Author: Ryan Hale

“I respect all people and all of the different religions and ways that God has spoken to them.”

“I’m happy to learn about other religions, but you have your religion and I have my religion, you know. We can each follow our own way.”

These are both statements that I heard this last week. The first from a Catholic and the second from a Muslim. And the statements seem logical. I have my way, you have your way. It sounds nice and makes it work out well so that we don’t really have to make a solid decision, and what is more, we don’t have to offend one another.

And in one sense, I can agree with this. I can’t, and won’t try to force anyone to believe anything. So, in that sense, of course. Everyone is free to believe as they like. But they should be making their decision about their eternity, an eternity that they are choosing even now, in a way that is fully informed. We should each be informed about the truth of history and how we arrived where we are today, and we should be informed about how our faith and its beliefs and practices align with what God has been doing throughout this same history.

Jesus addressed a similar idea of multiple ways of thinking about reaching God when he spoke of a sheep pen. In this particular case, he was speaking to the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders and teachers of the Jewish law, but I think that we can apply these same words to situations like what I outlined above with our Catholic and Muslim friends. He said:

Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.

John 10:1

Jesus is clear. If you do not enter the “sheep pen” through the gate, you are a thief and a robber. And of course, that is not a good thing. The sheep pen, as Jesus is describing it here, is the kingdom of God, and no one is going to be able to enter into the kingdom of God as a thief or a robber.

Jesus goes on to describe himself as the gate itself:

“Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:7-10

Jesus is saying that he is the one and only way to enter into the sheep pen. He is the only way to enter into the kingdom of God. He doesn’t, at all, discuss his respect for other religions or other schools of thought. He tells them very simply. I am the gate.

And that is it.

Stop.

So if we say that we like Jesus, as many do…or we say that we believe in him, as many do…we should make sure that we know what he taught. We should make sure that we understand who he has called us to be. We should understand that Jesus didn’t bring unity. He brought division. He spoke of one way, and one way only. In him, and through him.

This is a difficult saying for me. I see it and it is clear to understand, but it is not easy for me to take on and digest…primarily because I don’t really want to. I want to believe, instead, that each person can simply come to God once they hear.

Of course, I have no idea who God will call and who he won’t, or whether he will call someone now while I am speaking to them or will call them in the future when someone else is speaking to that same person that I have spoken to.

But Jesus was clear when he spoke to the Jews as they challenged him. Jesus explained precisely why they didn’t believe:

Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

John 8:45-47

Interestingly, at the beginning of this exchange, in verse 31, it says that Jesus is actually speaking to those who had believed him. It seems that Jesus is taking a next step to even challenge their belief, to move them beyond their religiosity through their Judaism, beyond their faith in being part of God’s people, the Jews, and instead putting their faith in him.

Challenging them in this way reveals that they haven’t actually changed their minds to fully believing what Jesus is telling them, but instead they prefer to hang on to what they have relied upon from the past, that they are descendants of Abraham, and that is what allows them to be accepted by God.

Not true, says Jesus.

And this is the part that rings so true to me and why I wanted to highlight these verses today. So many people have such a hard time believing that what they are doing, even religiously, will not make them righteous before God. Muslims believe that if they go to the mosque 5 times to pray each day (even though many of them actually do not), or give money to other people, or fast during Ramadan, that God will see them as righteous.

Many of the Catholics that I meet seem to believe that if they are “good people”, or they follow the religious rules, or go to the religious festivals, then God will see them as righteous.

And yet Jesus is standing in the square telling them that he is the light of the world and they can’t hear him. It is as if they are deaf to what Jesus is saying. Their ears and hearts are closed, and what is more, they argue in the other direction, explaining why what Jesus is saying must be wrong.

I so much wish that it wasn’t the case, but I have to say that I feel at times that this sentence is true with many of these people:

The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

I pray that God will be patient, that he will be merciful, that he will give grace, that each will be saved. I pray that many will be able to hear because they belong to God.

As Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, we see a scene that seems very familiar to me. There is a great amount of confusion in the crowd:

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.

John 7:43

We see that people say this about Jesus or that about Jesus, thus dividing themselves, based primarily upon their misunderstanding or ignorance of him.

For example, the crowds are confused because of their understanding of where the Messiah is from. They say that the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, but should instead come from Bethlehem, the down where David lived.

