8.3 - Beyond the Rules: A Journey into Wholeness
Remember the scene in The Secret Life of Pets where Sweet Pea, the green and yellow parakeet, has Chloe, the self-absorbed fat cat, chasing the light from a laser pointer? Hold that thought.
Jesus as the Light of the World
This segment will appear more like a Bible study and commentary than I intended; however, I hope you can pull something from it that will benefit you. To begin, we must reach back into the last segment, pull forward a verse, and look at it more. After living among them openly and teaching this crowd several times, Jesus starts to wrap things up with a brilliant self-endorsement and a positive call to learn by doing.
12 Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
It is the same as John said about him in this narrative's opening lines: "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
Living Like Jesus: An Examination
Follow me here: as I examine how he lived his life, I will begin to see how to live my life, and in so doing, my light will shine, giving me direction and purpose. But how did he live his life? If I set aside his words and remove the miracles, here's what I see. He put safety and security in the backseat and walked into the world open-armed, crossing over the cultural norms and needless regulations of his day to hug the leper, touch the unclean, find food for the hungry, welcome his opponents, and release the accused. If the humanistic vision trips you up, remember that Jesus was 100% human.
For Jesus, God was like a good, good father who cared deeply for each of his children—the rule-following elder son and the prodigal. His deepest wish was that each person he encountered would see themselves as he saw them, love themselves as he loved them, and accept themselves as he accepted them.
Those who were the recipients of this love felt that they had been in the presence of God himself. It made them feel “whole.”
The Pharisees' Perspective: Rule-Following vs. Relationship
But the Pharisees had caught Jesus in a technicality. 13 “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.”
For them, God was a rule-making monarch, full of thou shall and thou shall not, who rewarded and punished his subjects accordingly—honoring the elder son and disowning the prodigal. Their human nature sought the security of this system for as long as they could control the rule-making. They have become like Chloe, unable to resist chasing the rules from the law’s laser pointer. While exhausting, it made them feel “safe.”
Jesus understood their position, but for him, that view of God had long since ceased to exist. He would even appreciate my Darwinian need for security but still pose the heart-stopping questions: "Do you want to feel safe, or do you want to experience wholeness?” Gain the world and lose your soul? Do you want life or abundant life?
How will you face today, open arms or crossed arms, guard up or guard down?
“And he did not know how well he sang, it just made him whole”
The Question of Wholeness vs. Safety
Let's get back to the interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees.
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
“I know where I have come from and where I am going.” That sounds like wholeness to me. I don't hear this in terms of physical locations but more in the sense of, "You know where I'm coming from?” His source is from the heart and intention of life's creator and not filtered through a translated list of rights and wrongs. He treasured his brief gift of human form and that of each other person.
Jesus' Authority and Identity
15 You judge by human standards; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid, for it is not I alone who judge but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.”
Again, Jesus contrasts living from the outside in with living from the inside out, showing how people use external rules to judge external actions. He lives from within his consciousness and has no desire to judge anyone. Judgment, after all, is merely an element of acceptance or rejection. And if I've already decided to open my arms and accept everyone, I do not need judgment.
Good parents understand this. Their children are accepted, so there's no need for judgment.
Can you see him drawing it on the board? If he does have to make a decision or judgment, it's valid and not about whether or not he will accept someone. He does so only after going deeply inside his consciousness and hearing the still, small voice of "the father.” Can’t you imagine him smiling as he turns slowly and says, “So that makes two, the Father and me?” Perhaps he wrote on the board, “The Father + me = 2. No rules broken!”
The Pharisees' Misunderstanding
The Pharisees, who are very intelligent, well-meaning people, approached it from a different angle.
19 Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
In my imagination, I can see Jesus turning to the board again, underlining, “The Father + me = 2!” and then writing, “The Father =me and Me = the Father.” They should get this. Let's not over-mystify it. In a child-adoring and parent-honoring culture, knowing either father or child would be impossible without knowing both. The parent teaches the child at their side, and the child learns from their parent as an apprentice.
Chances are the son of an excellent brick mason is also a superb brick mason.
No one tried to arrest him, which indicates that this was a calm teaching session, not an in-your-face argument.
John wants us to see that life from spiritual consciousness is simple but not easy and that teaching it can be even more complex. There will be those who do not understand and those who misunderstand, but all are accepted.
The Call to Believe and Follow
In the following verses, we still sit around Jesus several rows deep as he continues to teach, and you can hear several pockets of chatter breakout.
21 Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are from this world, I am not from this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”
I can imagine him thinking, if not saying, "If you cling to your rulemaking, right or wrong, clean and unclean concept of God, you'll gain righteousness but lose your soul. (as Nadia Bolz–Weber would say) If you can't envision the creator of the universe as all accepting, self-sacrificing lover, you'll never find me. If you can't see this God's love bursting forth through me, disregarding regulations and embracing humanity over security, you will die in your mistaken understanding. For heaven's sake, it should've been evident when I hugged the leper, and he was healed, when I confronted the money changers on behalf of the poor, when I had dinner with the tax collector, and encouraged the condemned woman to forgive and accept herself. Who else but an all-loving God would encourage me to do such things?"
Remember, Jesus opened this lesson positively: "I am the light; loosen your grip and follow me, do as I do, and have the light of life within you.”
25 They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? 26 I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. 29 And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
The Impact of Jesus' Teachings
He explains that one must believe that he operates from his spiritual consciousness, where he sees the Father, hears him, and does what he says to do. If they do not believe that about Jesus, they cannot think this about themselves and operate from their spiritual consciousness. It's mutually exclusive.
Don't you wish you could see his body language? I imagine him smiling, throwing up his hands, and joking, “Why do I bother speaking to you? From the looks on your faces, it's like we’re speaking two different languages.” Even so, he reiterated as plainly as possible, “He sent me, and I have heard from him!” He points to the chart and says, " One day, you'll get this." Notice how he peppered his language in such a way as to make them think, hoping it would light up their consciousness. And it did, for some.
Why did John say, “As he was saying these things, many believed in him?" Why did he make this sentence so active, and why was their comprehension so instantaneous? Remember, Jesus started this teaching by talking about light.
Consciousness is like the light from a candle. It doesn't gradually come on. When it's lit, light appears. Consciousness is not raised by deductive reasoning. We will never figure it out. However, as we ponder it, the light might switch on.
To my grandchildren and their children: It's OK that two people look at the same thing and see it differently. For example, if my doctor and I looked at the same X-ray and described it, it would sound like two different stories. Her explanation is not a challenge to my explanation, only a different version from a different perspective. Remember this when confronted by those with varying opinions of the Bible and other texts on the authentic way of life.
Key Takeaways
Jesus’ compassion took him across cultural and religious boundaries to embrace the marginalized, providing a model for living with purpose and direction. (Light!)
Many focus on rule-following, giving them a false sense of security.
Jesus challenges the choice between feeling safe and experiencing wholeness, urging a deeper, more fulfilling life.
Even today, many fail to grasp Jesus' spiritual message, focusing on external observances rather than internal transformation.
But the good news is Jesus' teachings resonate with some, leading to belief and transformation, as His message brings light and consciousness.
