New Thoughts (04/05/09-04/10/09)
Something on the order of three years ago, it seemed reasonable to me that there was a lot happening between verses 32 and 33 of this chapter in John. Admittedly, it is a difficult matter, trying to discern where John’s account dovetails with the rest. So, I see that it has been more than half a year since I left off at verse 32. In the interim, I have been through Peter’s great confession of the Christ, and followed the disciples’ departing Galilee and returning to Capernaum. Arriving in Capernaum, the focus has been on the body of instruction Jesus imparts on matters of forgiveness and inclusion (Mt 18).
Now, I am returned to John’s account, and I am left to wonder why I broke into it in the first place. It seems clear, by John’s own account that when I left off, we were at the Feast of Tabernacles, and it is made clear in verse 37 that we are still at that same feast. It seems doubtful that John has spliced together memories from two different years, although not entirely impossible. Consider that by best estimates, this record was written some thirty to sixty years after the events he records, and that sixty year estimate is given somewhat greater weight. The memories of an old man, then. Memories of events that were entirely unforgettable, it is true, and memories folded around the records his friends had written before him. Still, even if he were the youngest of the group that walked with Jesus for those three years, sixty additional years leaves him an old man.
Over against any attempt to inject an additional year between these two verses, I must recognize that a straight and unforced reading of the account allows of no such gap. I must also allow that God in His Wisdom saw fit to have the record stand as He has it, however difficult or even impossible it may be for such as I to correlate the four accounts. It is easy enough to understand why few if any have attempted to lay out a harmony of all four Gospels. Yet, it felt the thing to do back when I started into this study.
All of that aside, as I pick up the history John presents once more, let me recall briefly what he has recalled of the circumstances that brought us to this verse. John tells us that they had already decided to stay in Galilee, given the hostility of the Judeans to the message of Jesus, that Jesus’ own brothers had sought to goad Him into making an entry of sorts at the Feast of Tabernacles (if only from their own unbelief). We learn that Jesus, being wholly obedient to the Law of God, did indeed attend that feast (one of the required feasts at which all men of Israel were to be present in Jerusalem), but without fanfare. Yet, He did not hide. He taught openly in the temple areas, and those who heard Him were amazed, as always. They were amazed all the more because they knew Him to be an untrained country boy.
It was when Jesus began to explain how He came by His wisdom that offense really set in, particularly as He took something of a swipe at the local experts in His explanation. “The one who speaks for himself seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of that One who sent Him is true, for there is no unrighteousness in Him” (Jn 7:18). You know, the power of that statement still astounds. There is no unrighteousness in Him. God looks down on the sons of man and declares, “there is no man righteous, no not one”, but in this Jesus whom He sent, there is no unrighteousness! What power there is in such a declaration. Who else but the very Christ of God, very God of God could dare to make such a claim? Who else could make that claim in earnest and not know God’s wrath upon him for his lies and effrontery? No, not one! Only my Savior.
Continuing, Jesus asks the crowd why they seek His death, which they deny outright (v20), but then ask one another of He isn’t the one ‘they’ want to kill (v25). This realization impresses them the more, because here He is teaching under their very noses, and there do not seem to be any repercussions for Him. Now, they begin to wonder if maybe these same leaders who seek to kill Him know Him to be the Messiah (v26-27), although in their own wisdom they are quite sure this cannot be, for He’s from the wrong region. I have to ask: what does this say of their own perspective on the priesthood, that they could even imagine those priests knowing the Messiah and yet seeking His death? What it says to me is that some things haven’t changed.
Those very priests, we learn, have noted the conversations taking place in their courtyards, and not with pleasure. Even when the crowds turn on Him a bit, this is not a good thing in the eyes of those priests. After all, nobody wanted the Romans to have an excuse to come into the temple grounds. So, the priests send their own guards out after Jesus, but neither crowd nor temple guard could apprehend Him, “because His hour had not yet come” (v30).
The guards had just been sent, then, when last we visited this book, although it appears they have not yet reached Jesus. Thus, as we pick back up on events in verse 33, and hear Jesus saying, “For a little while longer I am with you,” there is enough cause to hear a “Not yet” being spoken, as the Living Bible adds. It would be tempting to hear a bit of a chuckle in Jesus’ voice as He speaks, seeing the guards coming His way, and knowing the futility of it all. Not yet, boys. You can come for Me later, but the timing’s off just now, so I’ll just have to leave you empty handed. But, that’s more the Hollywood view of the master criminal, not the reality of Jesus.
