Jesus, once while talking to His disciples, said: “Let any one with ears to hear, listen!” (Mk 4.23); then He makes it little more clear: “Pay attention to what you hear” (24). Because we fail to pay attention to what we hear, the Word of God we hear remains often in the head level and not come to heart level. Only when the seed of the Word of God falls in the fertile soil of a believing heart, can it become enfleshed in our attitudes, convictions and actions.
In the Gospel of John, we see in many places Jesus reaffirming his relationship with His Father.
“I and the Father are one”(10.30).
“Anyone who does not honor the Son, does not honour the Father, who sent Him” (5.23)
“If you know me, you would know my Father also” (8.19)
“You will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he” /who I am (8.24)(cfr Ex 3.14)
“He who has seen me, has seen the Father” (14.9)
Do i take these messages to my heart? Or do I just read or hear, without paying attention to it, without ‘listening with my heart’?
None of the leaders or founders of other religions have ever made this claim: “I am God”. They are raised to godhead by their followers. But this claim of Jesus, which is the Truth, caused the Pharisees to crucify Him” (Lk 22.70,71).
Jesus told Thomas and the other disciples: “I am the way, and the truth and the life” (14.6). Am I convinced of this truth? Let us note that Jesus did not say that I am one of the ways…Do I pay attention to what Jesus has said, or do i consider more what the world says? The way Jesus lived is the way to the Father and when i live that way, I am in the way to the Father. When I live that way, I become truthful, sharing the truth of Jesus, because ‘truth is in Jesus’ (Eph 4.21b), since He lived the Father’s word -(Father, your word is truth (17.17). Since Jesus is the life, and ,His words are life and -spirit’, when I live His Word I share the abundant life that Jesus has come to give to me (Jn 10.10b). What a tremendous revelation!
Jesus was not playing with words when He said: “No one comes to the Father except through me…If you know me, you will know my Father also….Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me ( 14.6,7,9,11). Father and Jesus are not two different gods, but one God. When I see Jesus and adore Him, who is the image of the invisible God (Col 1.15), I am seeing the Father and adoring the Father. ‘If I continue in your word, I am your true disciple’ ( 8.31), and the Father will love me, and Jesus and the Father will come and make their home in me’ ( 14 23).
When I love and obey Jesus, I am in Jesus, and through Jesus, I am in the Father because Father and Jesus are one. It is like sponge in the water. I am not loosing my identity. The deep relationship, the immersion into God’s life becomes possible; but I am not becoming God.
Lord Jesus, help me to live your Word in faith, and live in you and in the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. May I always experience my oneness with you, thus enjoying the art of living in God.
Mary Pereira