Sunday, July 17, 2011

John 5:37-38

And the Father who sent me has Himself testified concerning me. You have never heard His voice nor seen his form, nor does His word dwell in you for you do not believe the one He sent.

Although John's gospel does not record the voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism, it would have been a well known occasion that didn't need setting down, when John was writing. Yet Jesus stresses that his listeners had not heard his voice. Moses had heard the voice from the burning bush; Elijah had heard the still, small voice; Jacob had seen his form; so had Abraham; and his word had dwelt in Joshua and the psalmists. Jesus was the word of God and the Jews of his time had no time for him. I am Jewish enough to have been vulnerable to Hitler and I weep for my ancestors.

We learn in the letter to the Hebrews that Jesus is 'the exact representation of His being'. The Jews who were his inquisitors were guilty of the one unforgivable sin - unbelief.

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