Jesus Is The Only Way

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. (Jn 7:28)

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐖𝐢𝐬 𝟐:𝟏𝐚, 𝟏𝟐-𝟐𝟐

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟑𝟒:𝟏𝟕-𝟐𝟏, 𝟐𝟑 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟕: 𝟏-𝟐, 𝟏𝟎, 𝟐𝟓-𝟑𝟎

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒆.” (𝒗.29)

As with the religious leaders in the time of Jesus there are also many of us today who cannot accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of all and this is borne out by the battle for possession that is ongoing in our lives. Worse still are those committing apostasy or those who already knew Jesus, who have been sacramentally baptized in the church that Christ has established, who knew who he was and is and yet turn around and reject him.

What many of us do not know is that God has a plan and that is for us to live an abundant life. On the other hand, the devil also has a plan and that is to separate us from the love of God and from the promise of eternal life.

On one side is our God who desires to possess us, but he requires from us a life surrendered to his Will. And on the other hand, there is Satan who is present in the material world who will deceive us and lure us into thinking that the world is where we can find happiness.

There is a tendency we may feel helpless to put a stop to this battle between good and evil that still rages today but we shouldn’t because we have the power to put a stop to it and this we can do by simply making a choice, by coming to a decision as to which side we are with and arriving at such a decision should not pose any difficulty at all. If we choose good, we are assured of the eternal salvation that God had promised. If we choose evil, then be prepared for the eternal damnation that awaits us. That’s all there is to it.

In today’s Gospel reading we see at least two reasons why the religious leaders of his time could not accept Jesus as the Messiah whom God has sent to liberate Israel from bondage. One was that they expected the Messiah to ride into Israel as a conquering king and not as a son of a carpenter from Nazareth.

The other reason was because many of the religious leaders never had it so good. They have expanded the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law into hundreds of minute laws such that the people became subservient to them rather than to God who was supposed to be object of their worship. In addition, the religious leaders were treated like royalty seating at the head table and being honored when they walk on the streets or in marketplaces with large tassels adorning the edge of their robes.

The situation must have become worse that Jesus on second thought decided to go and attend the Festival of Tabernacles even after he told his kin that he was not going because “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆” (𝒗.6) but he went in secret (𝐯.𝟏𝟎) because the people were watching out for him – some to listen to him preach while some wanted to harm him.

The reaction of the crowd at the Temple was mixed – some were amazed at the kind of authority with which he taught while others accused him of imagining the threats to his life even ascribing his works to the demon (𝐯.𝟐𝟎).

This reaction was not surprising because Jesus came with a new version of Theology. While he proclaimed he came not to abolish the law, he reformatted the teachings of the Scribes and the Pharisees and gave it a new dimension.

The law on forgiveness for example limits the Jews to forgiving someone who have wronged them at least three times but Jesus said God prefers that we must forgive at least 70 times 7 which meant a never-ending process of forgiveness.

The Jews also rejected him because they knew where he came from and his coming did not conform to popular belief that the Messiah would burst into the world in a mysterious way and Jesus did not fit into the standard by which the Jews measured the coming of the Messiah.

It was not because the Jews were less religious except that they worshipped God as the magnificent God in whom all things were made but they could see God in ordinary things much less see God as a son of an ordinary carpenter.

To them the coming of the Messiah must be an extraordinary event such as the parting of the Red Sea. There was no doubt either that they worshipped God except that their worship was governed by the expanded Mosaic law.

The kind of religion that Christ brought was a radical departure from the way the Jews worshipped and with the objections of the Jews in mind, Jesus shocked the people at the Temple with two shocking statements. He said that while it was true the Jews knew where he came from, it cannot be disputed that he came direct from God. Jesus also said that the people did not know God, but he did (𝐯𝐯.𝟐𝟖-𝟐𝟗).

This was probably the biggest insult that anyone can levy on the Jews – to say they did not know God. Up to this time, the religious leaders treated him as a rabble rouser but after he had spoken these words Jesus now was to be accused of blasphemy.

There was an underlying reality from all these and it was possible that the Jews just could not accept Jesus even if they knew he spoke with authority but because they could no longer change their ways. In fact, it was probable the Jews were struck with fear of the unknown if they were to listen and believe in Jesus.

This is the same choice that is being placed on the table before us. On one side is the world to which we grew up in and all the allurements that have been made available to us to make our lives comfortable. The advent of technology has provided us with ease in the way we go through life.

On the other side is Jesus through whom eternal salvation is available but without any assurance that life would be easy. In fact, it was Jesus Himself who said that anyone who wants to become his disciple will have to deny himself, take up his cross and follow him (𝐋𝐤 𝟗:𝟐𝟑).

A deeper understanding of this passage means we need to die to ourselves by detaching ourselves from the world and to accept and endure all the trials that will come our way as part of God’s plan. There is no doubt that it is difficult to live as a Christian. The reality, however, is we have no choice because we cannot possibly live in eternity apart from Christ.

𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐨 (𝟑𝟓𝟒-𝟒𝟑𝟎 𝐀𝐃) put it this way: “𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭. 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩. 𝘛𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴. 𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴; 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦.”

Jesus claimed to have a unique relationship with God something the Jews failed to comprehend. To identity himself as being one with God was blasphemous as far as the Jews are concerned. But we cannot be indifferent to this proclamation of Jesus because we are blessed with all the necessary information relative to our Christian faith.

Which is why today there are only two choices we can make – it’s either we are for him or against him. There is no middle ground. We can either remain in the world and try to fit Jesus into our life, in the way we pursue our business, and in the way we relate to others.

Or we can allow Jesus to take control of our life and allow him to deliver us from own ignorance and pride. It will help perhaps if we will ask ourselves if we recognize all that Jesus has done for us with faith and reverence or do we shun Jesus with disbelief and contempt? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 4, 2025)