15 March 2024 John 7:1-2,10,25-30
Can it be that people are already starting to recognize that Jesus is who He says He is?
The religious authorities in Jerusalem had already made up their minds that Jesus must die.
They had been talking about it enough that it was the chatter on the street: “Is He not the one they are trying to kill?” (John 7:25). And yet here Jesus was, speaking openly in the temple area, and nobody was making a move against Him. They were arguing with Him instead, and once again Jesus was winning: “You circumcise a man on the Sabbath in order that the Law of Moses not be broken. I heal a man’s whole body on the Sabbath, following the same Moses and the same God, and you want to kill me? What kind of sense does that make? Use your head!” (cf. John 7:23-24).
The logic was irresistible, and so the Jewish authorities said nothing. Their silence was not lost on the crowd: “Here He is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to Him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?” (7:26).
The authorities really didn’t know that. But the people were starting to: “When the Messiah comes, will He do more signs than this man has done?” they said (7:31).
The logic was irresistible.
People with titles and degrees, highly paid pundits and commentators, popular athletes and entertainers, cultural authorities of every kind can only talk nonsense for so long before ordinary people start saying, “Wait just a minute.”
The universe began to exist, right? Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence, right? The cause of the universe can’t be part of the universe, right? So the cause of the universe has to be outside the universe, outside of space and time, right? So the cause of the universe is timeless, spaceless, changeless, immaterial, personal and massively powerful – because it created the universe without a material cause – right?
That’s what it means to talk about God, right?
The logic is irresistible.
If a God that powerful exists, it isn’t unreasonable to suppose He has a plan, right? Jesus says He is that plan, right? He created a Church, which has created all the ideas and institutions we trust the most – hospitals, universities, human rights, love of neighbor, the “brotherhood of man”, “forgive one another as I have forgiven you, love one another as I have loved you,” right?
That’s what it means to talk about a Savior, right?
Isn’t the logic irresistible?
Can it be that the authorities really know that Jesus is the Savior? Our Savior? The Savior of the world?
The authorities really don’t know that. But people are starting to. Atheism as a movement in the English-speaking world has collapsed. The mental health crisis is worsening, particularly among the young. Highly educated people can’t say what a woman is. Crime in neighborhoods with the nation’s most vulnerable people is rising sharply at the same time that schools in those same neighborhoods are failing at a catastrophic rate. Even though married people are better off in every measurable characteristic of human well-being, the marriage rate is falling. What kind of sense does that make? Use your head (cf. John 7:23-24).
Can it be that the authorities really know that Jesus is the Savior? Our Savior? The Savior of the world?
The authorities really don’t know that. But people are starting to.
Maybe you.
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