Pastor Ash Dotson
In an answer to the Pharisees, Jesus stated, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one.”—John 8:14–15.
Have you ever been part of a conversation about your hometown, or overheard people talking about it, when they have only passed through or heard about it secondhand? The details are usually off. The tone is wrong. You listen and quietly wonder what town they are describing, because it certainly is not the one you know.
I sometimes imagine Jesus feeling something similar as he listened to the religious “experts” of his day. The Pharisees spoke confidently about God, faith, and righteousness, yet what they described sounded nothing like the God Jesus knew. I picture Jesus listening and thinking, What god are they talking about? Where did this image of a rule-obsessed, judgmental, condemning god come from? How did they lose sight of the God of love and grace?
The problem was not the Pharisee’s intelligence or dedication. The problem was that they did not know their hometown.
Just before this exchange, Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world.” He promised that those who follow him no longer have to walk in darkness but can live in the light of life by walking ‘The Way.’ And it was those who knew where they came from, those who knew their hometown, who were able to hear and embrace ‘The Way.’
It was the poor in spirit, those who knew they did not have all the answers and lived by grace. It was those who mourned, who understood that life’s deepest questions are held in love, not certainty. It was the meek, who knew that real strength flows from living in the light.
It was those who hungered and thirsted for righteousness, who trusted that living water leads to peace and justice. It was the merciful, who knew that the bread of life forms hearts shaped by forgiveness. It was the pure in heart, those able to loosen their grip on ego and live from their truest, deepest selves.
It was the peacemakers, who understood that black-and-white thinking breeds conflict, and that peace grows in contemplation and connection with God. It was the persecuted, who endured the cost of living against the flow and rooted themselves in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus knew where he came from, and that grounding gave him the power of love, the power of life, the power of The Way. That same Way is offered to each of us when we remember where we come from.
Do you know your hometown? I invite you to join us at Oasis UMC, where we seek to remember and rediscover it together. We meet Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in the Cheyenne/Laredo Room. All are welcome.