I am the Father’s gift to the Son

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,

And anyone who comes to me I will never drive away. John 6:37

 

Read John 6:30—35

Here is a little slice of life, what goes on in any crowd gathered around Jesus, maybe around some of our churches, too. He’s talking of the things of God, of his own origin, and of his own goal. He talks of these things because our own destiny depends upon this being so, that the Son of Man came from God and is going to God. All this I need to be true, because he came from the Father for us, and went to the Father for us. It’s not something I can work out myself. If the Father has not entrusted me to the Son (which he has), that is, if it’s up to me to work out my truth, Jesus will be as puzzling as any other philosophy. He’ll be hard. He’ll be offensive. I notice, on that point, that later in this chapter there’s even mention of the one who turned against him and betrayed him. For myself the passage rings utterly true. I’m not a believer because I thought all this up. It’s been granted me by the Father.

 

How grateful I am, dear Father, that you have entrusted me to the Son. I have not made him my truth. He’s not the product of my deepest thoughts. Rather I have had this humbling privilege of recognising him, of believing that he will take me to the Father. This is your doing. It is of your Spirit. It is your revelation. In the mix of people’s ideas about you I know also the hard thinking, the hard experience of disagreeing with others, how hard is the call to be obedient. I don’t mean that I’m without spiritual turmoil. I am not. But tonight I thank you for the sheer grace of recognition. Having brought me to Jesus, you have brought me to yourself and to myself.