I have been telling you

John 8:12-30

From the beginning of My mission, I have been telling you who I am. 

I was just talking on the phone with a friend and half way during the conversation, in order to get more comfortable, I switched the phone from one ear to the other.  That's when I realized that my hearing in one ear is better than the other.  

Often, it is not only my ears that affect my hearing.  It is a preoccupation with other things: sometimes it is the pop of a new email, the buzz of my cell phone, or a request from my grandson.  Sometimes it can merely be a word spoken by the person who I am listening to, and wham!  My mind just flew a million miles away.   Al gets frustrated.  "I just told you!" he complains and turns away.

But I was not listening.

Jesus feels Al's pain.  From the beginning of His mission, Jesus has been clearly demonstrating who He was for all to see and hear.  Few got it. But still it was there.  Instead of getting frustrated, Jesus circles back again.

I have so much to say about you, so many judgments to render; but if you hear one thing,

Here it is--the one thing that we need not to miss--ready, set?

...hear that the One who sent Me is true, and all the things I have heard from Him, I speak into the world.

What does this mean?

• The One who sent Me is true:  The Father is truth.  He created all and IS Truth.  

• all the things: Not one missing--all complete total 

• I heard from Him: the Father said these things, they came from His mouth, His heart, His absolute truth. He is speaking to Me and I hear him perfectly well.

• I speak into the world: I don't just know the Father's thoughts, I speak them, share them, give them as a gift into the world.  We want the world to know the Father's thoughts.

So to sum it up: If you knew Me, then you would also know the Father.

But they did not hear. They did not accept.  They put their fingers in their ears, screwed up their faces and chanted "blah blah blah." Maybe they were listening to other things, were preoccupied with more important matters.

They missed Jesus' point. Then they killed Him.  

One thing.  We make it so complicated. We draw lines between each other to divide. It is such a human thing to do.  So unlike our Jesus.  He wanted us to see God, to experience God, to know God, and draw close to God.  So He came.  He came a long way to a messy planet for one thing. To show us the Father.

He gave us proof but we would not see it. We were too busy. Instead we killed Him. Maybe we did not nail Him to a tree.  Maybe we just ignored Him to see what else was on TV, what else was posted on Facebook. And if you are ignoring Him, it's just like He is dead.  He's dead to you anyway.

Maybe we did not like what He had to say. Whether or not we like what we see in Jesus, He is truth.  He is light.  We can shoot Him but He will not stay dead.  

Jesus invites us to this relationship with the Father. We are invited not act alone, but to act and speak the things of Him and His Father. 

Beloved You have invited us into this supernatural life of love joy peace patience kindness gentleness goodness and self-control, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  You will do it.  Help me beloved stay on track.  And when I fall, like I have today, help me up again and get back on, washed clean by Your sacrifice.  

Help me to hear You, really hear You and not be distracted by life.  You are too beautiful to be missed.

Whenever the day comes and you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He. It will be clear then that I am not acting alone, but that I am speaking the things I have learned directly from the Father. The One who sent Me is with Me; He has not abandoned Me because I always do what pleases Him.