Scripture: John 12:37-43.
"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.” Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him.
Nevertheless many, even some of the rulers, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.
For they loved the praise of other people more than the praise of God."
Meditation for the Fourth Sunday in Lent
Jesus turns water into wine. He heals the blind and lame.
He feeds 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
He raises Lazarus from the dead.
He does many other miracles or “signs.”
And some believe in Him. That He is the Light of the World, the Bread from Heaven, the Good Shepherd.
But many more do not. Those with hard hearts include some of Christ’s own followers. He loses quite a few of them after He talks about the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. The 12 we know of are the ones who remain after the others walk away.
Other unbelievers include his half brothers who are ready to expose him to the Jews who are seeking to stone him.
And of those who do believe in Him, few are willing to confess their belief.
In our gospel reading tonight, John says some of the religious authorities believe in Christ, but they keep silent, “for they love the praise of other people more than the praise of God.”
It is difficult for us to imagine life in Christ’s time, when law permitted only certain faiths and practices—yet religion meant everything. Religion was your family, culture, and community. It was as much a part of your identity as the color of your eyes and the language you spoke. Most people did not choose their religion just like most people did not choose their situation in life—they were born into it.
And along came Jesus—into this stratified world—to call people to a new radical form of religion of the heart—one where the faithful must choose to follow God. And not simply to satisfy the laws of their ancestors, but because they love the Lord and want to please Him!
Jesus challenged many of the accepted rules, attitudes, and practices of religion in His day. In a community where family meant your identity, Christ’s Father was always His Heavenly Father not Joseph, the carpenter. When others believed that you were God’s own simply by being born into a Jewish family, Jesus said his brothers and sisters were not his biological brothers and sisters at all—they were people who did the Will of His Father. That meant Gentiles could also be holy and acceptable to God!
Christ angered the religious authorities when he healed on the Sabbath, breaking the Sabbath law. He angered them again when he ate with Gentiles in their homes, breaking dietary laws. He had the audacity to forgive people of their sins! He uttered such blasphemy as “I and My Father are One.”
It wasn’t long in His ministry before Jesus had made powerful enemies. So following Christ meant you were put out of the synagogue and no longer a member of the Jewish community. That meant your own family could not associate with you. You were an outcast!
If you proclaimed Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, you had to be ready to be persecuted and possibly lose your life.
So it is not surprising—is it—that most people who believed kept their faith a secret. This included the Jewish teacher Nicodemus, who came to see Christ only under the cover of darkness.
Today in America we are blessed that we can be open about our faith without breaking any laws. But our society has changed in its attitudes towards religion over the last 4 or 5 decades. We have become more secular, more worldly, as a whole. Church activities and family devotional practices—such as Bible reading and prayer—are not as important to as many people as they used to be. Most mainline denominations, including Lutherans and Presbyterians, have seen a decline in membership. Sunday school classes in our churches are only a shadow of what they used to be.
Today, I am going to share with you what I think is the biggest obstacle to a heart-felt faith and loyal obedience to God. Here it is. Even Christians who want to follow God with all their hearts struggle. They struggle to keep their lives in balance. Families are often scheduled almost to the breaking point—7 days a week. Some folks don’t seem to have a moment to breathe, let alone pray or go to church and Sunday school. Their calendars are overflowing with ink!
Society encourages this. People have come to accept this hectic lifestyle as “normal.” They look around and see that everyone else appears to be in the same boat. Busy. Driving here and there, husbands and wives going in different directions to get kids to their activities on time or get to their own meetings, jobs, and social commitments. People are stressed. Tired. Is it any wonder we drink so much coffee?
It is easy to forget that to love the Lord with all your heart, you have to go against the norm. You have to stop looking at other people as models for your life. There is only one model for us. Jesus Christ, who urges us to pray and even gives us a model prayer so we know how.
In our scripture today, those who kept their faith a secret did so because they loved the praise of other people more than God’s praise. Let’s not make that same mistake.
Friends, the Lord is beckoning us, in this holy season of Lent, to draw closer to Him. He desires that we turn from the things that get in the way of this. He wants time with you—and you need time with Him!
There are always plenty of things we can be doing! But God will show us what we should be doing, if we ask Him in prayer. He will tell us what to keep in our schedules. And what to cut away.
When we pray, imagine you are laying at the foot of the cross all the things that are just too much. That get in the way of living out your heartfelt faith.
Turn to the only one who won’t lay His burdens on you. Turn to the only one who can remove your burdens, if you let them go.
Turn to the only one who will provide true rest for your soul.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we confess that we haven’t loved you with ALL our hearts. We have loved the world too much. We care too much about what other people think of us. We seek the praise of human beings, when all that matters is your praise! Father, thank you for loving us and forgiving us in Jesus Christ. Send your Holy Spirit to recreate us, to make us obedient, to replace our wills with Your own. To give us the peace and rest that only you can give. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
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