I do nothing on my own

Tuesday: John 8.21-30

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.’ Then the Jews said, ‘Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.’ They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Why do I speak to you at all? 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.’ They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. 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. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.’ As he was saying these things, many believed in him.


The first thing that jumped out at me when I read this passage was 'then the Jews said...'.
Holy Week, in particular, is a week where passages from the Bible have often not been read with sympathy towards the Jewish religion (indeed, quite the opposite!).

More about that next week! Today, I’d like to find focus on Jesus’ words, ‘I do nothing on my own...the one who sentence me is with me; he has not left me alone’.
All that Jesus did, he did with the Father. It’s a glimpse towards an understanding of God as the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

From that, we can be reassured that we, too, are not alone in anything that we do, or anything that we experience. God is always with us.

The relationship between Father, Son and Spirit also invites and challenges us - we are invited into a relationship of love with God, in which we will always find love. We are challenged to model this perfect example in our relationships with one another.



Why not be creative while you're praying today, with the Trinity in mind? You could plait three strands together - threads, or hair, or bread dough. Or perhaps make pretzels, with their three holes representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
You might like to use the 'Gloria Patri' as part of your prayers:

     Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
     as it was in the beginning is now and shall be for ever. Amen.


♫ Holy, Holy, Holy... Byrd's Sanctus for 4 voices