No, if in Him there is a ‘not yet,’ it is spoken in power. It is the message of One Who is perfectly and completely in control of His own circumstance. As this is the high holy week of our faith, as we approach Good Friday and the subsequent Resurrection Sunday, what a marvelous and important truth this is to hold on to. Even in these hours of His greatest crisis, Jesus was ever and always perfectly in control of His own circumstance. The treachery of the Sanhedrin could only touch Him as He allowed. The machinations of Pontius Pilate, the cruel mockery of his guards, the spiteful abuse of the crowds and even of the criminals who hung beside Him in those final hours: had it been His intent, had it served His purpose of perfect obedience, He could have countered or avoided any and all of these things. Every temptation that ever the devil laid before Him lay fully within His power to accomplish without any help from that usurper.
The devil had claimed dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth, but here was the true King. He didn’t need the usurper’s permission to take back His own throne. In reality and in truth, the power to give that kingdom into the hands of the King did not lie with the devil in any way, shape or form. He, like Pilate whom he used, had no power in himself. What authority he had, what power he might have been given reign to use, was only such as the Father (and therefore Jesus) had given him permission to use, and only for so long as it served His purposes to allow that use.
Let us rejoice, then, even in the humiliation of our Lord. For, His humiliation has been our salvation. His suffering has been our redemption. His perfection has covered our imperfection. Yes! And though, as we shall see, we who have believed hear in part the same message as these who have refused, yet the outcome for us is so very different. “Where I am, you cannot come.” For some, that is the voice of final judgment. You cannot come now, nor ever shall. For others, the promise awaits beyond that little while. For a time, it shall be for us as for them. But, not always. That, however, is getting very far ahead of myself.
The power of what Jesus is telling these men is concentrated in the word ‘cannot’. You cannot come. It is a far stronger statement He is making than, “you won’t come,” or, “it’s highly unlikely that you would come.” You cannot. There is an absolute negation applied to the very possibility. It is impossible that you should, no matter how hard you might try. You have absolutely no power in yourself by which you might come. You have absolutely no permission or authority by which to gain entry to where I am to be. There is no least possibility that there shall ever be any circumstance by which you might arrive at where I am to be.
As much as they have failed to grasp His point, the point is made. The door is shut. You had your chance, but that chance has now passed you by, and there shall not be another in your case. As much as we may find ourselves trembling when we read the passage about the sheep and the goats on the day of judgment, this is a far more fearsome message. In reality, it is much the same message, but in what Jesus says here there is a certainty of outcome, a finality, that says that their assessment on that judgment day is already determined and there’s nothing they can do that will ever change it. The die is cast. The evidence has all been presented now, and no further offers of judicial clemency are forthcoming. The last appeal has been made. There is no other court to which you might appeal for a reversal. It’s done. It’s over.
Interestingly, I was just reading an article last night on an ancient proponent of the double predestination. In other words, this one propounded the idea that not only are the redeemed predestined for salvation, even from before the creation of the first man, but likewise, the reprobates are predestined for condemnation. They are not so predestined as to make God the author or cause of their sins, but they are irreversibly on course for an absolutely unchangeable finish just the same. Admittedly, that message sounds severe to the ear, even to one who accepts and even rejoices in the reality of predestination.
In the fact of God’s having predetermined that the saved shall indeed be saved, even before they have a hand in it – even before they have the first scrap of DNA in it – is the greatest possible assurance. That is my warrantee deed. In that He chose me before there was even the least possibility of my having a hand in the matter, I am given to understand that it was entirely His choosing and in no least possible way anything I have earned. Had I earned it, I must fear constantly that some later action would cause my earnings to slip away. Had I earned it, my salvation would be no more secure than my investments. But, in that I haven’t ever earned it, there is a certainty of outcome. The Judge has already determined my outcome. I’m going to make it for the simple reason that His Word does not go forth without accomplishing His Will. If He has declared it His Will that I be adopted into His family, and His Word to that effect has gone forth, then it is finished.
The harsh side of that same comprehension, though, must be that if His will has not gone forth as to the adoption of this one or that one, it is equally impossible that they should find themselves adopted. As I have been reminded by these articles, the whole matter rests on comprehending the absolutely supremacy of God, the absolute sovereignty of God. We have a problem with that last concept, particularly here in the US, because we did away with sovereign rule a long time ago. We have never lived under it, never accepted it as a possibility. In a democracy, the theory goes, everyone has their say. But, under the rule of a sovereign king, the king alone decides. If it is his wish to allow you some input into his decisions, that’s fine, but if he does not so wish, then you will be silent and abide his decision. At least, you will do so if you value your life.
The kings of old wielded power such as this. Their word was law, and woe to that one who would dare to contradict them, dare to act in any way contrary to their rulings. This power was often, if not always, abused. The absolute of power went to the head of the king, and he almost invariably overstepped his bounds. The abused have a bad habit of fighting against the abuse, and when the abused begin to account for the majority of the population, the overwhelming majority, eventually the might of arms that belongs to the king will be insufficient to protect him. That is the lesson of history.
