I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
This week, Jesus initially stays behind and lets His family go on to the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem. This pilgrimage feast was established to remind Jews of their time in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:33-43) and each family camped outside in makeshift booths for seven days.
He quietly arrives mid-feast and begins to teach in the temple. While it was normal for Rabbis to teach in the various courts of the temple, what He said was not.
The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.
John uses the word “true” (alēthēs) 23 of the 26 times in the New Testament. Here Jesus declares that His teaching is a true prophetic statement, the very words of God. The proof of that truth was the volume of signs (Deuteronomy18:20-22; Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Had they not occurred or had Jesus not pointed back to the Father, He would have been acting “presumptuously” (Deuteronomy 18:22), the sign of a false prophet.
So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”
The word “true” is not simply describing fact, but also something revealed (alpha "not" + lēlanthanō "hidden"). This passage is about the process by which Jesus was revealed as the true Christ.
The application for us is that we must be likewise “true”.
The simple opposite “false” (pseudēs) is the active presentation of something fake. To do this one deceives. Recall please the calling of Nathaniel (John 1:47), where he is without that active “gile” (dolos).
We cannot portray the perfect facade. Jesus tore down the one that the Pharisees had put up.
Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law.
So, to be without falsehood requires confession.
Another word used in this passage is translated “falsehood” (adikia). It is either one who violates the law or one who applies the law unjustly (alpha "not" + dikē “just”). This Jesus also uses to confront the Jewish leaders:
“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
To be true, then we must apply that same justice to ourselves and confess to God and to each other. For only then can the relationship be true.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
No comments:
Post a Comment