“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” (John 8.19)

New Testament Challenge, Day 17 – John 6-10

Yesterday I spoke of the importance of receiving Holy Communion as the means to truly known God. Today, Jesus confirms this by saying, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” How do we ever really know anybody but when we spend time with them person-to-person, or being in Communion with them? The same holds true with Jesus Christ. Today’s readings are filled with references to known God BY knowing Jesus Christ. That taken in combination with yesterday’s teachings on Holy Communion means that we cannot know God just by learning. Otherwise it would have not been necessary for God to come and dwell among us to begin with.

The fact is that God did come, in the person of the Incarnate Word of God – the Son, in order to recreate humanity and restore to humanity that which was lost in The Fall, namely our genuine human nature. Jesus came to lead us to heaven and the True Shepherd. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10.10-11) If we are His sheep we will follow Him and know Him. “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.” (John 10.14) And we can only known Him through Holy Communion.

One last point about today’s readings that should be noted; John 7.53-8.11 are not found in several ancient manuscripts and were likely not known to some Church Fathers like John Chrysostom yet they remain valid canonical books of the New Testament. An interesting teaching found here is in regard to the sinful woman and her accuser. “This woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.” (John 8.4) This begs the question: Where is the man she was with? Why wasn’t he brought for punishment? Could this be why Christ says, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” (John 8.7) In the end the real message is this: “’Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’” (John 8.10-11) The call to repentance having been forgiven by God must be life-changing if the forgiveness is to have meaning. Without repentance the woman would likely have returned to adultery and been convicted of her sin. It is not enough to say the Lord loves us the way we are. We must admit that the Lord will always love us but that He desires us to repent of our sinful ways and live a new life in Communion with Him.