Jesus at the Feast of Booths Part 3 - The Light in the Temple - John 7:25-36

2:28So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? Look, he is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to him. The rulers do not really know this is the Christ, do they? However, we know where this man is from. But whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where he is from. Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, You both know me and know where I am from. And I have not come. Of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you do not know. I know him because I am from him, and he sent me. So they were seeking to seize him, and no man laid his hand on him because his hour had not yet come. But many of the crowd believed in him, and they were saying, When the Christ comes, he will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will he?

3:25The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize him. Therefore, Jesus said, For a little while I am with you, then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me, and you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come. The Jews then said to one another, Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? He is not intending to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? What is this statement that he said, You will seek me and will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come?

4:08So here's the occasion. Jesus, who in John 8, 12 is going to declare himself to be the light of the world, here is the light of the world in the temple, proclaiming himself and who he is. And there are three characteristics of Jesus that I want you to see. See today, three characteristics. He is personified as the light, so I'm going to speak of him in those terms. He is metaphorically referred to as the light of the world. And so I want you to see three characteristics of the light so that you will walk in his light. Three characteristics of the light. First of all, I want you to see the boldness of the light, the boldness of the light. Keep in mind where he's at. He is in the temple. And in verse 24, you look back there, Jesus has exhorted them to not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. And so he exhorts them strongly. He says, now step back and think through the situation. And that's what some of them did. They began to think through the situation, which led them to a realization, which led them to consider a profound possibility, and then they quickly dismissed it. So I just want to walk through those. First, I want you to see this public realization. Verse 25. So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? Look, he is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to him. So notice that it's the people of Jerusalem that are saying this. You remember a little earlier in this section, there were some calling Jesus crazy or insane. Because he thought people were trying to kill him. Well, certainly the inhabitants of Jerusalem knew enough to know that it was true. In fact, they knew that the Jewish leadership was out to kill him. And so here they are, they are surprised. Here is this one that they are trying to kill, and he's right in the middle of the temple, and he is preaching and teaching boldly.

6:27In fact, the emphasis is upon the boldness. Look, he is speaking boldly or publicly with public confidence. And they are saying nothing to him. They are, here he is in the midst, blazing boldly. You see, Christ is bold. Just as physical light isn't afraid of physical darkness, Jesus was not afraid of the spiritual darkness. He took on the darkness. This is what he did. He wasn't afraid of it, and he went right into the temple and he taught.

7:05His desire to please the one who sent him was far more than his fear of man, right? And that's what light does: it shines. It wants to please the source, right? It goes forth. And notice the inability of the darkness. And the people also noticed that the Jews seemed... Helpless to do anything. In fact, they didn't give any indication that they were trying to quiet him. And so this led those people of Jerusalem to consider a profound possibility. Look back in verse 26. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? Why are they letting him go on like this? Maybe it's because they know something now, that this is indeed the Christ. And they have become convinced this is God's Christ. But no sooner had they thought that than they quickly dismiss it. Look back at verse 27. However, we know, and the emphasis, we know for sure where this man is from. But whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where he is from. So no sooner they began to ask the question, they quickly dismiss it. And their reason for dismissing the possibility that Christ, that Jesus is the Christ, is really kind of perplexing.

8:43Their answer is very unschooled. In fact, it's even lazy. You remember in verse 15, the Jews marveled at Jesus' teaching, right? They're marveling at it, even though this guy has. hasn't been educated in our premier schools. He hasn't gone to our schools. So how can he wax so eloquently, you know? Yet what John does here is he leaves his readers marveling at the biblical illiteracy of the people of Jerusalem. I mean, how did these people not know that Christ had to come from Bethlehem? Right? Even Herod figures this one out pretty quickly, right? Just a little bit of homework. He's got him figured out, right? And here's this entire mass of people that don't seem to know. And even in verse 42, look down. In verse 42, the rulers know for sure. They said, Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So they know he's from Bethlehem. They know he's of the lineage of David. So the answer of this crowd is really just displays ignorance.

