Over the past several Sundays, we have talked about experiencing God in our lives. In fact, before Easter I asked you to think of a time when you may have had a face-to-face experience with God. At the time, we may not have even considered it to be such, or maybe you refused to believe it to be so.
In our reading from the Gospel according to John we find Jesus in debate with some Pharisees, during the Feast of Dedication, we call that time Hanukkah today. The Pharisees are pressuring Jesus to make the claim that He is the Messiah. However, Jesus gives them much more than a claim to being the Messiah. Listen to these words from John 10:27-30;
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice;
I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life;
they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from my hand.
The Father, for what he has given me, is greater than anyone,
and no one can steal anything from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one. (John 10:27-30 NJB)
Jesus tells them something they have suspected and even feared. He as told them they are in the presence of God himself!
He has made the claim that He and God are one in the same. That the works He does comes straight from the Father through him. He recounts the words of Isaiah with him being the first person.
But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. (Isaiah 45:17 RSV)
His claim is far more than that of a Messiah, and is too much for most of the Pharisees there. In the next three verses, you can see the reaction to verse 30.
The Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?"
The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God." (John 10:31-33 RSV)
They were angry and they did not want hear what he had to say. This was especially true, being in the presence of one who claimed authority over them.
These Pharisees are not alone in their reaction to new authority. The same goes for us today. Haven’t you experienced a time when some one new comes along who you feel hasn’t quote “paid their dues”? For example, if a person has done a job in a particular way for many years, then suddenly another person comes along and tries to change the way the job is done, then that person would most likely meet the new idea with a lot of resistance, even if the new idea was a better way of doing the job.
This is exactly how the Pharisees felt. They knew Jesus was special. Otherwise, they would not have pushed and prodded him for an answer. However, the answer they got was not the answer they wanted.
Much like for many of us today, we ask God for answers to our problems, we pray and pray. However, when God brings us the answer it is not always what we thought it should be. Some of us then reject the answer to our prayers without even realizing the power of God that is before us.
Think back to our reading from Acts chapter 9. While we do not know what Peter prayed for exactly, Luke records the actions of the power of God in this passage. For it wasn’t Peter that raised Tabitha from the dead, it was God working through Peter’s faith in Him.
It was Peter and Tabitha’s faith in God that was to be the messenger and answer to prayer for the people of Joppa. Those people were seeing the power that God had over death, and what He could do in the lives all people if they believed in Him.
One of the things I always find interesting in all of the passages where Jesus is in debate with the Pharisees is they are always trying to get him to announce that he is the Messiah. Do you ever wonder why? Have you ever found yourself when reading the Gospels going, “Jesus why don’t you tell them already?”
Why doesn’t Jesus tell them who He is? Well Jesus gives us the answer in verses 32 of John 10, when he says, “"I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?"
In other words, Jesus could have said, “Actions speak louder than words.”
There were a hundred other men running around Judea, many of them right there in Jerusalem, claiming to be the Messiah. However, none of them could do what Jesus could do.
Besides, even if he had told them so, in so many words, would they have believed him? Probably not. Remember one needs to accept that Jesus is his Lord and Savior with in his own heart. Like the Pharisees, people can be told over and over again that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, but it does not mean that everyone will believe it. Especially if Jesus does not fit into their “religious box”.
You see this is what Jesus was trying to draw out of the Pharisees. Educationally they recognized that Jesus had all the attributes of the Messiah. However, he did not meet what they wanted in a Messiah. They were not willing to put their whole trust and faith in Him. They were not willing to crown him King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
They could not believe or would not believe that God would take up an earthly form, least of all a common man. Moreover that he would lower himself to be amongst those who they deemed the undesirables of society.
But in fact, there have been many men of God who had professions, or who came out backgrounds that seemed unusual. There was a man from England, his name was John Bunyan and he worked most of his life as a tinker. That’s a person who makes utensils and stuff out of copper and tin. Well following the English Civil War, he got the call to be a minister. He served as an “unauthorized” minister in England. He was even arrested for it. However, God had called him to a higher purpose in life. Eventually he was freed and he continued to evangelize and wrote a novel called A Pilgrim’s Progress.
The point I am trying to make is this is, God uses us in many ways. He doesn’t need us to announce from the nearest cell or water tower that God has called us to do His work.
He wants us to be like Jesus in that we are to let the His power and grace shine through the works that we do. As James the Just put it; You see now that it is by deeds, and not only by believing, that someone is justified. (James 2:24 NJB).
In other words it is becomes more important and legitimate when someone else recognizes the faith you have in Christ through the Christ-like acts that you do.
Jesus never came right out and announced to the world that He was the Messiah. However, He did affirm those that recognized or asked Him that very question.
It was kind of like word of mouth advertising. I am sure you are all familiar with this practice. For example, who are you more likely to believe about the worthiness of a product? A stranger on a TV commercial or a neighbor or friend who has tried out the product themselves?
One of the products that comes to my mind as a word of mouth product, is Mary Kay Cosmetics. When Luann was selling the product, she was only allowed to place a few ads; however, most of her customers came from what they had heard from some of her other customers. Also, many of her first customers had already used the product themselves, and were looking for a source from which to buy the product. That’s the value of word of mouth.
It is the same way with Christ and our lives, we can tell every person we meet that they need to come to church or that they need Christ in their lives. But in doing this, we need to make sure that we are setting forth the proper example for them to follow. We need to live Christ-filled lives each and every day.
Simon Peter lived his life for Christ, Tabitha had lived her life for Christ, feeding and clothing those who were in mission. Because Simon Peter had his total faith in Jesus as His Lord and Savior, God raised Tabitha from the dead. What an awesome affirmation of faith!
Those that witnessed the event spread this account, and so did Tabitha. Talk about an awesome word of mouth story of the power of Jesus Christ!
The Pharisees in Jerusalem, found themselves in the presence of God, and reaffirmed to the those that witnessed their questioning of Jesus that Jesus was more than the run of the mill prophet, or messianic wannabe. He had real authority, and that the Pharisees held no power over Him.
Again, Jesus did not have to launch His own advertising campaign. The Pharisees knew of Him before He even entered Jerusalem, all because those that had witnessed His acts and His teachings.
As I have said before, we have the chance to experience God every day of our lives, we also have the chance for others to experience Christ through examples set in our own lives. It is when we let our faith lead our lives, that God will do the most amazing and wonderful things. It is through these acts that peoples lives will be transformed and given the hope that Jesus will stand with them and all of their sins will be wiped away. Amen.
