Thursday 15th August
Read John 12:28b-29
“Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’ 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.” (NIVUK)
Very rarely indeed does a voice come from heaven. Only two other times, not recorded by John, does this occur. At Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration. Then here, at a moment of crisis, a word of affirmation is provided. Affirmation that all Jesus has done to this point, and all He is about to do, has honoured God.
The crowd which had faded away somewhat to this point now re-enters the narrative. What they hear when God speaks is instructive. Some heard what sounded like speech, but in an unintelligible and, they assumed, angelic tongue. Some heard only rumbling thunder. Their inability to understand God’s spoken word is an audible image of their blindness and deafness to spiritual things.
It is a poignant picture of what many of those we interact with daily hear when we ourselves speak of spiritual matters. This inability to grasp weighty matters (for that is as good a description of things ‘glorious’ as any other) is the same today as it was 2000 years ago. Weighty conversations slide past people’s thoughts and fail to take hold or are otherwise rebuffed completely.
It is useful to remember that when we speak sometimes, people may hear nothing intelligible at all. This calls for mercy and patience in our conversations.
