Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said, ‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf.

You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. ‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Jesus is in Jerusalem confronting religious leaders, and he uses the image of a court with a judge and witnesses to explain who he is. No-one can act as a witness to their own actions. If you watch crime dramas you will know that it's not enough to say "I was at my office at the time that X happened!" An independent witness is needed to prove the truth of their statement. So it is that Jesus brings forth five pieces of evidence, five testimonies to the truth of what he says:

1. John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus as the Messiah. (John 1.14-15)
2. The work that Jesus is doing eg healings, bears witness that the Father had sent him. (Matthew 11.2-5)
3. The Father himself has testified to Jesus, even though the religious leaders do not believe in Him. (John 1.32-34)
4. The scriptures witnesses to Jesus, though the leaders just search them to find support for their own arguments against him. (Isaiah 9.6-7)

If your faith in Jesus wavers, and it does for many of us at some time, stop and look at the passage from John's Gospel above, and especially the site mentioned in 'Further Thoughts'.

Lord Jesus Christ,
when you You met the religious leaders
in Jerusalem and they refused
to recognise You as the Messiah
despite Your testimonies:
from John the Baptist,
from Your healing and teaching
from the Father himself
and from the scriptures,
You knew that Your future
would be as the suffering servant.
May we put all our faith in You
as the one who came to save us.
Amen.