While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.” Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. (John 7:28–30 NLT)
In this passage, and in so many others, Jesus was so intent to ensure the listener knew he did not come on his own: he is a sent one. For these, and many other reasons, they wanted him arrested and quickly assassinated. The insecurity they felt was on full display each day as they witnessed Jesus’s joy in his sent-ness. No agenda other than the Father’s. No will but that of heaven. No identity outside that of the Father.
May the Spirit, in all of us, arrest our desire to be a rugged individual who proclaims their freedom. May we, through the power of the Spirit, crucify the need that lives deep in our souls to do anything apart from God and his truth.