Did Jesus come from Bethlehem? Yes, he was born there! But because they were ignorant of this background, they immediately pass judgment and say that he can’t be the one.

Or rather, Jesus says that he will go away for a short time to a place that they can’t find him. Jesus, of course we know now as we look back on it today, is speaking of when he will ascend to the Father in heaven. Those that are here on earth won’t be able to find him as they won’t have the ability to see him. And yet the crowds wonder if he will be going to preach to Jews who are scattered amongst the nations, or even to speak to the Gentiles.

Or furthermore, Jesus asserts that he is here on earth – or there in Jerusalem – not on his own authority, but on the authority of the one who sent him, speaking of course of his Father in heaven.

And even this causes division because the people know that the Jewish leaders want to kill him for “blasphemy” because they are understanding that Jesus is saying that he is, himself, God, but they aren’t arresting him and instead are allowing him to continue to speak.

There is confusion everywhere – all over who Jesus is.

As I mentioned, this is the same confusion that I still see today. Philosophies, religions, and cultures all seek to define him and new ideas come to us on a regular basis, and some insistently. Insistent that their ideas are correct. And yet, similar to what we see in this situation in John 7, they aren’t based on the evidence, the truth, or even who Jesus says that he is. Instead, they are based simply on what someone else says of who Jesus is.

Let us dig into the words and stories of Jesus. Let’s let the truth come in and inform us instead of us attempting to form the truth in our own way, in our ignorance of the facts.

Lord help us to know you as you want us to know you!

Jesus healed a man who had been lame, unable to walk, for 38 years. He had been laying next to a pool in Jerusalem hoping that he would be healed by the waters there when Jesus arrived, asked him if he actually did want to get well, and then had him stand up and walk away.

Not amazed by the fact that a lame man was walking, but instead incensed that Jesus had done this on a Saturday, the sabbath, the Jewish leaders begin to persecute Jesus. While we don’t see it specifically said in this case, we often see the Jewish leaders ask Jesus upon what authority he is acting as he is, breaking the Jewish customs. And Jesus is happy to explain it to them:

In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

John 5:17-18

The Jews clearly understood that Jesus was comparing himself to God. They even try to kill him because they think that he is blaspheming.

Yet Jesus is showing them through what he is doing that he is telling the truth. He is working, he says. Is there anyone else walking around doing miracles like I’m doing? My Father is at work…and so am I. Guys, we are one and the same. I am God.

“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

John 5:31-32

Jesus goes on to say that John the Baptist had testified about him, but even that testimony is not enough. It is the testimony of God himself that Jesus is discussing. The Father has given the Son work to do, and that is what he is doing. Because the Father has given him these works, he speaks to who Jesus is.

But there is a problem. Jesus says that they cannot understand this testimony because they do not believe the one that the Father sent. In other words, because they aren’t willing to believe Jesus, they can’t understand the Father.

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

John 5:39-40

The Jews put their faith in the law that Moses wrote, believing that because they have God’s law, they are the people of God. And in one way this is true, but God doesn’t want them just to have the law, he wants his people to give him their hearts. To give him all of themselves.

The Jews miss something very important within the scriptures that they rely upon. They miss the fact that the scriptures talk about and point toward the Messiah, who is Jesus. Jesus points toward these scriptures saying that they actually speak about him!

So, any questions? These are the things that Jesus speaks of as he explains under what authority he is doing what he is doing, and why he is doing them in the timing that he is doing. He is, himself, the Lord of the Sabbath. He can do his work in his timing because he has all of the authority to do as he would please.

As I was growing up, this was a popular saying: We have all of the time in the world. Of course, it simply means that there is no rush, no hurry. We can do whatever we want. We can take our time and slow down. We have nothing that we need to be concerned about at this point.

Louis Armstrong, as it turns out, even solidified this saying into a song that became a theme for a 007 James Bond movie. Just for fun, here is that song. I think it even appropriately sounds like the sentiment itself:

Jesus pointed out to his disciples that they had a similar saying in their day and in their culture. The Samaritans from the town of Sychar had heard about Jesus from his “chance” meeting with the woman at the well and many of them were coming out from the town to the well to meet Jesus and see if his claim to be the Messiah could actually be true.

As the people were on their way, Jesus was speaking to his disciples and said to them:

Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?

