YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
What is truth?
Looking still at the things that the Master called Truth in the Gospel of John we come now to Jesus’ Prayer to the Father just before He crosses the brook going to the Garden. The prayer is written out in John’s Gospel while in the synoptic gospels there is only reference to the one line “O my Father, if it bepossible, letthis cup passfrom me: nevertheless not as I will , but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:42 and similar in Mark 14:36 and Luke 22:42) which does not appear in John’s Gospel. It is widely assumed that this is the same prayer moment for the Master, occurring just before His arrest. John’s version of this is a prayer for acknowledging that He has finished His task and a prayer for His disciples. Of Truth the Master says this: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (John 17:17-19).
We have seen the word sanctify before but from the Old Testament where it is from the same Hebrew word as holy and thereby meaning much the same thing. Sanctify here in the New Testament is translated from the Greek word hagiazo of which Strong’s says the meaning is: to sanctify, set apart, make holy; this can mean active dedication and service to God or the act of regarding or honoring as holy***. According to Vincent the word translated sanctify is constantly used in the Septuagint to express the entire dedication and consecration of both persons and things to god; Vincent also notes that the Revised Version uses consecrate as an alternate meaning in the margin****. So we have the idea here that Jesus is asking the Father to actively dedicate the disciples to God through Truth which is His word. Now we can take this a step further than this and to the idea that Christ is the Word which John says in the Prologue but this is not likely in Jesus thoughts at this time. However, it all does work together; the Word is Truth in Christ and He does say further on that “for their sakes I sanctify myself” which can only mean that He has actively and completely dedicated Himself to God through Truth which is the Word of God. And He says that He has done this so that the disciples “also might be sanctified through the truth” What do we take from all of this?
Simply the value of Truth, that it is the Word of God. The very words of the Master are the Word of God as He tells us in saying “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:24) and again where He says that “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (John 7:16). He tells us also that “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). His words, they are Truth, they are Spirit and they are Life and all three of these can be seen as the same thing. Spirit and Life are forever One and in them is The Truth of our reality and our existence. The Master goes on to say also that “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20-21) which is to include us and all who believe and follow the Word of the Lord which is written in the hearts of men and women of GoodWill around the world. These are not words of exclusion which leave out people who never hear through their word they are words that include those who do. At the end of this prayer, the officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees come and seize the Master.
Jesus is now before Pilate and this is where we started this series several posts ago. In His discourse with Pilate the Master says: “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37). The context of the word king here is that of leader of the people and the Master does not admit kingship in an earthly sense and He had previously spoken of His Kingdom being not of this Earth. Much is made of the words king and kingdom is the church today as they relate to the Master but these words should be understood to be words of the time; words which could be understood by the people of the time. For us it would be better to understand that Jesus is the Christ, the Master and the Teacher of all men who brought the Power and the Glory of the Godhead into manifestation on the Earth. One with us and One with God as He tells us in saying to the Father: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:21-22).
Not really answering the question the Master tells Pilate the facts of His birth and of His life. To bear witness to the Truth was He born and for this cause, to bear witness unto the Truth, did He come into the world. In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke it is noted that the Master says nothing to Pilate other than “thou sayest” when asked if He were a king. Here in John however we find a few more words. Words that testify that the Master had a role, a cause in coming, and that is to bear witness to the Truth. What is this Truth? For us it is the Truth of the Kingdom of God that He came to teach to men. It is the Truth of right living as He enlightened us on in the Beatitudes and in the Sermon on the Mount. It is the Truth of Love as we should show it to God and to all men. It is the Truth of the Golden Rule. It is the hidden Truth behind the parables and the proverbs that He taught us with. It is the Truth of living our Lives in the Kingdom of God and it is the Truth of Living in His Presence. And all these Truths are ONE TRUTH which is the Word of God.
And everyone that is of the Truth, that does His word, that seeks His Presence can hear His word and His voice which is the Inner Voice of the Spirit of man, the Christ Within. Doing the words of the Master brings us to that spiritual place where Christ lives in us. We can get there by the doing what He teaches us to do or we can get there through faith leading us to doing what He teaches us to do. Believing and not doing are not the way to the Kingdom; doing by believing is the Way.
So Pilate asks: “What is truth?” (John 17:38) and today many are still wondering what is the real answer to this question. Over these last several posts we have looked at this idea as it comes to us in Jesus words from the Gospel of John which is the only gospel that treats the subject with emphasis as it relates to the reality of the Life of Christ. For us the answer can be found in a single word and a most important word in the teachings of the Master and that word is LOVE. Love is, like truth, many things; as there are many truths but only One Absolute Truth, there are many ways of Love but only One True Universal Love. This universal Love will become our next theme in this series on the Words of the Master.
Let us begin this now by reviewing some ideas on Love from the gospels and try to see how we need to view it from the words of the Master. Love was addressed is some detail in our series on Living in the Light (In the Words of Jesus part 25) and also in the series called Thoughts on the Sermon (In the Words of Jesus part 47) and there may be some degree repetition here. This subject is however of the utmost importance to the Master and so to us as well. It is of Love that He says: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). Now based on the text of the gospels this is not really a new commandment as His teaching on Love pervades His entire teaching. It is also a part of the the Great Commandment that He enunciates as “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). Vincent suggests the idea that this new commandment embodies the essential principle of the whole law**** which suggests that its intent is to replace, as a new commandment, all other commandments. This is testified to by the Apostle Paul in his saying “but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10). “Love is the fulfilling of the law” and from this perspective this is a new commandment as it supersedes all of the other commandments for in love, none of the others can be broken.
This true meaning of Love has been much lost in the words of our language and, I must believe, on many other languages as well. The universality of Love has been misplaced and yet it is the most important part of being a good Christian and an true follower of the Master. Without the kind of Love that Jesus showed to us and taught to us we are hard pressed to make our case that we are deserving of the Kingdom of God and of His Presence and we are relegated to that group of people of whom the Master says: “When once the master of the house is risen up , and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:25-27).
The Master teaches us many things but there is one of more importance than all the others and into which all the others go. And that thing is LOVE.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
….who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed , leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him…….Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? (Luke 10:29-34, 36)
Today’s quote of the day reflects on Love thy neighbour. It is the intent of this parable and it is noteworthy that those who had no compassion on the stricken man were a priest and a Levite; both of whom should have been leaders in compassion.
- ** New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- **** Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
