At the height of a political corruption trial, the prosecuting attorney attacked a witness. "Isn’t it true," he bellowed, "that you accepted five thousand dollars to compromise this case?" The witness stared out the window as though he hadn’t hear the question. "Isn’t it true that you accepted five thousand dollars to compromise this case?" the lawyer repeated. The witness still did not respond. Finally, the judge leaned over and said, "Sir, please answer the question." "Oh," the startled witness said, "I thought he was talking to you."
One of the themes that runs through the book of John is that of a trial. For those of you who have been to the bible studies will no doubt recognise this, since we’ve mentioned it a few times and I believe I might have mentioned it in a sermon before. However, tonights passage kind of highlights the issue so I thought I would take the opportunity to explore the theme tonight. So tonight we ask the questions who is on Trial, who is the judge, what is the evidence and what is the verdict?
So lets take the first question and ask who is on trial? There are various candidates for the position. If we look at the story of Jesus life then our first response might be to say that Jesus was on trial. He did seem to spend most his life having accusations flung in his face by the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders. At every turn he faced opposition from one group or another and they always seemed to be judging him and finding him wanted. Or if we take this incident that we read about here, the next time Jesus will appear in public is at his trial in front of Pilate. In actual fact of course there are several trials as Jesus is passed from one group to the other as people try to either get rid of him or avoid responsibility for either condemning Jesus or setting him free. In many ways the trial scenes summarise some who Jesus is claiming to be and the rejection of Jesus by his own people and the Romans. If his death didn’t hold so much significance and if that in turn was not topped by his resurrection then the trial scenes would make a nice conclusion to the whole story. Its the last tragedy, the final chance for the people to acclaim the rightful King, but he is found guilty and sentenced to die.
But here and elsewhere, John wants us to look at a different trial. In the passage we read it is not Jesus who is on trial. Rather it is those who have heard and seen Jesus in action that are on trial. It is the ones who have seen what he has done and must decide what to make of him. In earlier passages in John, it has been the pharisees, the ones who have set themselves up in opposition to Jesus that have faced the trial. They have seen what Jesus has done but they refuse to reach the correct conclusions about him. They are on trial to see whether they believe in Jesus or not. Do they believe he is the Messiah, God’s son, even God himself? Do they suspect but refuse to believe because the cost is too much. As we read, this was the case for some of the Pharisees and leaders. We don’t know the depth of their faith or what they actually believed, did they believe Jesus was God, unlikely since the disciples hadn’t made that leap of faith yet, did they believe he was from God, that he was the Messiah, yes probably, did they believe the message that Jesus preached, as far as they understood it, yes. But they refused to trust him because of what other people might have thought, and so when you come down to it, they fail the test.
Then there were the others, those who didn’t believe at all. Or maybe that’s being a bit generous to them as well. They saw the evidence, they must have suspected, they must have at least entertained the tiniest bit of doubt that maybe just maybe Jesus was who really claimed to be. Even the high priest recognised the signs and what Jesus was doing. But they just counted up the cost and thought the price was too high. Yes, there was something there, but lets get him out of the way quickly before we have to face the full body evidence. Lets not look too closely at the evidence in case we find that we can’t avoid the conclusions. There’s just a hint that there might be something to this guy after all but if we quickly look the other way then we can avoid coming to that conclusion. Typical ostrich syndrome. I don’t know how much truth there is to the rumour, but the rumour has that then when an ostrich faces danger it will stick its head in the ground, figuring that if it can’t see the danger, the lion or whatever, then the lion can’t see it. I know I have been tempted to do this in past. There have been times when at college, the bank account was running low and you didn’t know how you were going to pay for stuff. So I just avoid reading bank statements, leaving them unopened and not checking your balance at the cash points. But it doesn’t work. Trying to avoid the issue does not make it go away. And trying to get rid of Jesus did not help them avoid who he was or what he came for.