John 4:35

Jesus is quoting a proverb to them from their culture. He’s saying that they are essentially saying:

There is no need to hurry!

We have plenty of time!

The harvest isn’t for another four months…

…You can’t do anything about it anyway. The grain just needs to grow.

But then Jesus immediately follows up this retelling of the proverb with a rebuke of this mentality. Instead of thinking, “We have all the time in the world” or “It’s still four months until harvest”, they should instead be thinking:

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

John 4:35

Jesus is saying that there is urgency to this task. Get going! The fields are ripe for harvest and we are just sitting here.

Jesus wants his disciples to realize that there is work that has been done, and is continuing to be done amongst the people. Seeds have been sown. God’s work is going forward. It is his work, and now it is time to bring in his harvest.

Cruise Boat or Battleship

I have a friend who used to say that we, as the church, need to decide whether we are cruise boat or a battleship.

What was he saying?

The point to his statement was that the church can see itself as a nice place where we have received the blessing of God and enjoy one another in a nice environment. We can relax. We don’t really need to do anything. We’re forgiven, right? We can sort of just cruise our way into heaven.

Or, on the other hand, we can see ourselves as a battleship. We can not only say that we are ready, but we can train. We can prepare – theologically, practically, and in any other way that is needed… and then we can go to war.

Our war is a war of love for the people around us and a desire for God to receive glory for who he is and what he has done for us.

It is time for God’s people to decide. The church must come alive and come out of its stupor to realize that God made us to be a “battleship” of sorts. He intended that we go into the enemy’s territory and take people from him and back into peace and reconciliation with God. Will we complete the role that God has given to us? Will we be the ambassadors that Christ has intended us to be?

Or will we continue to slumber and cruise along because we have all the time in the world?

David wrote these words in what is now Psalm 142 as he hid from the king, Saul, who was hunting him. David expresses this sentiment:

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life.

I cry to you, LORD;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”

Psalm 142:4-5

Even when we feel like things are crumbling around us, God is there. He is our refuge, the one we can run to and cry out for help, and he will respond.

There are stories that we hear as children that, at the time, we may or may not know are not real, but they enthrall us. If you think of Peter Pan, the story of a boy who is able to fly over Neverland, fighting the evil Captain Hook, and leading the Lost Boys to victory, you find a great story that any one of us would like to relate to. Good vs. evil. A love story with Wendy. Even the ability to fly with magic pixie dust… How great is that?

Or consider Santa Claus. How cool it is that there is someone who packs up a sleigh, flies it a light speed all over the world with flying reindeer, only to deliver toys to young boys and girls who will be excited to wake up the next morning.

In our post-Christian western culture, I think that we often have the tendency to look back to the stories that we heard about Jesus, either in church as we were growing up or in other places, in a similar way. We know that they should be true, but we can’t really put our finger on them, so it is easy to discount them. The facts become fuzzy and the reality, not to mention the implications of the reality, become difficult to comprehend.

And therefore, there are many that dismiss what they have heard and move on with the rest of their lives.

But these aren’t the stories of Peter Pan. These aren’t the stories of Santa Claus.

Peter, who was Jesus’s disciple and who became an apostle 2000 years ago, said this:

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

2 Peter 1:16-18

Peter is saying that the disciples didn’t create, nor listen to stories that someone else told. He says, in summary:

We were there.

We saw it.

And I’m telling you, this is for real.

Imagine what it would mean if there was a God who created you and me and everything that we see around us.

Imagine what it would mean if God decided to come in human form to live amongst his people.

Imagine if God himself spoke from heaven, declaring and confirming that this man, Jesus Christ, was actually divine. That he came from a spiritual kingdom that reins over all other kingdoms.

Imagine that he came to pay a ransom price of blood specifically for each of us, to win us back to be with God once again.

If that were true, it would change everything about our lives. It would change all of the priorities of our lives. We would no longer be so concerned about our positions of power or how much money we made. We would want to concern ourselves with knowing this One that came seeking us. We would want to align ourselves with him and everything that he says.

But we don’t need to imagine. Peter is clear: We were there.

And he isn’t the only one. There are many just like him. They aren’t making up Peter Pan and Santa Claus stories. These are facts that they are telling us. Let us live in the true story that God has told and that he is continuing to tell in our time, even today.