Witnesses to Jesus
‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.
‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41I do not accept glory from human beings. 42But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’ John 5:30-47
Yesterday we picked up our Girl Scout cookie order. It made me remember all of the years we participated in the sale of these cookies. I have four sisters and three daughters, all who participated in scouts. our Mom was the cookie mother several times and we had cases and cases stacked in our home. It was in Girl Scouts that I had the lesson of nothing on my own reinforced, over and over. At camp, we went two by two, even to the bathroom. We never swam alone. We were responsible for each other no matter how we felt about one another. We were also part of a larger group who we needed to care for as well. It was the best leadership training I ever received, apart from that taught me by my family.
Jesus is challenging the religious leaders to move from formula to relationship, from distance to proximity. True faith is found in the care for others and relationship with God. The true leader is one who cares for others and serves humbly, always taking others along. We are invited to consider in these selfish, me first times, that we are call to community and relationship. We are called to bear one another's burdens and to bring others along, no matter how we feel at a given moment.
Today, I ask God to help me live and serve others, considering nothing on my own, but trusting in the love of God to be active in all things. May we move from self centeredness and worry, to the care of community, so that the world might know of God living and present love.
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