10:08Even the leaders, they're going to miss it on the Galilee part. Look at verse 52. They answered him, you are not also from Galilee. Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee. So even the leaders kind of are in the dark as well. So what we have here is an ignorant laity. Their leadership had failed them. Their premier schools had failed them. Their Christ was right before their eyes, preaching right in the middle of their temple, and they didn't see him. They didn't recognize him.

10:48That's a failure on many parts. Listen, short sermons by biblically illiterate leaders lead to an ignorant laity. And that's what happened here. They didn't recognize Christ, even though he was right before their eyes. They quickly dismissed him as being the Christ based upon a quick scan of their ignorant minds. Oh, no, it can't be because we absolutely know that we won't know where Christ is from. And we can spend some time marveling at their biblical illiteracy.

11:40But there's something else in our text that's worth marveling at this morning, and that is the Christ of Scripture. This Christ of Scripture is so amazing, and the more I study him, the more he rises out of the scripture in all of his beauty, in all of his glory. And he is absolutely amazing. He was not afraid of the darkness, right? But he also didn't get frustrated with the darkness. I think you and I could identify with this. He wasn't willing to give up on humanity, even in the face of their willful ignorance.

12:28He wasn't ready to give up based upon their irrational decisions. He wasn't ready to give up on them even because of their preferred hardness. And he wasn't even going to give up on humanity, even in the face of their brutal cruelty or their flippant assessments. The fact that he stayed engaged, he didn't get frustrated. I think a lot of us could very easily say, you know what? No more. Right? You don't get it. Right? Get frustrated.

13:12And he doesn't. Light doesn't get frustrated. It keeps shining. Keeps shining. And you and I are going to be tempted many times, right, to close ourselves out, right? In the face of willful ignorance. Brutal cruelty of darkened minds. He was not afraid of the darkness. He didn't get frustrated with the darkness. But marvel at this: He was willing to bear with and meet the needs of the darkness. Many times I am received requests for help, right?

13:55I think you all can identify. And I've been too tired or too unwilling to meet the need. In fact, I can even turn it around back on them. Well, you're in your situation because of your poor choices. Therefore, you live there and you stay there, right? I think all of us may have times, right? What does darkness need? It needs light. And listen, the fact that he kept shining, the fact that there is an individual out there who really cares and who is willing to put up with our darkness and keep shining truth and keep leading and keep guiding and keep loving and keep providing is something too marvelous for us to even get our minds around. Listen, you will never find anyone like the Christ of Scripture who will care for you like he does.

14:52He's light. He's not afraid of the darkness. He's not afraid of your darkness. He didn't get frustrated. And he's ready to bear with and meet the needs. You see, the degree to which Christ pursued relationship with the Jewish nation is astounding. The degree that he pursues relationship with us is beyond our ability to take up. This is the Christ of Scripture, this is the shepherd of your soul. Bask in his light, he is worthy of you to follow. Come to him, follow him.

15:34That's what he desires. But this is exactly what light does: it shines in the darkness. Remember, as we walked through the Gospel of Mark, when we came to chapter 10, some of the verses that impacted me the most out of Mark's Gospel was Mark chapter 10 and verse 32, where Jesus is going up to Jerusalem. These words are simple. They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and they were amazed. And those who followed were fearful. And he goes on to tell them what's going to happen. Yeah, I'm going to be crucified. I'm going to be buried. I'm going to be raised again. But they're watching him walk up to Jerusalem, and there's something in his stride that just frightens them. It amazes them, and it frightens them. Do you know what you're going up into? That's The advance of the light.

