We talked last week about how there was no one on earth
who could really understand Jesus. We
feel bad about that sometimes. We want
to understand Jesus. The disciples
wanted to understand Jesus. But they
could not, and neither can we, no matter how hard we try. We can understand some things, but we cannot
truly understand what it was like to be Jesus or what Jesus went through. It’s just not possible.
Luckily for us, though, our salvation does not depend on
our understanding. Don’t get me wrong,
it’s good to understand as much as we can.
But our salvation does not come from our understanding. Our salvation comes from our belief in Jesus
Christ as our Savior. And our Bible
reading for tonight had a lot to say about that, so let’s look at it.
It starts out by talking about people who saw Jesus and
did not believe. They heard what he
said, they saw him do miracles, and yet they did not believe. How can that be? I mean, can you imagine it? To have been right there with Jesus, to hear
him and see him, and still not believe?
The Bible quotes Isaiah about these people. Isaiah says, “They can neither see with their
eyes nor understand with their hearts, nor turn.” It seems incredible. I mean, we can kind of understand why people
might not believe today. After all,
today we’re reading about events that happened two thousand years ago. But these people were there. They saw it all. They heard it all. How could they not believe what they saw with
their own eyes?
As I thought about this, though, it seems to me that we
need to be careful that we don’t start acting too superior to these
people. I think what they did was a very
human thing. It’s something all of us
tend to do, and it’s something all of us need to fight.
The thing is—and we’ve talked about this before—there
were a lot of people who thought they knew what the Messiah was going to be
like. He was going to be a mighty
king. He was going to be a warrior. He was going to lead a revolution that gave
the people of Israel freedom. And Jesus
just did not fit the bill. And so, even
though Jesus worked all kinds of miracles—healing people, raising them from the
dead, feeding them—and even though Jesus said all kinds of wise things, there
were a lot of people who could not see that he was the Messiah. They had a preconceived idea who the Messiah
was, and Jesus was not him. So, rather
than adjust their thinking to fit the facts, they rejected the facts that did
not fit their thinking.
And so do you and I.
Maybe not in the same way, but we do.
We do it all the time. It’s
called a confirmation bias. We believe
facts that fit what we already think and reject facts that don’t. We do that with our political beliefs, we do
it with our religious beliefs, we do it with the people we know. We make up our minds about something—this is
good, this is bad; this is right, this is wrong. Then, whenever we hear statements about that
something, we believe the statements that support what we already think is good
and right and reject the statements that support what we believe is bad and
wrong. We don’t do that because we’re
evil people. We do it because we’re
people. We’re human beings. You do it, I do it, we all do it.
And the people of Jesus’ time did it, too. And so some people, when they saw things that
indicated Jesus was the Messiah, just rejected those things. Those things did not support what they
already thought.
It’s something that you and I always have to be on the
lookout for. We need to keep an open
mind. Not so open that we believe
anything and everything, obviously. But
open enough that we’re willing to consider things that don’t fit what we
already think, and open enough that we’re willing to adjust what we think when
we need to. Otherwise, we might miss out
on something really important, the way some people of Jesus’ time did.
And then there were some who believed in Jesus, but who
kept it quiet. They were afraid the
Pharisees would hear about it and be upset with them. We’re told “They loved human glory more than
the glory of God.”
Now maybe some of us don’t think that one’s much of a
problem. Maybe we feel like we’ve never
gotten much human glory and don’t really want it. But it’s really easy for this one to sneak up
on us. Because while we may feel we
don’t want human glory—and we may be serious about that—we probably don’t want
human shame, either. In other words, we
don’t want people to look down on us. We
don’t want people to think badly of us.
And if we take our faith seriously, and if we’re open and
honest about it, that can happen. It’s
not that very many people around here are going to look down on us for being
Christians. In fact, most people around
here would consider that a positive. But
sometimes people can be uncomfortable if we’re open about exercising our
faith. If you’re at a restaurant with a
group of people and you’re the one who insists on saying a prayer before the
meal, there are some who’ll be a little startled at that. When you’re in college and you’re the only
one who does not want to go out and get drunk on Saturday night because you
want to go to church on Sunday morning, people are going to look at you funny
about that. Even if they don’t openly
criticize you, they may not want to be very friendly with you, either.
There are all kinds of ways in which taking our faith
seriously can make people uncomfortable with us and not want to be friends with
us. And then we have to make a
choice. Are we like those Pharisees who
believed and kept it quiet? Are we more
interested in what people think of us?
Or are we more interested in what God thinks of us?
The choice is ours.
Jesus allowed those who heard him to make that choice. God allows us to make that choice, too. God will not make it for us. And we cannot make it for anyone else,
either.
Jesus closed by saying something that I think we all need
to remember. He said that he was not
going to judge the people who did not follow him. He said that was not his role. Jesus said he did not come here to judge the
world. He came here to save the world.
Since Jesus is the head of the church, I think that’s a
pretty good definition of our role, too.
It is not for us to judge people.
It’s for us to try to help people be saved.
That means a lot of things, but one of them is that, if
we see someone who lives differently from we do, even someone who lives in a
way we don’t think is right, it’s nor for us to condemn them. Jesus did not do that. After all, Jesus dealt with a lot of people
who lived in ways we don’t think is right.
Jesus dealt with thieves. Jesus
dealt with prostitutes. Jesus dealt with
all kinds of people. And we don’t see
any place in the gospels where Jesus condemned those people.
Instead, Jesus
offered salvation to them. Sometimes
they accepted it, sometimes they did not.
But even when they did not, Jesus did not condemn them. Jesus was sad for them. I’m sure Jesus wished they would have made a
different choice. But Jesus did not
condemn them. Jesus allowed them to make
their choices. But of course, as with
all the choices we make, they had to accept the consequences of their
choices. And so do we.
Jesus said,
“Those who believe in me do not believe in me only, but in the one who sent
me. When they look at me, they see the one
who sent me. I have come into the world
as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”
If we believe
in Jesus, then let’s do what Jesus told us to do. Let’s stay open to the things God tells us
that may not fit our preconceived notions.
Let’s be willing to exercise our faith openly, regardless of what people
think. Not in an obnoxious way,
obviously. Not in a way that we know
will turn people off. But in an honest
and open way. And let’s not judge people
for the choices they make. Let’s try to
help them be saved.
Let’s not stay in darkness. Let’s follow the light. Let’s follow Jesus.
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