A short reflection on John 8:21-30 (Br Edward Seah)

Finding ourselves lost or confused in our communications which affects our relationship with one another seems a common experience for many people. Often times it has got to do with misunderstanding which may be due to our attachment to certain views.

In the gospel of John chapter 8 verses 21 to 30, the people misunderstood Jesus’ words about “I am going away… where I am going you cannot come”. The passage seems to show a break down in communication which resulted in Jesus getting impatient with his listeners when he said “Why do I speak to you at all?”. Like the prophets in the Old Testament, Jesus had to point out to the people about their refusal to listen, often times due to their stubbornness. They prefer to live in darkness by attaching themselves to their own perception of what the messiah should be. The basic sin in the Gospel of John is the refusal to believe. The Pharisees especially seemed so trapped in their refusal to believe in Jesus to the point of slavery to their own stubbornness. Jesus asserted that they will be released from their sins only if they listen and believe what he has revealed: that He who is with the Father is sent by the Father to be the light of the world and to save them from sin.

Often times we seem to identify ourselves with many of Jesus’ listeners who did come to believe and distanced ourselves from the attitude of the Pharisees. But perhaps at times we may be like the Pharisees in other ways, such as our tendency to limit our faith to the intellectual level and the failure on our part to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Gregory Chan 28th Mar 2010.