The trinity is in concurrence with itself. He/They decided the matter together.

The verse seems to say something different, though. Why did Jesus make such a statement?

I think Jesus is simply bridging the gap between his appearance to the Jews as the Son of Man and the fact that he is the Son of God.

Jesus didn't exist as a human on earth until God the Father sent him, right? And Jesus talks of God the Father as a separate entity in other contexts.

He speaks of Himself as the fulfillment of prophesies - an instrument of God the Father, and a conduit to humanity. That Jesus speaks of God as a something other than Jesus makes sense to me.

On your second point, that The Son may not have wanted to come - I don't read it as "if it had been up to me, I'd have chosen differently." I read it as as, "it was the Father's choice to send me, so here I am." That could just mean that "God decided that He needed to take human form to get through to you guys, and I'm the result of that decision."

I don't know. I'm guessing, here. A good thing to talk about!

That could just mean that "God decided that He needed to take human form to get through to you guys...

That's it! Makes perfect sense to me. Brian makes some good points. :-)

Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asked the Father that if it be his will, to "let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39), that is, "Can we avoid this crucifixion thing, Dad, and still get 'er done?"

Facing the prospect of a slow and painful death, Jesus asked for mercy once, then also stated, "Thy will be done" (Matthew 26:40) and remained obedient to his Father's will, as a good son, so that all scripture would be fulfilled (Matthew 26:54).

Yet, from the foundation of the world this plan was laid (Matthew 25:34), that Jesus should die on the cross to atone for our sins, one time, for all time, ending the need for animal sacrifice. Jesus was there from the beginning (John 1), and was part of the plan (Jeremiah 29:11).

Jesus concurred with the Father. Jesus was obedient to his Father and to the plan which he knew from the beginning. Jesus died and rose from the dead, killing death (1 Corinthians 15:54-55), for those who believe (John 3:16). This was his purpose and plan from the beginning; it was not an after-thought, because we were bad. It is the plan of redemption.

"He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life" (Revelation 21:6).

That could just mean that "God decided that He needed to take human form to get through to you guys...

That's it! Makes perfect sense to me. Brian makes some good points. :-)

I concur with Gwynne and Brian....

Larry S.,

You're argument is quite solid. The question remains however, why did Jesus make the statement he made in John 8:42?

A similar thing I've noticed before is that Jesus, when talking Zaccheus out of his tree, says, "I must stay at your house today." As if he had been given a command of some sort.

Personally, I've always thought it had more to do with the agency of Jesus. Jesus is the agent of God on Earth with the authority to act as the Father would, on the Father's behalf. That would explain why Jesus says things like "I have not come on my own." I don't think it's because he didn't want to. However, he does say things like "how long will I put up with you."

Thanks for the pointers, Larry. I have some reading to do tonight.

Regarding Zacchaeus, and the imperative expressed by Jesus:

Throughout the four Gospel books, Jesus physically (with his bodily incarnation) fulfills scripture of the Old Testament, the events of his life on earth proving he is the long awaited Messiah.

He does this consciously, being intimately familiar with scripture (in the persons of God and the Holy Spirit he is the author, after all) and his actions were often mis-interpreted or misunderstood at the time. Comprehension is sometimes difficult even today, but one perspective that often works is that when we don't understand what Jesus was doing, we look at what scripture it fulfilled. Sometimes Jesus tells us (Luke 4:21, Mark 14:49, John 17:12, and in Luke 24 on the post-resurrection walk to Emmaus), but often not.

Having the resources of the electronic age at our disposal it is not difficult to access information that shows how Jesus fulfilled scripture.

The event Zacchaeus became involved in (Luke 19:1-9), was Jesus' way of showing mercy and saving grace to sinners (applicable to Jew and non-Jew), and Jesus says, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (v 9-10).

It is said this action, dining at the house of a sinner and offering him grace, was the fulfillment of Zecariah 9:9, "Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation."

Jesus' encounter with Zaccheous also fulfills the scripture of Ezekiel 34:16, "I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice."

I'm with Jim.

We see in Genesis that God says, "Let us make man in our image." At that point of introduction, we may or may not be aware of a triune God. As we study scripture, the Trinity becomes more evident. By the time we get to Colossians 1:15-20, we are given the explanation of which Person of the Trinity performed the creation. It doesn't seem to me that we can infer whether or not Jesus wanted or didn't want to do this. It's just that it appears from the overall view to have been the Father's idea and the Son's action. At least, I see it that way.

Now back up, Eric, to John 4:32. Jesus told the disciples at the well in Samaria as the men whom the woman had told about Him were coming to meet Him, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." Given that He was human, had traveled some distance, and it was past mealtime [The disciples had gone into town for food.], physically He was pretty hungry. But doing His Father's will satisfied Him more than the enjoyment of filling His empty stomach. Since you're a man well acquainted with the pleasure and satisfaction of eating for nourishment, out of necessity and for pure pleasure, perhaps this expression of Jesus' delight and fulfillment in obedience gives you thought on your proposed take on Jesus' attitude toward following His Father.

Phyllis has a cogent case for the compassion Christ bore toward us, as one of us.

To the subject of the original post, I looked up the word for "sent" in John 8:42 (see link). It was illuminating. The word is transliterated as "apostello," from which we get our word "apostle."

This word, listed in Strong's as # 649, has one denotation (of four)bvthat confers a voluntary nature upon Jesus' act of coming to earth. The word may be translated thus: "to allow one to depart, that he may be in a state of liberty."

God sent Jesus forth to earth, commissioned him, to do that which was ordained from the beginning. Jesus complied freely.

Jesus also made apostles and sent them forth in the same manner. They met with varying degrees of success, as expected of us humans, and accomplished their purpose to the best of their ability.

Now it is our turn to propagate the gospel to all nations, tribes, and tongues.

It is said that when this is accomplished, the end times will begin. Coincidentally, the Wycliff Bible Translators say they may have a Bible in every language within 20 years (maybe not every dialect, though).

I want to thank each of you for taking the time to think about and even research the context of the passage, and to share your insights in this forum. Your comments are all excellent!

If you haven't seen the follow-up post, I've used it to (a) thank you again, and (b) explain why your participation was so important...maybe more important than you'll ever know this side of Heaven.

Consider how these two passages relate

Hebrews 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

John 17 -all of it