16:34But this is what it does: it shines in the darkness. John 1, very beginning of his gospel, he says, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. What a metaphor, right? Light is not afraid of the darkness, it's not afraid, it doesn't get frustrated with the darkness, it shines, it boldly shines. And guess what? We are children of what? Of the light. Those who are believers in Christ, those who have been born of Him, though true followers of Him, you are children of the light. Behold, behold the Christ of Scripture, bold in the face of darkness. So, three characteristics of the light. First, the boldness of the light. Second, I want you to see the intensity of the light. Look at verse 28. Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, I want you to stop there and notice the emotion of Jesus' teaching. This is where the preacher gets more intense. This is where the blaze gets brighter. This is where the flame gets hotter. This is where the temple shines even brighter.

18:00And this is rare for him to get this wound up, for Jesus to display such emotion. You look throughout Scripture and throughout the Gospels, you don't see it very much. In fact, Isaiah 42, when talking about the servant, you know what he says about him? Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise his voice nor make his voice heard in the street. Characteristic of my servant is he's not going to be some bellowing, screaming prophet out there in the streets. Characteristic, he is not, that's not him. And here, we have a very unique situation, don't we? The one who characteristically does not cry out is crying out in the temple.

18:56And it's a scream. It's like the disciples. When they saw Jesus walking on the water, they screamed. John the Baptist screamed. He cried out, Behold the Christ. The only other time you see Jesus screaming like this or raising his voice to this level in decibel was when he was on the cross in Matthew 27, Mark 15, and on two other occasions in John. One of them happens to. Be in a few verses, the last day of this feast of booths in verse 37. He's going to stand up and cry out: if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. See the emotion in that? If you're thirsty, come. I am the living water. And again, in John chapter 12 and verse 44, he who believes in me does not believe in me, but in him who sent me. Again, crying out on behalf of the Father, behalf of the individuals. So it's a rare emotion for Jesus to get that wound up about something.

20:08But look at the occasion. What prompted Jesus to have such emotion? What was it? It was that uneducated, quick dismissal of who he was. That uneducated, quick dismissal. Because look at the word then at the beginning of verse 28. Then. That's when, in light of what they hit, their quick dismissal, then he cries out. So we need to pay attention to the content of what he said, right? It's a rare emotion. So I want you to look at the content of Jesus' intensified teaching. He teaches even more emphatically. Look at verse 28. And this is what he says: You both know me and know where I am from, and I Have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you do not know. I know him because I am from him and he sent me. Now, there are two main thoughts here that Jesus is communicating. First of all, you do not know the one who sent me. That's what he's saying. You really don't. Even though you may know my earthly origins, yes, you know me, you know where I'm from, earthly speaking, but you don't know my heavenly origins. You don't know the one who sent me, and he is real. So he said, I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true. And what he's saying there, he is real.

21:45He is real. The one who really, the one who sent me is real. I am really sent from him. That is real. And you do not know him at all. I am not here on my own. I'm here on behalf of my Father. He sent me, and he is real, and I am really here on his behalf. And it is him who is dealing with you. You see, much of Jesus' ministry is spent trying to convince people that God has uniquely sent him. The scriptures testify of him. His works testify of him. His teaching testifies that he was not from himself, but from God. So he basically starts. Out by saying, when he's crying out, he says, Look, you don't know the one who sent me. You don't know him. That's why I've come. I do know him. That's the second part. Second thought he's communicating, but I do know him. You don't know him, but I do. And the kind of knowledge that Jesus is talking about here is that kind of unique, intimate, relational knowledge. He's saying, Look, I know the Father because I am out from the Father.

23:03There is a deep connection between the Son and the Father that we cannot grasp. There is an intimate unity because of the Son's infinite capacity to know the Father exhaustively. We can't fully understand that, but Christ is saying, I know him. I know him exhaustively. I am out from him. He's not just saying that I have come from him just like an other prophet comes. I am out of him. I am his sent-out one, constantly sent-out one. It's that in John 1:1, right? He's talking about the word became flesh, the very word of God. He likens himself to the word, that expression of God coming from the bosom of God and expressing God, just like my word here comes from me, and it's. Speaks out to you the expression of God. He said, I am out from him in this regard. So, what Jesus is saying is, I am the word. I am the very expression of God. I am out from God. I am the sent one. I am the prophet greater than Moses sent to you. I am the seed of the woman that was sent to crush the head of the serpent. I am the savior sent to lost man. I am the Christ of God. And that's when he's saying, I am the sent one.