However, in God we have the Absolute Sovereign, the King of all kings, Lord over all lords. In Him, and in Him alone, is that power vested and in Him alone is that power exercised with perfect justice, with no least hint of abuse. All other handlers of authority are given their authority by Him or else they have no authority at all. The fact of their rule, the extent of their rule, and the duration of their rule is in His hands. Their term may not be cut short by any man, nor may their term be extended by any man. It is for God and God alone to determine their season, and when He declares the season ended, no power in heaven or on earth can change it.
That is the very sovereign power that declares the matter of adoption. That is the power behind predestination. If the Absolute Sovereign God of the Universe has decreed your adoption, what exactly do you think can counter His decree? There is nothing, there is no one, not even you, yourself, can really have a say in the matter at that point. There is only, “Yes, my Lord King.” It may be spoken reluctantly, or it may be spoken with deepest joy, but the answer is unchanged. When the Scriptures proclaim that every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, there is nothing in that which requires them all to be universally thrilled by the necessity, only that the necessity shall be very, very real.
Many, of course, look at this irresistible determination of God in matters of salvation and feel cheated somehow. What use is it to Him if I have not had a say in the matter? But, you see, this misses a great deal. Mostly, it misses the truth of our situation prior to His intervention in things. Prior to His active interference in saving us, we had free will, if you wish to call it that. We were free to choose to sin, and we freely chose to do just that. The reality of our situation was that, having no awareness of righteousness, no conception of righteousness, and no idea that righteousness was a choice available to us, we could hardly expect to make such a choice.
Oh! But, that leaves us as automatons, pawns in some cosmic game of all-powerful warlords. No. It is the reality of the enslaved life you were born into thanks to the fall of your first progenitor, Adam. In his fall, all fell. In his failure, all became swamped in the futility of slavery to sin. In his choice, every future choice of every future descendant had been made. Is the slave then an automaton? We know from our own history that this is not the case. His choices are restricted, even eliminated, but yet, he is no automaton. He may be hopeless, seeing no possibility for freedom. He may have been born into this condition, and hardly even be aware of freedom. He may have nothing in his experience on which to form an understanding of freedom. Yet, when the chance for freedom comes, when something in his circumstance changes and those things that have bound him are removed, what happens? There’s a choice to be made, absolutely! If we assume an evil and vicious master, though, do we not understand that though there’s a choice to be made, the outcome is hardly in question?
Well, who freed that slave? Did he free himself? No way! It was thoroughly and utterly out of his power. Did he do something to earn that freedom? Nope. Did he show himself in some way deserving of freedom? Not in any way. Some outside power – a power we could even presume relatively blind as to the character or history of this particular slave – took pity on his situation, and demanded his freedom. In God’s case, of course, that Power is not blind in any way. In Him is vested the power to know the heart of a man. In Him, also, is vested the power to change the heart of a man. In Him, pure and simple, is vested ALL power. It is His decision to make, and it is His nature to make that decision perfectly.
So, for we who are counted among the redeemed, though we can take no credit for our condition, yet we can rejoice in the certainty of our condition. Indeed, we can joyfully proclaim that it is precisely because our status as the redeemed, adopted children of God is in absolutely no way anything we’ve had a hand in that we are so very certain that our adoption is real and our future certain.
But, for those who are not so counted, what can be said? “Where I AM, you cannot come.” Do you not see that it is the same authority that lies behind this declaration? If redemption is not something earned, there is nothing in our actions that can force the issue in our favor. If God is Sovereign, there is nothing I can do to force Him to change His mind. Think of that poor king in Esther. For better or for worse, what he proclaimed as law he could not undo. His word was final, and even he was not authorized to revoke it. This is, in its way, a very good picture of God. He is unchanging. What He has declared true at one time is true for all time. What He has defined righteousness to be at one time remains the definition of righteousness for all time. What He has decreed, He is not going to un-decree. For Him, one could suppose it were possible in the most mechanical sense. It is not that He is powerless to revoke His own declarations. It is that, given His essential character, given what makes Him God, there is not the least chance that He would do so. Perfection, after all, does not require correction.
So, what is happening here as this Man, in whom is the fullness of the Godhead, looks upon those who would destroy Him and says, “Where I AM, you cannot come?” OK. First of all, notice the change of tense when He makes this declaration. Look again at the whole message. “For a while I am with you, then I go. You will seek Me [thereafter], but you will not find Me. Where I AM, you cannot come.” It’s not, “where I’m going.” It’s not, “where I will be at that time.” It’s, “where I AM!” Do you see this? Currently, He says, I AM with you. Simultaneously, though, He is telling them that He IS in a place they cannot come to.
Isn’t this the very picture of the God-Man? This One Who is at once man and God: this One Who came in the flesh, yet retained the fullness of the Godhead within Himself, Who was simultaneously present in His throne room and upon this humble earth! That is what He is proclaiming here, if we can but hear it. “I AM here, but I AM also in that place to which I go.” And, where He is truly I AM, fully I AM, in that place on those whom He has authorized can come to Him. For those He is addressing at present, that authorization is not forthcoming. For them, the court is closed. They shall not enter that court except once: to hear the penalty applied to their case, and to be led to the place of eternal payment.
