Jesus of Nazareth taught, “search and you will find,” and “the truth will make you free.” Do this and you will not be a bound-up victim who believes in conspiracy theories, such as that COVID-19 vaccines cause autism.

Was Jesus “Deceiving the Crowd”?

The New Testament’s Gospel of John relates that during the latter part of Jesus’ two-to-three-year itinerant and public ministry, he attended the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) at the temple in Jerusalem (John 7.1-2). By this time, Jesus had developed quite a reputation due to his teaching, exorcisms, and healings. Apparently, this made religious authorities at Jerusalem jealous, and that is the reason the Johannine author relates that Jesus “did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him” (v. 1 NRSV). Yet, the Torah required Jewish men living in Israel to attend this and two other feasts held every year. So, Jesus did attend it.

This gospel then relates concerning these religious authorities and Jesus at the temple, “The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he?’ And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, ‘He is a good man,’ others were saying ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd.’ Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews” (John 7.11-13). This gospel often uses the term “Jews” as a reference to the religious authorities.

Jesus then appeared publicly at the temple and began teaching people who gathered to see and hear him. Much of it no doubt was in the open air. We further read, “Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?’ … Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, ‘When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done'” (John 7.25-26, 31).

Jesus–“I Am the Light of the World”

It was during this feast that Jesus proclaimed one of his most famous sayings about himself, “I am the light of the world” (John 8.12). And he added to this, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” This self-admission is a major theme in this gospel, which is stated fully in its prologue (1.4-9).

The Johannine author relates more about what Jesus said at the time and then states, “Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'” (John 8.31-32). Jesus saying, “the truth will make you free,” also became one of his most famous sayings. Of course, he meant it especially in a spiritual context; but I think it also justifiably has application in other realms, such the COVID pandemic.

Robert Kennedy Jr.–The Spoiler

For us Americans, this is a presidential election year, and it will no doubt be one of the most important that America will ever have faced. Our two party political system has incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden campaigning against the presumptive Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump. If anyone else throws his or her hat into the ring, they would be regarded as a “spoiler.” Someone has, and that is Robert Kennedy Jr., a member of the Kennedy family that recently has publicly stated its disassociation from his political aspirations. He is an environmental lawyer who is campaigning for the U.S. presidency as an independent.

Ever since a few weeks after COVID-19 was first discovered in nursing homes in Kirkland, Washington, in which my 100-year old mother was living, I have been an investor in the mRNA biotechnology pharmaceutical Moderna based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It and Pfizer developed the two COVID-19 vaccines that most Americans have taken which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has saved perhaps a million or more American lives. But Robert Kennedy Jr. has always trashed those vaccines, calling them “the deadliest vaccines ever made.” That is a lie, and I know this not only because I’m a Moderna investor, but because I wrote a book about this pandemic which has a provocative title, Moses Predicted COVID-19. Kennedy also has claimed COVID vaccines cause autism, which the CDC also denies.

Jesus–The Truth Will Make You Free

I think Jesus’ statement, “the truth will make you free,” applies here. That is, if people will do what Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, “search and you will find” (Matthew 7.7), such efforts will prove that “the truth will make you free.” It will make you free from conspiracy theories about the COVID pandemic and many other things, such as that Jesus was “deceiving the crowd” and therefore was an “imposter,” as many Jews are still taught to this day.