John 12:44. And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.”

Jesus cried out. I take this to mean that Jesus’ statements before were made as commentary to the crowd in a normal voice. Then He raised His voice so all could hear and for emphasis. The next few days, we’ll consider what Jesus said. It is powerful and absolutely foundational to living to love in this world. To believe in Jesus is to believe in God. It is to believe that Jesus is the life of God in a human body. Jesus is going to put this great truth in the form of a command (John 14:1) along with the command to love one another as He loves them (John 13:34). “Do not let your heart be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in Me.” Jesus was sent by God into this world to bring His life into this world of darkness and death. He was declaring to the crowd that believing in Him because of the signs wasn’t sufficient. That natural faith is still characteristic of death. Tomorrow we’ll consider what saving faith enables one to see.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com