lamb of God. They were willing to be entertained, but not changed.
I do not accept human testimony,
but I say this so that you may be saved.
The testimony of John was valid, and Jesus pointed to it for the sake of his audience. But it wasn't on par with that of the other witness Jesus would cite. This was the one about which Jesus said that there was "another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true". This was the Father himself, who testified to his Son through the works his Son performed and also through the Scriptures.
The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,
these works that I perform testify on my behalf
that the Father has sent me.
The works of Jesus were done in order to glorify the Father. His whole mission was to express the heart of the Father, the Father's love for humanity. The works weren't merely for entertainment or for temporary benefit for others. They pointed to something eternal. But they were clearly beyond the scope of what was possible through merely natural means. This is why those hostile to the message of Jesus had to look for excuses to dismiss the works, such as by accusing Jesus of performing them by the power of the devil. But the devil wasn't winning anything by seeing the Father glorified. The people saw healings and sought to undercut them with accusations. They saw the freedom Jesus brought about in the lives of others but would only call it license and transgression.
Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf.
But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
and you do not have his word remaining in you,
because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.
The Father did not only give works as testimony to Jesus. He himself spoke in testimony for his Son. He did this most concretely at his baptism. But he had been giving this testimony all along throughout history, as was now recorded in the Scriptures. Moses wrote about many things that were concrete and historical. But their truer meaning was about Jesus himself, "because he wrote about me". The people who did not have direct access to see or hear the Father claimed to love the Scriptures, they searched them "because you think you have eternal life through them", but they did not recognize the testimony to Jesus within them precisely because of their obstinacy and hardheartedness. As Jesus said to them, "you do not want to come to me to have life". It was impossible on the one hand to accept the written word of God while at the same time denying his incarnate word. Doing so could only result in distortion and self-deception.
I do not accept human praise;
moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.
I came in the name of my Father,
but you do not accept me;
yet if another comes in his own name,
you will accept him.
People were scared of Jesus because of his freedom from the need for human praise. Those who were not used to receiving such praise themselves often found this aspect of Jesus inspiring and liberating. But those who felt the need to seek approval from others often felt called out or condemned by it. We humans show a unique and disturbing ability to only seek out those who, if they do not directly affirm us, still nevertheless make us feel affirmation by what they say and do. If we really do need change and conversion in our lives then seeking only affirmation is a good way to shield ourselves from it.
Let your blazing wrath die down;
relent in punishing your people.
Though we have often given ourselves to idols we still have an advocate who pleads on our behalf. Even more so than Moses, Jesus pleads for us, precisely so that we might turn back to him more fully. This does not mean that the Father desires to show wrath and Jesus desires to show mercy, as though they were opposed. With Moses, God desired that he learn and become an example of mercy, that he be merciful just as the Father himself was merciful. As Jesus tried to convert the Judeans he did so because both he and his Father desired to show them mercy, together they desired that all would come to Jesus and have life. He pleaded on our behalf that we would finally let him do what he wished within our hearts.
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