You belong to what is below

JESUS addresses this to the Pharisees. They are earthly, belonging to the world. Jesus, instead, belongs to heaven. He hints at where he is going soon, where the Pharisees cannot follow because they belong to a world of their own making. They misunderstand where he is going. For them going back to heaven is dying, which they are not willing to do. They think Jesus will commit suicide.

Anything goes when we have a platform completely different from that of Jesus. We cannot get what he means by heaven, by salvation, by “I AM,” if we do not launch our ability to process from his platform. When we enter into Jesus’ mind and spirit, everything becomes easy. We can understand better the metaphors that Jesus uses for himself.

Gospel • JOHN 8:21-30

Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2019,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http:// www.stpauls.ph.