Tuesday of Week 5 of Lent – Gospel
21Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are from this world, I am not from this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”, 25They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? 26I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. 28So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. 29And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” 30As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
Commentary on John 8:21-30
Listening to Jesus, the Pharisees must have thought he was speaking in riddles. This was largely due to their own preconceived ideas about him. They take every statement he makes literally (they are the original Fundamentalists) and miss the symbolism. Basically, their problem is, as Jesus points out, that they:
…are from below…you are from this world, I am not from this world.
John uses the word ‘world’ in two senses. In one meaning, he simply is referring to the world that God created with all its variety. Later, he will tell his disciples that, if they want to communicate his message effectively, they will have to be fully inserted in that world, like the leaven in the dough. Separating themselves from that world will not do much for the building of the Kingdom on earth.
The second meaning of ‘world’ for John refers to everything around us which cannot be identified with God or Jesus. It is that part of our environment which speaks and acts in a way that is contrary to the Spirit of Jesus and the vision of Jesus for the world. Jesus does not identify himself with that world, nor does he want any of his disciples to identify with it either. Their mission is to change it, to shine his Light on it.
Multiple times in today’s passage Jesus says of himself “I AM”, an expression we saw yesterday and which was used directly of God himself.
When they “have lifted up the Son of Man”, then they will know who Jesus really is, and that everything that Jesus has said and done comes from God himself because, as he will say later:
The Father and I are one. (John 10:30)
“Lifted up” not only refers to Jesus’ being lifted up on the cross, but also includes the glorification of Jesus, his lifting up to sit at the Father’s right hand. For John, the cross is Jesus’ moment of glory, the triumphant climax of his mission. And because of these words, we are told, “many” came to believe in him, but most of the Pharisees were not among them.
This is a time for us also to examine our allegiance to Christ and what he means for us in our lives. Is our following of him truly a healing and liberating experience, not only for ourselves, but for others as well?
