|
Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany
February 12, 2026
Reading: John 8:21-32
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.
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Meditation by Jeremy O’Neill
If we ever want to think that Jesus was an important figure because he was just a really nice guy, passages like this make us think otherwise. The images of the Good Shepherd or gentle healing stories sit in direct contrast to a Jesus who in this story might be described as “prickly.”
Although he is firm in his rebuke of the disciples, I would not say that Jesus is ever unkind. There is a difference between being “nice” and being “kind” which I believe this passage highlights. For example, we can all think of situations wherein acting with kindness doesn’t necessarily make others happy or feel good in the moment. Being a nice person is all well and good, but sometimes the call of Christianity is to stand up for something or someone, often standing up to something or someone. This isn’t always popular, and it may not be perceived as “nice,” but can be rooted in a deep kindness.
This passage also highlights the itinerant nature of Jesus’s ministry. The contemporary Episcopal Church is largely attached to buildings, to such an extent that it is often unclear whether we are talking about an institution, a physical structure, or a group of people when we say “the church.” This is very different from how Jesus appears. He gathers followers, then moves on to another place, and often leaves people hanging or wanting in the process. It makes the phrase “following Jesus” make a bit more sense. If you were with him and on board with what he said, you went with him to the next location.
In this passage, however, he turns that idea of following upside down. He says “where I am going, you cannot come” which is startling for the disciples who thought the whole point of the exercise was to physically follow him. But we all know that there is more to the story than Jesus establishing a parade.
The most pivotal line in the passage comes when Jesus begins “when you have lifted up the Son of Man.” We often talk about lifting people up as a way of commemorating them or honoring them. We lift people up in prayer. But Jesus is also lifted up on the cross, and it is the same people who followed him who eventually betrayed him.
We may be able to see ourselves in all of these characters. We can be followers. We can be disinterested and jump off the bandwagon. We can lift Jesus up in prayer. And we can be the ones who would rather see him die. But in all of these, Jesus meets us with radical kindness. We are met with acceptance from the one whose own did not accept him, and this is a true gift.
| 