Because you see Jesus comments here run wider than just the pharisees and the Jewish leaders. Jesus calls out in a loud voice, it is to the crowds, to everyone. It is not enough to let the experts weigh the evidence, make a decision and then just go along with whatever they say. We don’t do it about GM foods, even when the experts do know what they are talking about better than we do, we don’t do it about the government and the crowds couldn’t do that with Jesus. But Jesus comments do not just go to the crowds of his day but they reach down to us as well. You see the ultimate answer to the question who is on trial, is you. Everyone is on trial for what they did with Jesus, do they believe him, do they believe in him. Trusting the experts or refusing to look at the issue are no defence we must all face up to what we have done with Jesus.
But if we are the ones on trial, then who is the judge. Again if we go back to our first idea about trials in the life of Jesus, then the judge is Pilate. The one who weighs up the evidence and decides what to do with Jesus. But then we find that we are all to decide who Jesus is and what we are to do with them, we might suspect that we are the judge. We are the ones who must weight the evidence and render a verdict. But we are wrong. Remember we are ones who are on trial. We are not the judges giving the final verdict on who Jesus really is. Jesus is God, Jesus is the saviour. That is not to be decided. What is to decided is what we did with Jesus. Did we believe in Jesus? Did we follow the signs and recognise who he is or did we ignore the evidence and reject him.
And so we might suspect that it is Jesus who is the judge. OK, there is a sense in which this true. We are all going to have to stand before God at the end of the age and answer for what we have done with Jesus. However, here Jesus says some really strange thing. He is not the judge but his words are the judge. What does this mean? It is not a repudiation of his role of judgement at the end of the age. It is not saying that God will not judge people, that since he loves everyone that he will invite everyone into heaven. But it is to teach us why if God loves everyone and died for everyone that not all will get into heaven.
We begin by asking the question why did Jesus come? The answer can be understood by telling a story. Jesus and Satan were arguing over who was the best computer programmer. So they decided to settle it by having a computer programming competition. The rules were set and the question drawn up. The contest started and both contenders started tapping furiously at keyboards. However, with 5 minutes to go there was a brief power cut. Satan was cursing and swearing and had nothing to hand in at the end. Jesus however was able to hand in a full working program. Why, because Jesus saves. OK, so its a really corny joke and a silly story. But Jesus really did come to save us. To saves us from hell, to save us from death, to save us from sin and to save us from ourselves. He came because we were doing such a bad job of living. We are sinners, we hurt each other and generally do not act in the best interests of others. We are doomed to hell. And Jesus came to save us from this fate. He came so that we might be free from sin, free from sinful self interest and free from hell. He came to condemn the world for failing to keep God’s law. To come and live the perfect life so he could point the finger and say look it wasn’t impossible, I did it now you have no excuse. He didn’t come to point out all the faults in his contemporaries and condemn them all to help for it. No Jesus came to save. He came to enable everyone to fulfil the law. He came to save, even those who had led God’s people astray. Jesus came to die for them, to save them.
But what are the consequences of this for those who do not believe? Jesus came to save. He offers that all who believe in him can go free, can be empowered to live the law. He came so that all could believe in him, no strings, no exceptions and so be free. He came for everyone. But what about those who refused to believe. The sad truth is, that they stand condemned. Not because they sinned and their was nothing that they could do to escape the judgement, but because Jesus came and offered them the chance to escape, to be free and they turned it down. By showing the way, those who do not choose to follow the way are condemned.
Jesus came to bring light. But the thing about light is that it reveals things. However, sometimes the light exposes things that do not want to be exposed. While there is twilight or a kind of semi-darkness it is easy to hid in the shadows if you are dirty. But when full sunlight arrives, you can’t hide. You are is exposed. When the light bulbs and dim and fluorescent tubes flickering, nobody notices the marks on the carpet, but when the lights and fixed, the windows cleans and fluorescent tubes replaced, not to mention the installation of halogen spot lights, suddenly all the stains, marks, water damage and thread bear bits becomes clear. And sometimes it might feel easier to turn of the lights than to clean the carpet. Instead of taking the opportunity to repent and change, they’d rather put out the light and hope nobody else notices the stains.
