Readings for the day: John 3-5
From the moment I was saved on the campus of the University of Colorado up in Boulder, I’ve had a passion to share Christ with others. I evangelized my family. My college buddies. My co-workers after college. I even found myself evangelizing while at Princeton Theological Seminary if you can believe it! Over the years, I’ve shared with Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Mormons. More recently in my trips to Africa, I’ve encountered and shared Christ with those who follow more traditional tribal beliefs. And the one thing I’ve learned over the years is this...it really is all about Jesus.
I remember meeting with Mormon missionaries in college. Every year I would walk up to their information desk the first week of school and ask to meet. I would be up front and honest with them about my motivations. I wasn’t interested in converting but rather having a dialogue about the differences between Christianity and Mormonism. It is tempting in these conversations to major in the minors. To talk about all the esoteric beliefs they hold to vis a vis our own. None of those conversations bore much fruit to be honest. Where we really gained traction is when we started talking about Jesus. Is He God? Or simply the Son of God? Is He the Creator? Or a created being just like us? Is He the Word Incarnate? Or just an enlightened teacher?
Today’s reading makes it clear how Jesus saw Himself...
- Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
- For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
- For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
- For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
- For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
- I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
- I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.” (John 5:19-23, 26-27, 30, 43)
These are stunning claims that would have put Jesus right in the crosshairs of the religious leaders of His day. They knew He was claiming to be God. Claiming a kinship with the Father that was unique to Himself. Indeed, just a few chapters later in John, Jesus will sum it all up by stating, “I and the Father are one.” Not just in spirit. Not just of one mind or one accord. But actually one in essence. In being. Which is why the Jews pick up stones to kill Him for blasphemy.
My Mormon friends and I went round and round on this point. Is Jesus God? My Muslim friends and I have gone round and round on this point as well since they revere Jesus as a prophet. But Jesus isn’t just an enlightened teacher. Jesus isn’t just a great prophet like the others mentioned in the Bible. Jesus isn’t just one of the sons of God. He actually is God! As such, He alone has the power to give us new life! He alone has the authority to judge! He alone can raise the dead! He alone can deliver us from sin and evil! And if we still harbor doubts, Jesus calls witnesses to His defense. “If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:31-32, 36-40)
Friends, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan of salvation. He is the one to whom all human history points. He is the climax of the covenant. He is the telos of the Law. He is the capstone of creation. He is the Alpha and Omega. The First and Last. The Beginning and the End. All who believe in Him shall be saved. All who reject Him stand already condemned. This was his message to Nicodemus. To the woman at the well. To the man at the pool in Bethesda. It is His message to us as well.