the    sides

This is part of our e-journey through the gospel of John. Today is from John 10:22-42.

These verses have been used for years as THE TEXT to prove that it is impossible for someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God to “lose” their salvation. It’s the smoking gun for those who believe in the eternal security of a believer (as I do for the sake of fairness to all who read this blog).

And while that issue could be worthy of some discussion, what if there was more to what Jesus was saying than that? I’m not one to avoid a good old fashion theological dialogue but after reading this umpteen times, you know what I noticed this week? The no-win situation that the religious had put themselves in.

Every one of them believed that one day the Christ would come. They had taught that for years, read it in the Scriptures, and on and on.

Jesus tries to make it easier for them to believe that he was the one but relieving them of the responsibility of believing his words - just investigate the miracles. Are they miracles or not? He’s cured leprosy, made the blind see, the lame walk, and dead are alive. Any of these not happen or are fake - call me out on it.

They never dispute or deny the miracles, instead turn on his words - that he and the Father are one - and try to kill him.

Here’s what I don’t get…somebody has got to be “it,” right? If they really believed that one day the Christ would show up, eventually (inevitably) they were going to have to hear a man say these words….right? So knowing that one day this would be the case, wouldn’t the focus then be on the evidence…the actual miracles? Am I making sense? To grill Jesus over his words is only legit if he had done nothing to back them up.

They didn’t believe him because … well, did they really ever believe in the first place? Were they so wrapped up in the trappings of religion, they forgot to be sheep? I mean, notice the setting all of this takes place in…

..Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem.

It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.

The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”…

In other words, it was a religious festival in a religious place talking with religious people.

So while these verses do speak to the eternal security issues - I think they say more than that as well. It’s about the identity of Jesus and the failure of those who should have recognized him. Their failure points more to their undying devotion to a system of rules than to the living, breathing God.

There are some that think the American church is in exactly that position today - more in love with their rules than the living Jesus.

I just pray I never get to that place.