John 7:25-29

John 7:25-29 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

God the Father sent Jesus the Son to redeem the lost sheep of Israel and to extend the good news to the Gentile world that every human being might escape death and destruction and know the God of all creation. Through Christ we have access to the maker of heaven and Earth, the moon, the stars, the planets, the entire universe for as far as the eye can see--the galaxies upon galaxies beyond our imagination. He came to bring us into relationship with the maker of reality itself in whom we have our essence and find our very being. This pathway to all knowledge and understanding--the beginning and the end--remains a stumbling block to most of the people the world even to this day. The world hears the name Jesus and says: we do not know where this man is from; how can He be from God? Humans construct religions that make God a mixture of the occult, added to bit of mysticism, along with some Middle Eastern ritualism, a tad of new age channeling, and a big dose of Hollywood werewolf or vampire escapism. The perfect package for an exciting new escape from reality. Unfortunately, it is a door to nowhere, and the new game in town ends quickly with the same hopelessness, alienation, angst, depression, and an ever present lust for more. Where is the next high, the next party, the next get out of jail free card: Isn't there another door, another way, another truth, another light to push back the darkness?

Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) The religious leaders of his day and the dissatisfied of our day chafe under Christ's audacious and profoundly simple statement. How could a man called Jesus, a carpenter from Nazareth, be the only way to God, the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star? (Revelation 22:16) Surely, if there is a God, his plan is more spectacular than birthing his son in a manger to live a simple life and to end up teaching people for a few years about how God is not pleased by their attempts to make their own gods and to go their own ways. Surely he would not stand around arguing with learned Pharisees about how his Father God sent him to bring in a new covenant where salvation would come through faith in him and his death on a cruel cross rather than through people's good works. He tried to reach the hearts of God's people, even the religious elite, by telling them he was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy: The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2) He was the stone which the builders rejected, a stone of stumbling. (Luke 20:17, Isaiah 8:14) As was true then, is so often true today: He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1:11)

Human beings search for God in all the wrong places, where He cannot be found, and all else is but a poor imitation. We look for him in ourselves, in others, in sinful pleasures, and false religions. We seek him in created things rather than seeking the Creator. We search for God in nature, in our inner-consciousness, in particularly peaceful or "anointed" places, in powerful or charismatic people--people God uses or who He has used to bless us in the past, in wise words or helpful advice, or in anything other than in Christ the Living Word, the written Word, and the indwelling Holy Spirit that will never pass away. However, Jesus states, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) He came to reveal the heart of the Father for his people: Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (John 14:10) As He said then, He says today, I come to you with the Father's message. I am his servant and I want you to accept his love. I want you to love others as I have loved you, to serve them as I am serving you. Accept my righteousness. The Father will forgive you in my name. Let him wash you and you will be whiter than snow. I am YOUR WAY, YOUR TRUTH, YOUR LIFE. Receive my gifts today and you will have great and precious gifts to give in my name. Bless you today dear ones.