Jn 12:44-50 Believe In Me

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

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Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me…I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.  And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.”

Darkness.  Has darkness fallen upon your life?  Are your days filled with anguish, despair and anger?  Has sin overcome your life?  Are you a slave to your passions and emotions?  Regardless of how bright the day is, is your mind filled with dark thoughts?  Regardless of how joyful and full of life everyone is around you, is your heart filled with sadness?

Have you given up?    

Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me.   There’s been a marked increase in the number of people who suffer from severe depression and disorders.  Is this an illness that has always been with us and only recently understood and diagnosed?  Or is it something our dysfunctional society and inhumane ideologies create in us?  I think it’s both.

We humans need to know why we exist.  We need to know why our life matters.  We also need to know that life itself (our life) has just as much of a purpose as our body parts.  We need to know that we can make a world of difference.  If not, then the world, with all its weight, will crush us.

It’s clear the “Universe” generated thinking, rational human beings with needs that go way beyond the evolutionary needs of hunting and gathering.  It’s clear the “Universe” generated thinking, rational human beings with subjective emotions and an urge for striving.  Why?  For what?   Philosophically?  To discover; to discover the world around us.  Theologically?  To know, serve and love the one True God. 

Obviously, the “Universe” “thought” it was important for us to do so.  After all, no other creature shares this need.  Is it a defect?  Is it the result of some blind disorder?  Is it a weakness?  Or is it a weakness that is turned into a great strength (virtue)?      

Well, the “Universe” must have thought it was important, just as important as creating food and water and a billion other things necessary for life and its maintainability.  Our profound desire to know who we are, why we are here and what we are supposed to do here is not some trivial matter.  It keeps us sane.  It is necessary for our survival (and I don’t mean it as a gentle means to absorb a crushing end.  I mean it as a means to an ultimate end).

Lightness.  Technically speaking science offers us theories, not “laws,” for to prove a thing would require proving a universal negative (that the hypothesis does not fail under any circumstance).  And, as they say, to prove a universal negative requires universal knowledge.  So science offers us theories, all sorts of theories, but we know that some theories stand up much better to testing than others. 

Philosophers and political scientists offer us theories as well, and some theories are better than others.  For centuries we have seen various forms of government.  We have come to believe that “democracy” is the best form of government.  We live by it and even die defending it.

Jesus Christ offers us His theories as well.  He speaks of forgiveness and of loving one’s enemies.  He speaks of God as our Father, and God being Love.  He speaks of marriage as an in dissolvable union between a man and a woman.  He considers life, all life, as sacred.  He offers us a philosophy where humility reigns:  “the first shall be last and the last shall be first; to be great means to be the least; to give is better than to receive, etc…”  Jesus offers us not only His philosophy but also a way to life.  He even offers us His Father.  He calls himself the Light of the world. 

Is this true?  Is He the best? 

Well, like political and scientific theories, let’s give Him a try.  Like science, let’s put Him to the test and let’s observe what we get.