John 8:21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees: "I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come." So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins." So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world." They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him." Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for the repose of the soul of Bruce Mercer and for comfort for his family.
Christ's glory came through the cross.
It was His obedience to The Father that allowed Jesus to glorify The Father. It reminds me that our lives are not our own. Through the waters of baptism, our lives belong to The Lord. Our lives, in union with the cross that we have been given as a gift from The Father, are meant to glorify The Father. In glorifying Him, we share in Christ's glory.
How awesome is that? We share in Christ's glory through our obedience and in our suffering.
Jesus tells us today that when they will lift Him high the cross, then they will realize that Jesus Christ is The Son of God. If you want to evangelize to this world that there is such a thing as God, then we must give our total lives. This means our sins (for if we withhold our sins, then we blaspheme against The Holy Spirit), this means our blessings (for it is through Christ that we have received them), and even our desires.
Be united with Christ in His glory so that The Father may be glorified. Take care and God Bless.
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