Glory of Men and the Love of God ...

Tuesday, May 20, 2014. The passage of John 5 talks about Jesus and his authority. It also talks about “glory of men”. What is it that he needs to have authority? It is not the glory of men, which defines his mission. It is only the love of God. And there is much more in John 5. Let us read a little:

Receive from whom? …

Jesus is speaking: 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5, 41ff)

This is all about faith. It is about the foundation of faith. Faith is not based on the glory of men. Jesus is not depending on the others to acknowledge him. He is not depending on them to state: this is the messiah! or “This is the son of God!”. He is just not depending on this, since he has been sent by God, the father.

We have to realize that there are deep conflicts here. The whole role of Jesus, his person, his mission, his words, all this is questioned. And the people here do not believe in him. Rather, they question him completely.

Why you are what you are …

Today, we have similar phenomena. There is a believer - man or women. He might not have a theological degree. He or she might not have any deeper education. But he believes in the Lord, and follows him by heart. He does, what Jesus wants him to do. He starts to talk the truth. He starts to love his fellow believers as well as his enemies. Imagine someone who is simple, but kind of pure (as pure as you can be with all you bring to faith when you come to believe in the Lord).

When such a simple person starts to talk about God, people will question this. Often I have heard arguments: he is just a lay person. Only those with a degree are taken serious when it comes to talking about God. Often, we are looking for some kind of certifcate, we can rely on. But it is as if we would take glory from men, not from God!

Do not misunderstand me. I value education, and I think it is very important for the Christian community to have theological education institutes and to study and think and take faith very serious, with your heart AND with your mind. But study cannot base faith on anything than the love and grace of God, and on the scriptures, which speak about him.

So here Jesus himself is pointing to Moses. If you believed him, you would believe in me, he is saying. Moses is plenty to come to faith. The better is it that we have all the prophets, that we have the gospels, that we have the letters of the apostles. We have a rich and breathtaking body of words, talking to us about faith and life, about love and grace, about truth and justice, about our heart and our mind. Let us listen and follow! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts