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.
Responding to Jesus was different from responding to another teacher, leader, or spiritual guru. A response to him reflected more than a mere personal preference about learning styles. Jesus was not speaking merely human words with which could legitimately disagree or which might be wrong. He spoke exactly the words the Father desired him to speak. Even in the way he interacted with others he perfectly revealed the nature of the Father's heart. Apart from this revelation there were not other sources of light, only different degrees of darkness.
I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
People were entrusted with freedom to decide whether to remain in the darkness or come into the light. But judgment was fundamentally about where one finally stood. So if one had embraced the light, that choice would be ratified. If the darkness, likewise.
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.
It wasn't as though Jesus had something personal against those who would be condemned. Rather, he simply told the truth about the way things were. He explained that salvation was only possible through him, since he was uniquely united to the Father, and therefore able to bridge the otherwise infinite gap between heaven and earth. He gave his audience a map or guide explaining what was necessary to experience salvation. They were free to ignore it, free even to walk straight off the cliffs it clearly demarcated.
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.
He was not interested in watching people choose the darkness and then saying I told you so after the fact. He was not making the Father's word known only in order to make people more accountable, more liable to judgment. Rather, the purpose of his Father's plan was also his own. His Father's heart was that people would listen, respond, believe, and so be saved. And so this was the heart of Jesus as well. The Triune God did not delight in the death of the wicked (see Ezekiel 33:11) but rather desired all to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (see First Timothy 2:4). What they desired for humanity, the reason for the commandments, for the mission of Jesus, for his words, was that humanity might regain what was lost in the Garden of Eden: eternal life, together with God forever.
We are meant to desire for ourselves and others that which God wants for us. We can see that the early Church shared the priority of Jesus regarding spreading the message of salvation far and wide. But the reason they were so successful is that they allowed themselves to be docile to the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus himself was docile to the Father.
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.”
If we were this open to having our lives directed and orchestrated from above we could be sure that the Church would not look so lifeless and impotent as it in fact often does in our day. As Pentecost approaches let us try to open our hearts more to the Spirit, to listening to him, and then allowing ourselves to be used by him, together with a community of like minded Spirit-filled individuals to pray us on our way on this God-given path.
Paul Wilbur - Let Your Fire Fall
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