Hey all
I wrote this reflection – in the spirit of lectio divina – about John 5: 31-47 – ‘If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. ¶ There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true…’
So themes are miracles, signs and wonders – Jesus and the prophets and Jesus being God The Son.
I like as well to explore the thought of Jesus as the Torah.
There’s a little more and some KJV audio on my site here, if you don’t mind the plug: Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Jesus Christ The Son Of God | Bearing Witness | Scripture, Signs And Miracles | Audio KJV | Faith – Listen To the Bible! | King James Audio Bible | KJV | King James Version
My first reflection was written some years ago. It was intended in a spirit of real simplicity. From ‘Additionally’, that’s more recently written, and is a little more academic, but only a little.
Any feedback.....
It goes like this:
The Jews – often in the Gospel of John a generic term for those who reject Christ, or those who are so muddled, contentious and sectarian among themselves that they threaten the continuity of themselves in the Law – do not reject Jesus for any good reason. They do so rather because they cling to what precious little they have, within their prison walls, and so they deliberately blind themselves to the universal, and universalizing, truth which Christ brings. Jesus knows this. Nevertheless, through justice, he must give to the Jews this additional opportunity to listen to his teaching and recognize the truth of who he is. We may imagine that Jesus is truly desperate for the people of God to put aside their differences and truly be with God.
Jesus, God the Son, humbles himself now by saying that he will not now ask to be recognized by his own testament. Nonetheless, he wishes to save the people and, in order to achieve this, have them recognize the truth of his being and of his preaching.
Jesus cites, therefore, the witness of John the Baptist, of his own miracles, of his Father, and of the prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible.
Jesus celebrates the life of John the Baptist. His doing so points additionally to some of the failings of the Jews, who may not have been true and constant in their regard for the teachings offered to them. ‘He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.’ There is the suggestion of a passing regard, whereas in truth John the Baptist prepared the way for the people to welcome Christ.
We recall the fate of John the Baptist, as of other prophets.
Jesus tells the Jews to search the scriptures. He implies both that through doing so they will discover the truth about who he is and also that they have been blind to the scriptures for too long, reading and re-reading and re-reading them, while failing all the while to grasp the truth of God. Their persistence in their false way of reading will not bring any benefit; rather the converse, as they will grievously discover in AD 70.
Jesus is here, on earth, in the name of the Father. He is God the Son. He wants people to know this because this is important. Jesus must feel great frustration, and this also because the Jewish people not only do not recognize him for who he is but also do not seem to have read the scriptures properly. ‘For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me.’
John’s Gospel tells us that it is through the whole course of the Bible, not the New Testament alone, that Christ’s message is proclaimed. In this passage of the Bible, we are taught a part of what has been missing from our reading of the Bible. The people have not responded to the Old Testament Bible teaching of the Law with love; they have not welcomed God into their hearts and souls; belief has gone missing amid a mass of confused detail.
Now God has seen this and cares so much that he has sent his Son to remedy the situation. Some will listen, some will not. The sacrifice of Christ will, though, be the central redeeming fact of all time.
‘He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.’
‘Ignorance has been taken away, difficulties have been made easier, and the sacred blood of Christ has extinguished the flaming sword which blocked the way to life. The darkness of the former night has given way to the true light.’ Pope St Leo the Great
Additionally:
To expand upon the idea that Jesus is the Torah, we can look at how the Gospel of John emphasizes Jesus as the embodiment of God’s Word. In the opening verses of John, it states: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ (John 1:1, KJV) The Greek word used here for ‘Word’ is ‘logos’, which can also mean ‘reason’ or ‘thought’, or indeed ‘talk’ or ‘discourse’ or ‘conversation’.
The idea that Jesus is the Torah can be seen as an extension of this concept. The Torah is the foundation of Jewish law and tradition, containing the teachings and commandments given by God to Moses. The Jewish tradition is linguistic – it is talkative. There is no graven image in the holy of holies. Mostly the Bible is made up of stories. Jesus, as the embodiment of God’s Word, represents the ultimate fulfillment and embodiment of the Torah.
In John 5, Jesus is defending his authority against accusations from the Jewish leaders. He says: ‘Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.’ (John 5:39, KJV) Here, Jesus is pointing to the Torah as a witness to his divinity and mission. He is saying that the Torah is not an end in itself, but rather it points to him as the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan for salvation.