And there, if there is any connection, I can find a connecting point back to what I have been studying most recently. There, I am pointed back to the close of the parable of the slaves in debt. Because you have not forgiven the small debts due you, my Father will not forgive your eternal debt. You shall go to your jail cell until you have paid the whole thing off. And, by the way, it’s impossible that you should ever pay the whole thing off, even in all of eternity, for your debt has no end as your crimes had no end. Boom! Trust me, in that place, you will seek Him. You will cry out for Him. You will be most desperate for one more chance to choose Him. But, you will not find Him. Where He is I AM, you cannot come. The case has been closed.
You see, even in matters of faith, seasons come to an end. God is indeed patient, longsuffering. But, as He has said, to everything there is a season. Patience must eventually give way to justice when the object of that patience remains steadfast in sin. Longsuffering must eventually give way to wrath when it is clear that the subject will never change his ways, never cease in his rebellions against the king. The king that will not deal decisively with rebellion, whether by turning rebel to compatriot or by crushing the rebel, will not long remain king, will he? There comes a time when even the Sovereign must act perhaps not in the way He would prefer to have acted, but in the way that is required by His Sovereignty. Woe, then, to that one who pushes Him to such actions! Woe to the one who insists on wearing out the patience of God, for the Wrath that must come upon him shall not be removed. The gate that he thereby closes against himself shall never be opened.
Can you imagine the sorrow, the agony of sorrow, that must be on those who find themselves in that place? Can you imagine the eternity of sorrow that those to whom Jesus is speaking here will suffer when they finally understand what He meant. They had the chance. The offer of redemption had been laid out at their feet. And yet, they had rejected the offer. They had scorned the offer and abused the One by whom the offer came. However they might look at predestination, they must come to the conclusion that they have no one but themselves to blame. And these words of Christ shall echo in their ears forever, “Where I AM, you cannot come.” Can there be any greater sorrow? Can there be any greater agony of remorse?
I have to note, however, that the words of this passage alone are not sufficient to declare the condemnation of those listening. Jesus has the same thing to say to His own. Indeed, in saying it, He specifically reminds them of this present occasion. “I say to you what I said to them: I am with you but a short while longer. Then, you shall seek me, but you cannot come where I am going” (Jn 13:33). It would be tempting to make much of the slight change Jesus makes to this statement in repeating it to His own. To the Jews, it was, “where I am.” To the disciples, it is, “where I am going.” But, that is not what makes the difference.
The difference is that, for both groups, something more was said. To the Jews, what was said spelled out the finality of their failures. For them, the message completes with, “I go, and you will seek Me, but even so, you will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going” (Jn 8:21). But, for the disciples, something else completes the thought: “Soon, you will no longer see Me, but not much longer thereafter and you will see Me again” (Jn 16:16). To the former group, the message is condemnation, an absolute failure of hope. To the latter, the message is patience and certainty. For both groups, the certainty is there. For both, the message is, ‘you will’. For both groups, that message has the full weight of God’s decree backing it up.
But, notice this: Seeking does not guarantee finding. That would seem to contradict what Jesus had said previously (Mt 7:7), but the distinction is easy enough to find. On the Mount, He was speaking to the chosen, to those He had come to save. On this occasion, He is speaking to those who have flatly rejected every attempt at rescue. He is speaking to those who have capped their own conviction by their failure to inspect themselves.
This may strike us as cruelty on the part of God, but is it? Is justice cruel when meted out justly? Is the judge cruel for assigning prison time to the felon? Of course not. We would think him more cruel by far if he summarily ignored the crimes of the felon and returned him to the streets to further plague his victims. We would rightly recognize the danger into which that judge had just plunged every witness for the prosecution, and we would think that cruel even to the point of criminality in itself.
It strikes me that what we see happening here is much the same as had been happening to the Canaanites before Israel entered their lands. God’s stated purpose in that was that those tribes should be given time to fill up the measure of their evils. Now, again that seems rather malevolent on the face of things. What about those who fell victim to their evils? What about those who might not have done as they did without the influences of that society around them? But, the truth is as Paul has stated. No man is without the testimony of God given in such a way as to make Him known. All of Creation declares not only that God is, but declares that He is good. Even the things that cannot be seen clearly in Him are revealed in the nature of His works (Ro 1:18-20). If the environmental impact of society is to be taken as an excuse for personal guilt, then certainly the much vaster environmental impact of all creation must be taken as an argument for personal conviction!
