16 September 2016

After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them. Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.
This was to fulfill the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
“Lord, who has believed our message,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said,
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.” John 12:36-40

Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.” John 12:44-50

            Good morning, welcome. Beginning today we will set aside the Old and New Testament readings for a time and focus on John’s Gospel. Not because these other readings are not important, but, as I said the other day, John is moving into some deep theological waters here; I am simply not comfortable tackling all three. Today Jesus wraps up His public ministry. We will look at three important themes with an eye towards application.

“Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.”  

            Too many to write down, in fact. John explains this with two quotes from Isaiah. The first is from the last suffering servant song (Isa.52:13-53:12), which seems to me to be a rather vivid description of Jesus as the servant (although many others see Israel-probably both are intended). The second is from Isaiah 6 where Isaiah has his vision of the Lord and receives his commission.

            John seems to be saying the Jew’s unbelief was determined by God to facilitate Jesus’ sacrifice. Did God predestine these Jews to unbelief? Well, He is sovereign-He could if He wanted to. Or, would these Jews have not believed anyway, in which case God was reinforcing their own decision, using it to accomplish His purposes? Or both? The take-away for us is belief and unbelief are God’s work, not ours. Jesus never forced His Gospel and neither should we. Nor should we force our values. The Gospel is spread by proclamation, demonstration and example. We bring the Kingdom by being the Kingdom. Which leads to the second point.

Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me…What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.” (Italics mine).

            Jesus is not the Father. He is separate from the Father, and yet He could say when we see Him we see the Father too. He speaks the Father’s words, not His own. There is a relationship here, a unity of purpose that goes straight to the heart of the Trinity. I think where the trinity is concerned we tend to focus too much on the persons and not enough on the relationship between the persons. Once we begin to understand this relationship it becomes easier to see how we ourselves become the presence of Jesus, who became the presence of God. It is, as my mom used to say, just the same, only different.

            The older I become the more firmly I believe relationships are key. John does not say they will know we are Christians by our ability to grasp complicated theological concepts or our strict adherence to correct doctrine; he says they will know by our love. Granted correct doctrine has its place but, as Paul says, if it does not result in love it is nothing. The relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit provides the model for all relationships and, therefore, can be understood to some extent, which we will attempt to do later on in this Gospel. For now, the take-away is to focus or relationships. All relationships. We will not experience one single human interaction today that will not present an opportunity to build someone up. Not one.

I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge.

            This is our final take-away. Jesus did not come to judge, He came to save. We have the same mission. Make no mistake, judgement will occur and Jesus will be involved. We will be involved too, but not as judges. There is one judge and one standard and we are not it. Jesus presented the Father’s plan and left it to His hearers to decide. We must do the same. We must find a way to present it and model it in a way our listeners can relate to (there’s that word again) and leave them to decide. This has a very broad range of implications for us today. I will finish up here with a question. Which do you think is more effective-setting an example, or imposition of will?

May the love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all this day. JRG