Someone asked me if I was speaking for Jesus after I shared a post on Facebook. My answer was: “No, I am only sharing a story that I find relevant to the discussion at hand.” In reality, I suppose that I do speak for Jesus in my words, actions and Facebook posts.
The story I shared was factual and relevant to the issue of the day. I do not apologize for anything I said in response to the person who seemed to be questioning me because the story was from a certain news outlet (not sure if it was my character, my intellect, my bias). In sharing the story, I was not validating every story that outlet has ever published nor would I ever deny the bias of the news outlet. Honestly, I did not give a lot of thought to where the story originated just that it was a factor that would help bring light to the discussion. I have long recognized the bias in news reporting. I have a practice of balancing the sources from which I get news so that I can better discern the truth for myself. I have a friend who lives in a different country who says everyone in his country knows that the television news is censored by the government so they watch it and then go to international news sources to evaluate better what is really going on. I guess I do this too. I did not take the story down and I don’t plan to stop posting stories that I think are important to the discussion. The solution is simple when you are only looking at one aspect of truth. Iris Pearce says: “Simple truth divides, complex truth creates discussion and pure truth unites.” We can be united, but not when we focus on simple truth. We need to accept that truth is complex and opposing sides have nuggets of this complex truth. Moving beyond simple truth is essential for moving toward unity.
I do speak for Jesus because I am a Christian. When I add facts to a discussion, it will make some who oppose those facts think that I think Jesus would agree with me. I am a reflection of Jesus but a very flawed one. I decided to write about this when I read St. Irenaeus’ sermon “Against the Heresies.” He wrote about Jesus: “He revealed God to man and raised man to God. He shielded the Father from human sight so that man would never undervalue God through familiarity but would always have something to strive towards. On the other hand, he revealed God to man in many ways so that man would not fall away entirely from God and thereby cease to be. God’s glory is in living men and full life for men is in the vision of God. If the revelation of God in this world gives life to all living creatures, much more will the revelation of the Father by the Word give life to those who see God.”
No one will see God without seeing God’s Son. John 14:6 says:
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus has spoken for Himself. He took on human flesh and His actions, miracles, words all speak about who He is and who God is. His death burial and resurrection are the loudest messages about God’s wrath, patience with us, mercy and invitation to live eternally with Him after death. Jesus also commissioned Christians to speak for Him, but we must always know that in speaking for Him we are minimizing Who He is because He is beyond our understanding. Believe me, I have no idea why God and Jesus chose to speak through Christians. It’s always a mystery to me. I could better understand if they spoke through an unbreakable piece of technology so everyone could hear the truth without the bias of a human experience. For some great reason, far above my understanding, God and Jesus have assigned the task to Christians to use our mouths, and His Spirit will speak. I am amazed every time I am a part of someone putting their faith in Christ. I had a conversation; but then a miracle took place, and the person no longer was speaking to me. There was another member in our conversation. The presence of God was now speaking to the heart that opened up to God through faith. It’s a very complicated truth that I accept and witness about but will never comprehend.