In other words, that same time given to them in which to fill up the measure of their sins had a more than equal potential in it to bring them to repentance over their sins, were they so inclined. God’s declaration makes it clear that the outcome was certain in spite of the potentials, just as it was for Pharaoh. His decree had gone forth. The die had been cast. There could be no other outcome. Yet, the failure lies with the actors in that drama. Pharaoh, for all his doom was certain, did not act from a sense of futility. He did not play his part as some docile pawn, knowing himself incapable of doing anything but what he was doing. No, he gladly chose to do as he did. He insisted on his choice. The man thought himself a god, and was treated as such. Who would command him to go against his own wishes? Certainly not this dusty old man of the desert with his magic stick! He chose his sins willingly, gladly, insistently, and his sins were his lot.
So it is, now, for the religious elite of Israel, those tagged as ‘the Jews’ as John writes. Now, obviously, John himself was Jewish, and equally obvious is the fact that he is not included in this judgment, any more than Matthew, Peter and the rest, though they were doubtless around to hear what Jesus said. Indeed, there were great crowds of Jews round about Him, but the message He is delivering is targeted at those who have already determined in their hearts that they will not follow after this Man no matter how great the sign He gives. There is nothing that He can do which would break through the crust upon their heart. No, that would misstate the case. There is nothing that He will do, for He will do only as He hears from heaven, sees in heaven. He will do only as the One upon the throne commands.
So, to these He is addressing, the message is as it was to the Canaanites. You are being given time to fill up the full measure of your sins, that the Justice of God may be shown that much more just in your condemnation. If the Canaanites had the testimony of creation to correct them, and failed to be corrected, you have had the Creator walking in your very midst, and yet you will not hear His correction. You have the express image of God standing with you, showing you by His example what the Righteousness of God in man looks like. You have the Light of the World here, the Living Word speaking to you personally, proclaiming the true Wisdom of heaven. And, with all this, you still insist on your own meager knowledge as superior. You still insist that your petty little exercises in looking good to others are superior to true righteousness. You still insist on your own ways, and will not give ear to the God you claim to belong to. You have, then, utterly rejected your Owner, and He has therefore granted you your fondest desire by utterly rejecting you. Justice is served.
It is no wonder, really, that Jesus had to take time to calm His disciples later. Had they been left with this message, they might have found cause to doubt their own condition. They might have begun to wonder if all their own attempts to follow after His ways were equally doomed to failure. But, Jesus does not leave them with this as the last they shall hear on the matter. Even as He warns them that His time with them is drawing to a most violent close, He gives them cause for encouragement. “For a while yet, the light remains among you. Walk while you have the light” (Jn 12:35). Then, as I already noted, there is the warning that there will be this period where they cannot see Him (Jn 13:33), when they cannot come to where He is. Yet, there is implied in that the reality that He still is. They would miss that in the shock of the grief to come upon them, but it had been said.
It was more than the grave He spoke of. Of course, we not only possible, but pretty much inevitable that we follow Him that far. Even the most sinful of men will follow Him into the grave. It’s the promise of John 16:16 that changes the picture! But, after awhile, you will see Me. For the disciples, that was an earthly reality, as Jesus walked amongst them subsequent to His resurrection. But, do you see? These words describe the life of every Christian who has walked the earth ever since. For awhile, we seek Him and cannot find Him – if we seek Him at all. Comes a time that He determines to reveal Himself to us. No, we are not likely to see some physical manifestation. We are not generally given to experience a Christophany. But, we have come into contact with His reality, His presence.
Yet, the truth remains that we cannot come to where He IS. So long as we remain in this body of flesh, walking upon the dust of this earth, we cannot come to where He IS. We cannot see Him, however much we may seek to. Like Moses, we fall into this habit of begging to be shown His face, but it is a futile request. It is futile in that the message was long since made clear that no man can see His face and live. Our sinful present could not withstand the righteousness of God full on. It is futile, likewise, in that we already have the absolute promise that we shall see Him full on, as He is, but not until the day we are brought before Him in the fullness of our own resurrection, not until the Righteousness of Christ has been fully knitted into the fiber of our being. Then, when we are so changed, so remade, that we can withstand His presence, we will enjoy His presence. Yes, and we will enjoy His presence for eternity, walking in the Light forever. Why beg, then, for what is already our certain inheritance? Why seek to rush things? Are we like that prodigal son, insisting on having what is ours now while we can still enjoy it? May it never be! May we abide in the recognition that our Father gives us only as is best for us – never more than is wise, never less than is needful. If we truly believe that His wisdom is, as He says Himself, far and away above our own, then what cause have we to try and bend Him to our desire? No. Walk while you have the light. Rest in the assurance of the Promise. Know peace in knowing that He has your seasons well in hand, and your completion scheduled to the minute. Dwell in the realization that He is faithful to complete what you could not even have started. He has decreed it, and He will do it! Indeed, He already did. It is finished!
