8:21-29 [HCSB])

21 Then He said to them again, “I’m going away; you will look for Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.”

22 So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’? ”

23 “You are from below,” He told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

25 “Who are You? ” they questioned. “Precisely what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them.

26 “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the One who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him these things I tell the world.” 27 They did not know He was speaking to them about the Father.

28 So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own. But just as the Father taught Me, I say these things. 29 The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.”

The One who sent Me

Jesus is continuing to tell the authorities that they simply do not know Him. For the most part the Jewish leadership did not understand that Jesus was anything more than a radicalized cult leader.

The continued discourse we have recorded in the Book of John did nothing to clarify His position. In many ways it fueled the belief that He was politically motivated.

In truth, Jesus was spiritually driven to begin the separation of the wheat from the chaff. He seized upon the common, often illiterate Israelite, to follow Him and set upon the religious leadership of the Jews to illustrate their ignorance of the important aspects of the faith: brotherly love, a servant heart, a humble nature, etc.

Obviously, recognizing the signs of the coming Messiah was a real sticking point for Jesus, especially when it came to the Pharisees, Scribes and Temple Priests. They should have known!

And yet, if you and I are challenged in our own authority and knowledge, how graciously do we handle it? Do we not get defensive and attempt to justify our position; or do we gladly accept the error of our ways?

This may sound like a broken record to many of you, but realize that Jesus rarely glorified Himself. He always pointed to God the Father, and based His authority on what the Father taught Him, and did through Him. Verses 28 & 29 are explicit. For example: “But just as the Father taught Me, I say these things.”

Just as Jesus is the Light of the world, God is called “The Father of Lights.” This is a mystery to us, but we trust Jesus, and we take it on faith.