Thursday 18 March 2010

Background

These verses of commentary upon Jesus' mission and action,offered by the Gospel writer as coming from Jesus himself, revolvearound the reliability and single-mindedness of various sources oftestimony. They point to a number of things that 'bear witness' tothe truth in Christ. We are presented with:

• his own words and declarations;
• his actions - such as the healings that have caused suchupset;
• the witness of John the Baptist - a burning and shininglamp;
• the witness of God the father who has spoken and revealedhimself;
• the Jewish Scriptures - the words of Moses and the greatstories of faith which point forwards in time to the Messiah.

None of these sources of testimony are in conflict witheach other, claims Jesus.

The truth of Jesus, made known in all of the above, ispresented as something that people can either choose to believe andreceive within themselves, or refuse to accept. Believing Jesus inperson and believing the word of God in the Scriptures arepresented as indivisible from each other. So here we have Jesus -the Word of God - embodying God's words to the people ofIsrael.

The emphasis upon the hearer's ability to choose how they(we) respond, echoes Jesus' question to the paralysedman  earlier in this chapter: "Do you want tobe made well?"

John seems to be saying that just as the paralysed man couldnot be made well whilst he remained in a passive state, so thosewho hear the word of God are challenged as to whether they reallydesire to see things afresh and to receive the truth.

To Ponder

Think of a time when you changed your mind or hadyour perspective on something challenged. What choices did you haveto make?

In what ways does 'truth' still challenge us as a"burning and shining lamp" - in Scripture, and in the lives ofpeople around us?

What differences and similarities do you see inJohn the Baptist as 'a burning shining lamp for a while', and Jesus"the light of the world" (John 9:5)?