These Jewish leaders, hearing what Jesus has said, have a most interesting response. In truth, when I looked at this passage in the past, what struck me was their failure to understand Him. There is that aspect here, to be sure, just as there is that aspect almost every time Jesus speaks. That’s the risk in being profound, I suppose. But, what is more interesting here, the more so because John does not choose to point it out, is that their response is so prophetic. Notice the sequence that is present in their reaction, particularly when they are included in that sequence. In their own situation, we have Jesus teaching the Jews. In their questioning reaction, we hear them propose first that perhaps He intends to go to those Jews who live outside of Judea, in other regions of the world, and then – even more farfetched by their thinking – maybe teaching the Greeks themselves.
To them, this whole proposal for understanding Jesus is derisive in tone. It was ridiculous enough that this Galilean thought to teach the real Jews of Judea! Why, they were barely to be accounted as more than a Samarian! But, the admixture that was sensed in the Galilean was of a different nature, not so wholly disqualifying in their sight – only nearly so. The Samarians were the remnant left in the land by the Babylonians, and – at least as far as the returning exiles were concerned – they had mixed their genes with other nations such that they were no longer truly Jews. They had compromised. They had become half-Canaanite. They were therefore rejected outright.
The Galileans, on the other hand, were still pure in descent. But, they were in the midst of such Gentile influences! They were comfortable dealing with Gentiles, accepted the Gentiles as business associates and such, even if they would not allow their daughters to marry the sons of the Gentiles. That this was having an impact on them was clear to the Judeans by their very speech patterns. Just listen! They are not so suave as we, not so fine in enunciation and thought. They are rough, too earthy, too influenced by the outsider. Nor have they the fine education of our sons of Jerusalem! If they had, perhaps they would have overcome the difficulties of their upbringing. If they had, they would be like us, and we could accept them as peers. But, as it is? No. Clearly inferior, even if they are relatives.
As to the Diaspora that they propose Jesus may intend to go visit, these were one step worse than the Galileans. The Galilean could at least claim the excuse of birth locale. It wasn’t by any choice of Jesus that He was born and raised in Nazareth of Galilee. It wasn’t by His choosing that He did not receive the benefits of a Jerusalem college education. These men of the Diaspora, on the other hand, had chosen to go dwell amongst the Gentiles. They did have that Jerusalem education, but they had gone off anyway. They had [shudder] chosen making a living over devotion to the Temple! And, they had adopted Gentile ways, worse yet! They accepted Greek philosophy, at least in some degree. They accepted Greek educational methods, at least in some degree. They enjoyed Greek arts, at least in some degree. Sad, how far they had fallen from the privilege God gave to Israel. But, maybe such a teacher as this Jesus could find acceptance among them. Nah!
He’d have to settle for teaching the Greeks themselves! As if they were even candidates for the truth of God! Hah! It is to laugh. These heathens, although they may rule the culture, are surely ruled out as receptacles of truth. God chose Israel. That ends the discussion, doesn’t it? He chose us, so there can be nothing for them in Him. So thoroughly had they missed the message of the prophets whenever the subject was bigger than personal security.
But, listen! Just like Caiaphas would later be used to speak a truth he did not himself believe or even grasp, so it is here. Consider what Jesus would command of His disciples. “You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the farther corners of the earth” (Ac 1:8b). It’s the same progression from the purportedly most holy to the purportedly least holy. In that sense, then, though He did not intend to go to these places in physical body, the larger answer to the question these elites propose is, “Yes! By all means, I AM will be present amongst the Diaspora, and even (though you think it impossible) amongst the Greeks!” It is not, clearly, the point Jesus is making to them, yet their question should indeed be answered in the affirmative. And not only there, but He shall go to all nations, even as your Torah has always said He would, if you would actually read it.
There is another respect in which this derogatory question is truly profound in its predictions. For, in that same progression I see the standard procedure of Paul, himself one of these derisive elites at the time. Here was the Jew among Jews, the Pharisee among Pharisees. Now, I keep hearing it bandied about that he was in line to become high priest, but I think that may be a tad fanciful, unless we consider that pretty much any priest was in line for that duty. More importantly, notice how Paul approached his work, when once he had come to Christ. One of the first things he did was to return to Jerusalem and take counsel with the leaders of the church in the holy city. But, then, watch his actions as he travels amongst the Gentiles he was assigned to reach. On every occasion, he goes first to the synagogue – first to the Diaspora community. They have, as it were, the privilege of first refusal, and it is only after they have heard the offer of salvation and made their choice that he moves on to give that same offer in the hearing of the despised Gentiles.
Yes, and in the message of salvation that Paul and others like him delivered to those darkened lands, the prophetic message was fulfilled. It was fulfilled which these men were saying all unwittingly. Jesus had gone to the Diaspora and to the Greeks, and He was teaching them. He had done so not only through the efforts of His apostles, but He did so through the presence of His Holy Spirit, which is to say, He did so through His own personal presence in their midst. For, He abides in those who abide in Him. But, it was not just their words that were fulfilled in this, but the words of their own, acknowledged prophets. Behold! A light shines in the darkness. A people dwelling in darkness will see a great light! To you a Son is born, and upon His shoulders will be the governance of all the nations of the earth. And so it was, and so it shall be.
