May 25 – Believe Me

John 12: 37 – 50    (NLT)

“But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. 38 This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted:

“Lord, who has believed our message?
    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?” 

39 But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said,

40 “The Lord has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their hearts—
so that their eyes cannot see,
    and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
    and have me heal them.” 

41 Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory. 42 Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.

44 Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. 45 For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. 47 I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. 48 But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. 49 I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.”

This chapter is the end of Jesus’ public ministry in John’s account of Jesus’ life.  The next chapters are the record of Jesus’ last words to His disciples, then there is the crucifixion and the account of what happened after the resurrection.  

John started his book with the declaration that Jesus was God’s son, was actually God Himself in the flesh.  “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.  God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created,and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”… “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”    (John 1: 1 – 5; 14)

The first 12 chapters then go on to prove those statements.  John records Jesus’ baptism and the selection of His disciples, the water turned to wine at the wedding in Cana, the overturn of the sellers’ tables in the temple, and His conversation with Nicodemus about how to become a child of God.  Then Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, and describes Himself as the water that completely satisfies. Chapter 5 tells us about the man lying beside the pool of Bethesda who is healed on the Sabbath. The next miracle was the feeding of the 5000 followed by Jesus walking on water in a storm. In the discussions after the feeding of the 5000, Jesus talks about being the bread of life.  There are several chapters that describe various journeys to the Temple and discussions/arguments with the Temple leaders. In chapter 9, Jesus heals the man born blind at birth. Then Jesus describes Himself as the good shepherd.  Chapter 11 tells the account of raising Lazarus from the dead, and Jesus says He is the resurrection and the life. In chapter 12 Mary pours the perfume on Jesus’ body, and we hear about Jesus’ triumphant entry to Jerusalem at the beginning of the Passover celebrations. There are several references to Jesus being the light in these opening chapters, and they also include a lot of conversations with the various Temple leaders concerning Jesus’ identity.  

John chose those accounts from the many that were available and talked about in the other 3 gospels because he felt they proved his opening statements.  Jesus is God and He was also human and lived on earth.  He is the Creator of everything and the source of light and life. His life showed us what love and faithfulness was all about.  

The closing verses of this chapter sum up the reaction to Jesus’ life.  “Despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.”  (v. 37) There were some who believed Him including some of the Jewish leaders (v. 42) But even those people were nervous about openly admitting they believed Jesus. The phrase that caught my eye in those verses was, “For they loved human praise more than the praise of God”. (v. 43) That grabbed my attention because it often describes me.  I hesitate to talk about my faith in Jesus because I don’t want to offend people or have people think I’m a religious nutcase.  When it gets right down to it, I want people to like me more than I want to share the most important thing in my life.  Now that’s actually crazy, isn’t it?

Verse 44 has an interesting start – “Jesus shouted to the crowds”. We don’t know when Jesus actually said those words.  It’s like John decided that they were appropriate words to end the section of his book about Jesus’ public ministry.  What got my attention in those last verses was this – “I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken”.  (v. 47, 48)   These words spoken by Jesus tell us what He wants us to know.  He loves us and wants us to come to Him.  He isn’t going to judge us the moment we approach Him.  We saw that demonstrated by Jesus’ attitude to the woman at the well. We see that truth expressed elsewhere in the Bible such as 2 Peter 3: 9 – “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent”.  Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth was to reach out to us and save us, not to condemn us.  That will happen sometime in the future. But right now, His arms are wide open to each of us.

“I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark”.  (v. 46)  

For that I am so thankful.

Our song for today is Jesus Paid It All by Kim Walker.