Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent - March 23, 2012
John 7:29
"But I know the one who sent me, because I came from him."
Jesus slipped into Jerusalem secretly during a Feast. Those who heard him speak questioned his origins.
The words in today's text form a part of Jesus' response. His origins were in God.
Jesus knew who he was in God. For whatever his early life was like -- and we have few clues in Scripture about his early life -- we know that at the beginning of his public ministry, he first went to the Jordan River to submit to John's baptism. In that experience, he heard the voice of God say to him, "You are my son, the one I love; my heart delights in you."
Jesus knew who he was. He knew where he had come from, where he was sent, and to whom he was going. Immediately after his baptism, God's Spirit led him into the wilderness, where his identity was challenged. He lived, though, out of an interior connection to God. He was intimately connected to the Source of all life.
Isn't there a sense in which every person has origins in God? You and I are the recipients of God's generous Self-giving. God extends to us these words as well: "You are the daughter I love, the son I love; my heart delights in you."
It may be that one of the main ways the rest of us are like Jesus is that we, too, are from God, that we are sent by God. We don't, though, tend to live in the awareness of our origins or with a resolve that shapes our sending.
We, too, are from God. But whereas Jesus' awareness of his origins shaped his living, our origins tend to live deeply hidden within us, away from our awareness and covered over by all the other things we deem important in life. Jesus' origins were primary for him.
For today . . . in silent meditation, imagine your origins in God. What images come to you for those beginnings? You might think in terms of design or sending or birth . . . whatever image God brings to you, stay with it in your prayer as you consider "where you came from".
"But I know the one who sent me, because I came from him."
Jesus slipped into Jerusalem secretly during a Feast. Those who heard him speak questioned his origins.
The words in today's text form a part of Jesus' response. His origins were in God.
Jesus knew who he was in God. For whatever his early life was like -- and we have few clues in Scripture about his early life -- we know that at the beginning of his public ministry, he first went to the Jordan River to submit to John's baptism. In that experience, he heard the voice of God say to him, "You are my son, the one I love; my heart delights in you."
Jesus knew who he was. He knew where he had come from, where he was sent, and to whom he was going. Immediately after his baptism, God's Spirit led him into the wilderness, where his identity was challenged. He lived, though, out of an interior connection to God. He was intimately connected to the Source of all life.
Isn't there a sense in which every person has origins in God? You and I are the recipients of God's generous Self-giving. God extends to us these words as well: "You are the daughter I love, the son I love; my heart delights in you."
It may be that one of the main ways the rest of us are like Jesus is that we, too, are from God, that we are sent by God. We don't, though, tend to live in the awareness of our origins or with a resolve that shapes our sending.
We, too, are from God. But whereas Jesus' awareness of his origins shaped his living, our origins tend to live deeply hidden within us, away from our awareness and covered over by all the other things we deem important in life. Jesus' origins were primary for him.
For today . . . in silent meditation, imagine your origins in God. What images come to you for those beginnings? You might think in terms of design or sending or birth . . . whatever image God brings to you, stay with it in your prayer as you consider "where you came from".
Comments
Post a Comment