“…Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” (John 7:46)
Jesus speaks in ways that disarm and embrace those around Him. Here men sent to arrest Jesus reply to those who sent them with this excuse. Jesus more than knew how to use words, He spoke from a prayer life that enabled Him to reflect His Father’s heart. These men did not know how to respond to someone who actually loved His enemy and invited them to enjoy life in His Kingdom. Jesus’s words on this day betrayed the greater reality of His relationship with God and the quality of love and life of those who embrace the values of the Kingdom. Like Jesus, reflecting Kingdom culture flows from communion with the King, which allows Him to radiate love even toward His enemies.
Two things stood out to me when I read this verse recently. First, the aura of Jesus’s life paralyzed those who wanted to arrest Him. Second, from whence did the quality of Jesus’s earthly life flow? Both, as much of the Gospel of John indicates, emerged from His prayer life and communion with His Father. The former, however, proceeds from surrender to the unshakable love and care of His Father that He experienced through that communion. Through this text, I am challenged to hear God in a way that draws me into this unshakable love as Jesus did.
God longs to lift us into His ways by the Spirit He has given us!
For Reflection:
“I will hear what God the LORD will say; for He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones…” (Psalms 85:8 NAS95)
- How do you experience God’s interaction with you? Are the flavors of His interaction with you consistent with goodness, peace, affirmation and joy or do they reflect things to the contrary?
- What role does the state of your emotional life and circumstance play in how you hear God?
