By Rev Alex
In John’s Gospel, Jesus said to the crowds,
“No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’
It’s easy to read the first few words of this passage and grow worried. After all, it’s never a comforting thing to see parameters set on who can come to Jesus. And that seems to be exactly what Jesus is doing here. But as we are so often discovering in Morning Prayer, (which, by the way, happens online every morning…just click on the link at the front of the website, 9am-9-20am!) getting past the obvious reveals a more deeper and greater depth of what the passage is really teaching us.
He starts by saying that no one can come before him unless God first draws that person in. Then Jesus goes on to say that, for those who are so drawn, he will raise them on the last day.
But here’s the thing: God is always the one who first initiates a relationship with us. God is always waiting for us with open arms. God is always ready and eager to delight in us.
We might say that God is actually always drawing us in, drawing us closer to the Christ who can be found in all things, all places, all people.
In that case, Jesus’ words have nothing to do with parameters, with separating out the pious from the riffraff. Instead his words remind us that God never tires of drawing near!
Blessings for the week ahead.