Fourth Sunday After Easter – May 8, 2022
Fourth Sunday After Easter – May 8, 2022
Jesus reveals himself as the Son of Man, connecting to the Old Testament prophecy of Ezekiel (Ez. 33:2 and others) and Daniel (Da. 7:13) as well as lamenting that there is no place for him in this world (Mt. 8:20). He comes as the New Adam (Ro. 6:12-13) who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (Phil. 2:6). He comes announcing the forgiveness of sins and the imminent presence of the kingdom of God (Mt. 4:17). Those to whom he came rejected him (Jn. 1:11), but he proved God’s love for the ungodly in that he died pleading for his tormenter’s forgiveness not their condemnation (Lk. 23:34). From the depths of that humiliation God raised him from the dead so that he would be the first fruits of the new creation (Ro. 8:29). The new creation is hidden for now in humility and known only by faith but awaiting its glory when Jesus the Christ shall be revealed in his glory. (Col. 3:3-4)
Jesus Christ reveals the Father. In such dramatic declarations as “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30) and “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27b) and “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9), Jesus identifies the Father with himself. This revelation of God—as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—is how God “chooses” to be known. It is the name by which he desires to be called: “Father.” (Luke 11:2) The revealed Father compares to the Son in the same manner as the Son’s self-emptying of Philippians 2 compares to John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus “emptied” himself of equality with God, so too God “emptied” himself of a “godly” condemnation of the world through the sending of the Son. God, the Father, emptied himself so he could come “for you” in the love of Jesus Christ.
Table Talk: Discuss ways in which Jesus has revealed the Father to you.
Pray: Heavenly Father, grant that I should call upon you by the name Jesus died to give me, Father… my Father in heaven. Amen
John 10:22-30 English Standard Version
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”