Jesus never gives a straight answer. Tell us, his enemies demand, Are you the Christ? Frequently, He refuses to answer, and when He gives an answer, He says things like “You have said” and “You say that I am.” Maddening.

Jesus could have pre-emptively silenced a century and more of scholarly debate with a simple declarative sentence. Something along the lines of “I am the Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of My Father before all world, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with My Father” would have been most appreciated.

When we step back, though, we realize that indirection is His regular strategy. He teaches in parables and riddles, responds to questions with questions of His own, speaks so darkly that even His closest disciples can’t always tell what He is talking about. From beginning to end, Jesus is the One born of the Spirit, the elusive One who blows where He wills and then slips away.

This is in part a judgment on unbelief, so that “seeing they may not see, hearing they may not hear.” But it also reveals the supreme modesty of a God who creates a world of such magnetic beauty that it can tempt us to idolatry, and then hides Himself away. Jesus’ methods of indirection reveal a God who promises ” seek and you shall find.”