“A question of sources”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, January 27, 2022
John 5:30-47 (Forward, p. 90) CEV p. 1106
There is a rather key and fundamental question that I am continually asking, not only of myself, but of other people as well—people, by the way, not only of the wider, secular world but also of the church. My question is this: are the ideas, the plans, the priorities that we come up with truly from God—or are they from a human source of some kind? I ask that question because I know fully well how easy it is for my own desires, prejudices, preconceptions and experiences to enter into the picture and influence my thinking.
By way of contrast, just look at what Jesus says about Himself and what motivates Him, as depicted in today’s account from John’s Gospel:
He says that He can’t do anything on His own. How few of us, when it really ‘comes down to it, could sincerely say that? No, far too often, if we are really honest about it, we pride ourselves in our initiative and self-sufficiency.
He asserts that He was sent by the Father and directed by the Father. Accordingly, He does only what the Father has given him to do, and thereby comes with the Father’s authority. What this says to me is that He was never too busy to pause and listen to what the Father said, and indeed, we often read of Him being in prayer. How often we are just too busy to do just that.
He doesn’t depend on human approval or praise, or even care about It. He seeks only the Father’s approval, and indeed, as He says, the Father speaks for Him, as do Moses and the Scriptures if only they would heed them. And, again, is this not an area where we likewise fall down? We are influenced far too much, I think, by what others think or say, or by what we read or watch on the ‘social influencers.’
All of this, it seems to me, should come as something of a wake-up call, a call to pay more attention to what God says and wants us to do. Why do I say this? Well, just look at our country and the world in general? Is it really God’s will that we be at loggerheads with each other, such that nothing gets done or such that peace and good-will evaporate? And, in the church itself, is the decline of the church, the church of which Jesus said that even hell would not prevail against, really what God wants? And what about the disputes, differences of opinion and disharmony that characterizes far too much of church life? If all of that really God’s will? (I’m not suggesting that
We will necessarily be of one mind on all things—there are indeed things to do with our faith that are vague and uncertain and therefore negotiable—but then we ‘should’ be able to address them in a humble, civilized, loving and respectful way. In all this, then, I think we need to be like Jesus. Amen.
Forward notes: “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” (verse 36).
“I teach composition writing to first-year students. The most terrifying task for them is to write about themselves, especially about difficult or painful subjects.
“But I remind them that testimony can be a powerful naming of oneself that creates space for healing. Although we might view ourselves as broken or disconnected in some way, testimony is a bold stance that says, ‘See me for what I am and will continue to be.’
“In this passage, Jesus says his testimony is bolder than John’s because Jesus’s testimony is backed up by God, his father. When we give our testimony in vulnerability, in brave truth, we give a greater testimony of God’s message to the world. Our life is not our own. We are made to share it with one another as brothers and sisters in faith, and with God’s help, bring ourselves and others to healing and relationship with our Savior and Lord.”
Moving Forward: “Do you have a testimony that you need to give?”