24:37It's what he is communicating. And Jesus' statements could not have been delivered with more emotion and more clarity. I mean, he boils it down. Basically, what he's saying is, you don't know God, but I do. So you can imagine these words both shocked the crowd and shocked the authorities. In fact, I really appreciate Barclay's comment here. It was a bitter insult to tell God's chosen people that they did not know God. It was an incredible claim to make that Jesus alone knew him, that he stood in a unique relationship, that he knew him as no one else did. And this is what he goes on to say. This is precisely the choice which is still before us. Either what Jesus said about himself is false, in which he Case, he is guilty of such blasphemy as no man ever dared utter, or what he said about himself is true, in which case he is what he claimed to be and can be described in no other terms than the Son of God. And every man has to decide for or against Jesus Christ. Brings it down to where we are today, right?

25:53Either he is who he said he was, or he is the biggest blasphemer that if there ever was one. And he leaves us with two extremes. Christ, himself, his teaching, the scriptures leave us with two extremes. Either he is the Son, either he is in the unique, special relationship with the Father, and by believing in him and turning to him and being born of him, we enter into that same unique and blessed relationship with the Father, and that is the only way we enter into a blessed relationship with the Father.

26:29Do you believe that? Well, there's a reaction, the next few verses, to Jesus's intensified teaching. And I want to speak briefly about three of those reactions. First of all, and really, these are the responses through the ages. The responses we see in the text here on this occasion, it's the same responses going on today, even as we sit here today. And in every generation since, and in every generation will, these are the responses to the intensified or to the teaching and revelation, clear revelation of Christ. First of all, let me just read the verses 30 through 32. Verse 30: So they were seeking to seize him, and no man laid his hand on him because his hour had not yet come. But many of the crowd believed in him, and they were saying, When the Christ comes, he will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will he? The Pharisees heard the crowds muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize him. So the first reaction we see in the text is a hostility, repulsion, repulsion. The light is shining, the light has gone up brighter, and there is a repulsion, a negative reaction to the light. And this is the reaction of the Jewish leadership. They were offended, and this offense led them to action, led them to take action to silence him. And if you don't like the light, what's the first thing you want to do? Turn out that light, right? You don't like the light? Turn it out. And that's what they did. They wanted to turn off the light, and they wanted to turn off the light for good. And so they dispatched those to do so.

28:23They weren't content in just staying out of the kingdom themselves. In Matthew 23, 13, James. Jesus says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people, for you yourself do not enter, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. You want the door shut. And you can think about the duration of this. You're in the middle of the feast, just as a picture. There's three days left of the feast, right? So they're at least somewhere around there. So this is an ongoing process. They're trying to seize him, they're trying to arrest him, but time and time again, they can't arrest him. They can't, their plans are foiled over and over again. Why? Look back at the text. His hour had not yet come. Which takes us to the second reaction to the light, and that is the reaction in heaven. So you have on earth the repulsion by the Jewish leadership, but in heaven you have the protection by the Father. You see, the protection at this juncture, where Jesus was doing and what he was doing, the protection that he had could only be accounted for by heaven's intervention. They could do nothing except by God's permission.

29:46But keep in mind that there was a time when it was pleasing to the Father to let the hour come. And when that hour came, Jesus voluntarily gave himself. To die as our substitute. He wasn't captured. He laid down his life. I appreciate the comment of one commentator. It says this, the doctrine before us, let us note, is full of comfort to God's people. Nothing can hurt them except and until God permits. We are all immortal till our work is done. To realize that nothing happens in this world except by the eternal counsels of our Father and according to his eternal plans is one grand secret of living a calm, peaceful, and contented life.

