In today’s Gospel reading John testifies to Jesus, but the voice is that of John the Evangelist rather than that of John the Baptizer. He calls for belief not so much in what Jesus says or does but in the person, the complete person, of Jesus the Christ or, as he refers to him here, the Son.
The entire Gospel of John centers on this act of faith, for in this Gospel Jesus offers very little in the way of specific moral precepts or insights: he indicates that we must cling to this Person and trust ourselves to the love that God has revealed in going so far as to send his Son to be one of us. John calls us to an abandonment of self, a trust that places us in the Father’s heart and hands right along with Jesus even if it leads us to death to this world. Incarnate divinity is the ultimate heresy to the Jews, but to believers it is the ultimate in loving care.
This abandonment of self is not a matter of earthly wisdom: “The one who is of the earth is earthly, and he speaks on an earthly plane.” The One who comes from above calls us to something beyond earthly values and reasoning, not to a lack of morality but that surrender to trust in love that leaves the merely reasonable far behind. It is a wisdom that calls us to allow the Spirit to fill us and to unstintingly share the riches we have from the Father through the Son and his Spirit.
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Since its inception in 1997, Online Ministries has been blessed to have myriad members of the Creighton University community offer their personal reflections on the daily scripture readings.