And even yesterday, I hear the Jews hoping that maybe in 2037, when they celebrate the sun being at noon on a precise anniversary of the moment of creation, maybe by then Messiah will have come. But, my dear friend, He has come. He came into the world He created, amongst the people He chose to elevate, and He was rejected. He was rejected by His subjects, His creatures. He was humiliated, abused, scorned by those He had showered with honors and privilege. Even so, there is hope. Even so, there is yet time for reconciliation. Even so, if you will but open your eyes to the truth of Him, He awaits with outstretched arms, willing even now to accept the prodigal son back to the house. But, that offer shall not stand forever. There comes a time of finality, a last chance, even as it had come for these men who laughed at Him in the temple courtyard. “Where I AM, you cannot come.” Don’t let that be your last word on the subject.
Turning briefly to the Diaspora, there are three points I should like to make. First, we ought not to lose sight of the fact that the existence of this population of Jews in foreign places finds its cause in God. It was because He had reached the end of His patience with the pagan ways of His chosen people that He chose to cast His people to the pagans. If this was their choice, then let them have it! Of course, as is ever the way with sin, the thing that seemed so pleasant when taken in small doses proves most thoroughly unpleasant when had to the full. The people in exile discovered, at least a portion of them, a hunger for home such as they’d never known when they were home. Another case of the grass forever being more pleasant on the plot of land we do not own?
That this was the root cause of the scattering of Israel is not to say it was the only reason that certain of the Jews had left the land of promise for the promise of other lands. Many went in search of profit, particularly during this period of Greek and Roman dominance. There were fortunes to be made in the lands of empire, and what was there in Israel but taxation and anger? Doubtless there were others who went with reasons more pure. There may have been missionary sorts, gone to proselytize, even as Paul would later do on Christ’s behalf. There may have been those who went to serve the religious needs of those who had gone before. But, at root, the reason for the Dispersion remained a punishment for sin.
At the same time, though, this Dispersion amongst the nations was a planting of the seed of hope in those nations. The presence of the Jews was, in accord with the promise to Abraham, a blessing to the nations that welcomed them. Think how these enclaves of Jewish life scattered all around the Mediterranean and the Middle East provided for the spread of the Gospel. They were every bit as critical to the success of the first Christian missionaries as were the roads that Rome had constructed, making travel easier. Travel was easier, and, with the presence of the Diaspora, a place to reside and a place to teach was assured to the traveler as well. Truly, a seed of blessing and of hope to the nations.
There is something more about this population that we should take very careful note of. Those who went to dwell in the midst of foreign civilizations, as much as they labored to maintain their own cultural identity and their own religious practices, inevitably began to be influenced by the civilization around them.
If you don’t hear the warning for yourself in that then you’re not listening. We are all proclaimed by God to be sojourners in foreign lands. Yes, I have been born an American and have resided in these United States all of my days. Yes, by the law of the land, I am a citizen of this nation. But, this nation is not, ultimately, my home. My true king, my true country, is in heaven, and my true citizenship is in that land. That is not a permit to ignore the laws of this land in which I currently dwell, nor is it license to have no care for this nation.
That said, my greatest allegiance must be to God and God’s kingdom. If Jesus is Lord of all, and I confess Him as my King, to whom else shall I bow? If I acknowledge that our president, whether he believes it or not, is in office solely at the whim of my God, and only for so long as my God deems it in His best interest to keep him in office, then even as I heed the rule of our president, it is God I obey. Yes, and in that moment at which the laws of human governance are decreed so as to be at odds with the Law of God, then those human governors have relinquished their right to authority, and their word is such that it is no longer binding.
Be careful here! Laws that make legal things that we rightly consider egregious sins are not in themselves cause to consider the lawgivers’ authority null and void. Laws that require that we personally engage in practices that are thus sinful in our God’s eyes, these are another question altogether. There is a clear line drawn by God Himself which, when crossed by those in authority, marks the end of their authority, whatever earthly powers may say.
More to my point, though, we who dwell amidst the influences of a corrupt and immoral culture – and that applies to every Christian in every nation of this earth – cannot avoid being influenced by that culture. We can, however, be discerning. We can recognize the dangers to our grip on Truth and take measures to limit the damage. The first step is to recognize that what we hear from the media, whether old media or new media, whether liberal, socialist, libertarian or conservative, whether religious or atheistic, is filled with these foreign influences, with a cultural sensibility that is almost certainly at odds with the culture of righteousness.