30:46You see, God protects his light, and he protects those who shine it. Which takes us to our third reaction to the light. So there's the repulsion by the Jewish leadership, there's the protection by the heavenly Father, but then there is this attraction, attraction by many in the crowd. The attraction. This is faith. Look at verse 31. But many of the crowd believed in him, and they were saying, When the Christ comes, he will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will he? You see, some did respond in faith. They were thinking through the issue a little more carefully. They were honest. They had honest minds and honest hearts.

31:30And there's no reason that I can find in the text here or anywhere else connected to this that their faith was not genuine. And certainly, as we've gone through John's gospel, faith based upon signs alone is not strongly encouraged, is it? But it's better than nothing, as Jesus is going to go on to say in chapter 10 and verse 38. So they put it together and they responded in faith. So we looked at the boldness of the light. We've looked at the intensity of the light in the temple that day. Third, I want you to look at the judgment of the light, the judgment of the light. And I want you to see two aspects of Christ's judgment upon this unbelieving generation. First, there is the departure of the light. And second, there's the inability to ever come into the presence of the light again. So, first, we'll just look at the departure of the light. Look at verse 33.

32:37Therefore, Jesus said, For a little while longer I am with you. Then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me, and you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come. The Jews then said to one another, Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? He is not intending to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? What is the state? That he said, you will seek me and will find me, and where I am, you cannot come, or you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come.

33:14That's a perplexing statement, right? You cannot, a place where they cannot come. We'll come to that in a moment, but I want you to understand the judgment of the light is that at first it departs. The judgment of the light is to leave darkness dark, to withdraw. You see this vivid picture in Ezekiel chapter 10 and chapter 11 as the glory departs the temple, the glory that gets up and it goes out to the east side of the temple, then it goes out into the east mountains and it's gone. It withdrew. You see, the generation to which Jesus went did not want to see. They did not want to see and know the God of Scripture.

34:08They preferred a God of their own making. They preferred the darkness, as do many today. So the judgment of the light is to depart, to withdraw. But the second element of the judgment of the light is permanent separation from the light. And look at that last part of verse 30. 34, where I am, you cannot come. You cannot come. And that perplexed them. And they're like, what does he mean? A place where we cannot come. He's not speaking about some place in the Daspora to go out and to leave Israel. He's talking about the heavenly presence of his Father, a place where they can never come.

34:55And I believe what Jesus is communicating here is something to this effect. And he's saying, This: A time will come when you will anxiously seek me, and you will bitterly lament your rejection of me, but it will be too late. The day of your visitation will be past and gone, and you will not be able to find me. We certainly see this 70 AD with the destruction of the temple. You can imagine the crying out, Vespatian and Titus come to destroy as the Jews are dispersed into the nations. You can imagine many times there was the cry of the pogroms and the Holocaust that took place, that there was a cry, but they missed the day of the visitation. And even though God is not done with them, we need to focus on this and see this as one of the most horrifying judgments that a soul can ever experience.

35:57There is a real possibility of seeking salvation. When it's too late. And we have to be honest. The scripture is clear on this. There can come a time when all the crying for forgiveness will do you no good. If you persist in unrepentance, heaven's door will be shut on you no matter how hard you knock. When you think about it, the scripture is filled with many of those who realize their foolishness is too late. Just think about Pharaoh. Think about King Saul. Think about Judas. Think about certain generations of Israel. They were remorseful over their sin. And when judgment came, their cry out to God was not genuine repentance, it was a desire to be protected from the consequences. God in wisdom says, You were hard against me. Therefore, you will get what you deserve. You will get what you desired. You will mature in your hostility against me. You will mature in your hardness and you will develop and you will grow and you will reap the outcome of that. I mean, you see it throughout the scripture. Just listen to a couple of them. Jeremiah 14:10. Thus says the Lord to this people, even so they. Have loved to wander. They have not kept their feet in check. Therefore, the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account. So the Lord said to me, Do not pray for the welfare of this people. When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry. And when they offer burnt offerings and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine, and pestilence. Hosea 5:6, they will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but they will not find him. He has withdrawn from them. That's a horrible disposition. Zechariah 7:11, but they refused to pay attention and turned to a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, great wrath came from the Lord of the host, and just as he called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen, says the Lord of hosts. But I scattered them with the storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known.

