AGENT OF GOD
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Opening Prayer
Lord, help me set aside all internal and external distractions that would keep me from hearing your voice as I read your Word today. Please help me not only to listen but also to apply what you say.
Read JOHN 12:37–50
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Belief and Unbelief Among the Jews
37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 “He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn—and I would heal them.”
41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God.
44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
Reflect
‘Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.’1 When you express your praises to God, you are in the company of angels.
In my previous job in employment law, I sometimes dealt with agency relationships, under which one person or company (the ‘principal’) authorizes another (the ‘agent’) to act and speak on their behalf. This gives a glimpse of the relationship Jesus describes here between himself and God the Father. Jesus says that he does not speak on his own behalf, but only on behalf of ‘the Father who sent me’ (v. 49). Because he speaks ‘just what the Father has told me to say’ (v. 50), others can treat him as representing the Father, even though he is not identical to the Father. When they see Jesus, they ‘see’ the one who sent him; when they believe in Jesus, they are, effectively, believing in the One who sent him (vv. 44, 45).
However, Jesus is no mere puppet. His closeness to the Father who sent him means that he himself is a beacon of light and salvation. In words that echo the opening verses of John’s gospel, Jesus declares that he has come into the world as ‘a light’, so that ‘no one who believes in [him] should stay in darkness’ (v. 46).2 He came ‘to save the world’ (v. 47). He has glory, which even the prophet Isaiah foresaw (v. 41). It must have been challenging for Jesus’ Jewish contemporaries to believe that he was so closely affiliated with God: no wonder they could ‘neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts’ (v. 40). We can only believe in Jesus if God gives us the gift of faith, but God is more liberal with this gift than we often realize. John says that many of the Jewish leaders did believe in Jesus, even if they were afraid to follow him (vv. 42, 43). Maybe they needed someone to encourage them to take that step?
Apply
Jesus says, ‘I have come into the world as a light’ (v. 46). In what ways is Jesus coming as a light meaningful for you?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you that in your light there is life; have your light shine in the world around me and to the ends of the earth.
1 Ps 29:1. 2 Ford, 248.
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