Going to Jesus
We were sitting at Flour in Boston because I couldn't resist their croissants. As I caught up with an old friend, I asked about her family. She let out a deep, heavy sigh. Then she told me, "After he said he wanted a divorce, I realized he'd checked out of the marriage a long time ago. No matter how hard I tried to make it work, he'd already decided to leave." Have you ever tried to be close to someone, but found they were always far away?
John 7:25-36
Some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? Yet, look, he's speaking publicly and they're saying nothing to him. Can it be true that the authorities know he is the Messiah? But we know where this man is from. When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where he is from." As he was teaching in the temple, Jesus cried out, "You know me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own, but the who sent me is true. You don't know him; I know him because I am from him, and he sent me." Then they tried to seize him. Yet no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. However, many from the crowd believed in him and said, "When the Messiah comes, he won't perform more signs than this man has done, will he?" The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent servants to arrest him. Then Jesus said, "I am only with you for a short time. Then I'm going to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." Then the Jews said to one another, "Where does he intend to go that we won't find him? He doesn't intend to go to the Jewish people dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, does he? What is this remark he made: 'You will look for me, and you will not find me; and 'where I am, you cannot come'?"
The Word became flesh and headed to Jerusalem. He could have stayed safe in heaven, in Galilee, or even among the Samaritans. But instead, he went to the Temple—the place where God meets with his people. In response, the authorities make their own move towards Jesus. They sent the Temple guards to arrest him. The crowds also draw near, but with checklists and ambivalence. Jesus plainly exposes the tension. They say they know him, but they don't know God. But because Jesus is from God and sent by God, they don't know him either. The scene is charged with tension. Jesus has come to them in love. In response, intimidating guards, representing the power of God, have been sent to arrest God. The one who went out of his way to be with them is leaving. "I am only with you for a short time." He came, he saw, he loved. They came, they saw, and they felt threatened. At the Temple, in the middle of the festival, Jesus announces his departure. The people are baffled. If Jesus thinks he's the Messiah, where else could he go but to the Jews? What kind of Messiah would go to the Greeks? In their confusion, they can only conclude that Jesus is confused. But John knows that we know better. After Jesus ascends to be with the one who sent him, he will send his Spirit into his disciples. And they will go to the Greeks. It's possible to spend our whole lives moving toward Jesus and end up alone with our theology. If we are interested in subduing him, controlling him, or boxing him into our agenda, we will find that he is only with us for a short time. The question isn't whether Jesus will come to us. He already has. The question is whether we will recognize him as God and respond with worship.
Knowing they would oppose him, Jesus went to Jerusalem. How have you seen Jesus take the initiative with you?
How can being sure that we know who Jesus is keep us from actually knowing him?
The crowd mocks the idea that Jesus would go to the Greeks. Where might Jesus be showing up in places you wouldn't expect?
Take a moment to remember that God is already with you. Ask him, "Am I here to be with you, or to come at you? Help me to recognize that you are God." Then, text a friend and share whatever you experienced in his presence.