This idea is further developed in the Gospel of John through the use of metaphors. In John 6, Jesus calls himself the ‘bread of life’ and says: ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.’ (John 6:51, KJV)
I wrote this reflection – in the spirit of lectio divina – about John 5: 31-47 – ‘If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. ¶ There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true…’
So themes are miracles, signs and wonders – Jesus and the prophets and Jesus being God The Son.
I like as well to explore the thought of Jesus as the Torah.
There’s a little more and some KJV audio on my site here, if you don’t mind the plug: Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Jesus Christ The Son Of God | Bearing Witness | Scripture, Signs And Miracles | Audio KJV | Faith – Listen To the Bible! | King James Audio Bible | KJV | King James Version
My first reflection was written some years ago. It was intended in a spirit of real simplicity. From ‘Additionally’, that’s more recently written, and is a little more academic, but only a little.
Any feedback.....
It goes like this:
The Jews – often in the Gospel of John a generic term for those who reject Christ, or those who are so muddled, contentious and sectarian among themselves that they threaten the continuity of themselves in the Law – do not reject Jesus for any good reason. They do so rather because they cling to what precious little they have, within their prison walls, and so they deliberately blind themselves to the universal, and universalizing, truth which Christ brings. Jesus knows this. Nevertheless, through justice, he must give to the Jews this additional opportunity to listen to his teaching and recognize the truth of who he is. We may imagine that Jesus is truly desperate for the people of God to put aside their differences and truly be with God.
Jesus, God the Son, humbles himself now by saying that he will not now ask to be recognized by his own testament. Nonetheless, he wishes to save the people and, in order to achieve this, have them recognize the truth of his being and of his preaching.
Jesus cites, therefore, the witness of John the Baptist, of his own miracles, of his Father, and of the prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible.
Jesus celebrates the life of John the Baptist. His doing so points additionally to some of the failings of the Jews, who may not have been true and constant in their regard for the teachings offered to them. ‘He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.’ There is the suggestion of a passing regard, whereas in truth John the Baptist prepared the way for the people to welcome Christ.
We recall the fate of John the Baptist, as of other prophets.
Jesus tells the Jews to search the scriptures. He implies both that through doing so they will discover the truth about who he is and also that they have been blind to the scriptures for too long, reading and re-reading and re-reading them, while failing all the while to grasp the truth of God. Their persistence in their false way of reading will not bring any benefit; rather the converse, as they will grievously discover in AD 70.
Jesus is here, on earth, in the name of the Father. He is God the Son. He wants people to know this because this is important. Jesus must feel great frustration, and this also because the Jewish people not only do not recognize him for who he is but also do not seem to have read the scriptures properly. ‘For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me.’
John’s Gospel tells us that it is through the whole course of the Bible, not the New Testament alone, that Christ’s message is proclaimed. In this passage of the Bible, we are taught a part of what has been missing from our reading of the Bible. The people have not responded to the Old Testament Bible teaching of the Law with love; they have not welcomed God into their hearts and souls; belief has gone missing amid a mass of confused detail.
Now God has seen this and cares so much that he has sent his Son to remedy the situation. Some will listen, some will not. The sacrifice of Christ will, though, be the central redeeming fact of all time.
‘He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.’
‘Ignorance has been taken away, difficulties have been made easier, and the sacred blood of Christ has extinguished the flaming sword which blocked the way to life. The darkness of the former night has given way to the true light.’ Pope St Leo the Great
Additionally:
To expand upon the idea that Jesus is the Torah, we can look at how the Gospel of John emphasizes Jesus as the embodiment of God’s Word. In the opening verses of John, it states: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ (John 1:1, KJV) The Greek word used here for ‘Word’ is ‘logos’, which can also mean ‘reason’ or ‘thought’, or indeed ‘talk’ or ‘discourse’ or ‘conversation’.
The idea that Jesus is the Torah can be seen as an extension of this concept. The Torah is the foundation of Jewish law and tradition, containing the teachings and commandments given by God to Moses. The Jewish tradition is linguistic – it is talkative. There is no graven image in the holy of holies. Mostly the Bible is made up of stories. Jesus, as the embodiment of God’s Word, represents the ultimate fulfillment and embodiment of the Torah.
In John 5, Jesus is defending his authority against accusations from the Jewish leaders. He says: ‘Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.’ (John 5:39, KJV) Here, Jesus is pointing to the Torah as a witness to his divinity and mission. He is saying that the Torah is not an end in itself, but rather it points to him as the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan for salvation.
This idea is further developed in the Gospel of John through the use of metaphors. In John 6, Jesus calls himself the ‘bread of life’ and says: ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.’ (John 6:51, KJV)