After the September 11th there was the investigation. Did the CIA, FBI, NSA have warning about the attacks. If so why was it not acted upon. If there was evidence that people were warned about it before but where ignored, then that would be enough to condemn those who had been warned. The investigation said this was not the case, there was not enough evidence that whatever evidence they did have was more concrete that the dozens of false threats that are received every day. But the point is, that if a warning is given and ignored, then the warning itself stands as a judge against those who ignored it.
Its the start of a good proportion of horror movies. A warning is given, do not go out on the moors at night, stay on the path and a warning is ignored. The way out is provided and rejected. And so the consequences ensue. The message that Jesus is giving is that he came with grace, to offer freedom and a way out. He didn’t come to bring judgement but to offer grace to escape judgement. But grace rejected brings judgement. And so Jesus message of hope and salvation bring with them judgement if they are rejected.
So we have the defendant and the judge. But what is the evidence. Well, if we were going back to our naive view of the trial then the evidence is for or against Jesus. The evidence as far as John has presented is the signs. The water into wine, the healing of the blind man, the raising of the Lazarus from the dead, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the lives that have been changed by an encounter with the risen Jesus (ok the picture is from Acts), we have looked at all of these while we have looked at John. But remember this is not the trial, Jesus is not the one on trial. We are the ones on trial. What have we done with Jesus. Do we believe in Jesus or do we not. The evidence we have talked about is important. But it is not the evidence by which we vindicate or condemn Jesus. It is the evidence that condemns us if we do not believe in Jesus. It is the evidence that is out there. The evidence that convicts us if we refuse to believe in Jesus. Jesus is God. Jesus did die and rise again for us. That is not the question. The question is do you believe in him. The evidence is our lives. Do our lives show that we have believe in Jesus. Has God made a difference in our lives.
Are we avoiding believing in Jesus because while we know that it is true, it simply costs to much. It means giving up something that we don’t want to give up. I remind you of something else Jesus said, what can a man give in exchange for his soul. Or do we merely suspect that there might be something to this Christianity thing, maybe there is something to it all, but we don’t want to investigate it too closely because we are afraid of what we might find, of the consequences of what we might find. What if it is true. Then God demand my life my all, is that too much. Are we better off playing the ostrich, pretending the problem will go away if we just refuse to acknowledge that it exists. It will not go away. What is the evidence? Our lives, they will show what we have done with Jesus, have we accepted or rejected him.
And so we come to the final phase of the trial, the verdict. What is the verdict? Well that bit is up to you? What do you make of Jesus? Do you believe in him or not? Remember Jesus is not the one who is on trial here. The jury is not out on who he is. He is God. He died for you. The jury is out on whether you will believe in him.
Many years ago a man conned his way into the orchestra of the emperor of China although he could not play a note. Whenever the group practiced or performed, he would hold his flute against his lips, pretending to play but not making a sound. He received a modest salary an enjoyed a comfortable living. Then one day the emperor requested a solo from each musician. The flutist got nervous. There wasn’t enough time to learn the instrument. He pretended to be sick, but the royal physician wasn’t fooled. On the day of his solo performance, the impostor took poison and killed himself. The explanation of his suicide led to a phrase that found its way into the English language: “He refused to face the music.” (Just Like Jesus; Max Lucado)
Today you can pretend to be a part of God’s orchestra by just blending in with the crowd and going through the motions. No one notices here, because you say the right things, go to the right places, and hang out with the right people. And you can enjoy the comfort of being accepted by the crowd of your choice. But there will come a day when you must face the music, one day you will be separated from everything. On that day you will stand alone before God and give an account for your life, your decisions, and whether you believed in Jesus or not.