38:40Thus the land is desolate behind them. In that last part of verse, there is a place where they cannot come. The light withdraws. God turns in wrath, says, okay, you didn't, you wanted your own way. Now you cannot come to where I am. In fact, I appreciate Ryle's comment on this. I'll just read it to you. This is one of those expressions which show the impossibility of unconverted and unbelieving men going to heaven. It is a place where they cannot come. Their own nature forbids them. They would not be happy if they were there. Without new hearts, without the Holy Spirit, without the blood of Christ, they could not enjoy heaven. The favorite notion of some modern theologians that all mankind are finally to go to heaven cannot possibly be reconciled with this expression. Men may please themselves with thinking it is kind and loving and liberal and large-hearted to teach and believe that all men and women of all sorts will finally be found in heaven. One word of our Lord Jesus Christ overturns the whole theory. Heaven is a place, and he says to the wicked, it's a place you cannot come.

40:13Listen, God is unspeakably merciful, and true repentance is never too late. But sometimes late repentance isn't real repentance, it's just remorse. So, if you hear his voice now, turn to him. The Christ of Scripture calls you to belong to him. Do you hear his voice today? He is drawn near through the proclamation of his word. And the whole purpose of the proclamation is to call you to be a follower of him. Put your faith and trust in him, believe in him as your atoning sacrifice, and come and fly with him.

41:04He is unspeakably merciful. But know this: he can be angry, and he can be provoked to leave you alone. So don't provoke him in that way. Soften your hearts to him today. And even if you've been walking with Christ for many years, soften it all the more. Say yes to Christ. And keep saying yes to Christ. Well, three characteristics of the light. We've looked at the boldness of the light. We've looked at the intensity of the light. And we've looked at the judgment of the light. I want to conclude with a thought.

41:53You know, I've noticed as I've looked around, there's different kinds of insects in this world. Amazing ones, right? And all kinds of different kinds of creatures. Some really love the light, and some really hate the light. Right? You have a bunch of cockroaches in the house, you turn on the light, what happens? I mean, boom, they run for cover, right? That's what cockroaches are. They don't like the light. I mean, when Jesus cried out in the temple that day and he turned up the intensity of the light, some saw that blazing light and it hurt their eyes and they scurried away and they began to run and hide and try to turn the light out.

42:40But then there was other kinds of insects. If you ever studied the amazing trek of the monarch butterfly, it's incredible the distance they cover North America all the way down to Central America, and they cocoon there in Central America in some mountains. And as they come out, as they emerge, the first thing they do is they unfold their wings and they turn them to the light. And that light strengthens them, it nourishes them, and it prepares them. It's those initial preparation for that incredible flight.

43:24Listen, do you believe that Jesus is the unique one of God? And by believing, Do you understand that you are in a blessed relationship with the Father? The exhortation I want to leave you with today is to warm your wings in His light. Warm yourself and then take flight with Him. Young people, what a blessing to be able to give your life to Christ now. It's never too late. Old people do the same thing, right? No discrimination. But what a blessed way to live.

44:12Warm your soul in His light and take flight with Him. Jesus, we just are amazed at your immense beauty, your perfection, your willingness to shine, your boldness. Father, we just admire the metaphor: light advancing, light strengthening. Father, we just pray this morning that you would call many here today, that you'll speak to their soul as you already have. Call them out of darkness into your light. And may they say yes to you, turn away from their sin, turn to you, and Walk as a follower of you in the true light. Father, forgive us where we have loved darkness more than light, where we have loved our ways more, where we have been flippant in our assessments of you, where we have not given careful thought. Forgive us of our own brutal cruelty. Forgive us for hating those who have been cruel to us. Father, just forgive us. And may we follow your Son in Christ's name. Amen.