That does not mean that everything and anything we hear, see or read is utterly invalid and devoid of truth. Not at all! That should be obvious, but it seems like we often behave as if it must be an all or nothing choice for us. Look! Paul did not utterly reject the culture of Rome, of Greece, of Crete. Indeed, he was perfectly willing to draw from their own limited wisdom to make more clear to them the ultimate Wisdom that is God. He looked to the misguided piety of the Greeks, noted their acknowledgement (however ill informed) of a God whose name they did not know, and said, “Hey! Let me introduce you! This god you don’t know, His name is Jesus. Let me tell you all about Him. To start with, He created you, and all that you see and know…” Paul would draw from the oracles of the Cretans, their poets, their proponents of wisdom, to make their fallen natures that much more clear to them. “Your own poets declare your notoriety as a people. Yes, you are well known! You are known to be liars, lazier than any other people, and evil beasts as to your habits. And for this, all the world acknowledges the great wisdom of your poets, for they know his assessment is true.” Ouch!
For my own part, I recall reading Plato’s “Republic” a year or two back, and being surprised at how closely some of his thoughts paralleled the teachings of Jesus. And yet, go a paragraph further and there were other thoughts Plato expressed that were completely at odds with what we see declared righteous and true in Scripture. He was not, then, utterly devoid of the light of reason and wisdom. But, the light was occluded, obscured, as it were, by clouds, so that he caught glimpses of the truth. Like the rest of us, though, he was inclined to take that glimpse and add to it from his own imagination, since there was not further data being input.
Isn’t that entirely like us? Isn’t that almost exactly how we tend to deal with God? We hear a word. We note a certain pressing of an agenda upon us, an assignment. We grasp, by the Spirit, that there is this thing we are to do. And, off we go! We’ve got that assignment and we’re all over it. In fact, we are now so fully focused on that assignment that we neglect the necessary task of listening for further instruction. What has happened? We got a glimpse of the Truth and then just started tacking on our own imaginings, our own best reasoning, and never stopped to see if we were getting it right or not.
If we need to do this with our internal thinking, how much more do we need to do it with the information that is coming to us from outside? There is truth to be seen in the wisdom of man. The issue is that it must be stripped of the imagined decorations that men so consistently dress the Truth in. What I am saying, then, is that whatever we may glean from the wisdom of man – and that includes from ourselves, for we are deceptively wicked, and only more so in our internal thought life – must be tested against the Truth that God has so kindly revealed to us in Scripture. It’s like the old peg and hole table we may have had as kids. Square peg must go in square hole, round peg in round. Let us take this image, then, and reduce the table to a single hole of a single shape; let’s say round. This stands as the image of revealed Scripture. Now, we have a bucket of pegs, and they are of all manner of shapes. These pegs stand as the image of the truths, facts, opinions, lifestyles, and such that we receive from the world around us. But, only a subset, perhaps a very small subset, of those pegs will properly go through the one hole in our table. Our mission as a people devoted to God, then, is to make certain that we have tested every peg against that hole, and that we discard any peg that will not fit, retaining only those that do.
Now, the Jews back in Jerusalem looked down upon these dispersed brethren of theirs as somehow just a little less pure, a little less chosen. To be fair, it’s true that they had picked up something of the surrounding culture. How could they not? But, the fact is that they had been testing their pegs. They had been retaining their own ways, and a certain, noticeable separateness from the society around them. They were not stiff-necked and stubborn in their insistence on the old ways. They had not allowed tradition to be lifted to such heights of honor a to be idolatrous (as could be said for the high-minded critics back home). But, they had held to the Truth with tenacity.
The result of this is mixed, as it must be. Because they did not accept the culture outright, their presence was a bit of an abrasive to that culture. What do they think, that their better than us? How dare they judge our behaviors! How dare they belittle and reject our beliefs! Why, all beliefs are equal, after all! Only, of course, when push comes to shove, our beliefs are a little more equal than theirs. How intolerant of these so-called people of God, that they should call us ungodly! And you know that in all of this it is highly unlikely that any of these people of God had said a word against their neighbors. It is highly unlikely that they had ever done anything more provocative than to pursue their own ways in righteousness. But, that’s enough to disquiet the unrighteous.
Remember the salt? The salt of righteousness cannot be sprinkled on unrighteous substance without having an effect. It abrades away the sin. It speeds the corruption. It has an effect. A light cannot be turned on in the midst of a darkened room without that room becoming lightened. The darkness is powerless to prevent that. The things that prefer darkness must, all unwilling, find themselves exposed in the light. Has the light passed judgment on the darkness? No. It has simply insisted on being truly itself. The darkness is no less offended for all that.
The other side of this, though, is that the cultural influences, particular of the Greeks, upon the Jews who dwelt in their midst had a certain benefit for those Jews. Because they had heard bits of real wisdom in Greek philosophy, because they had seen some benefit to the methods of Greek education, because they had witnessed at least a degree of piety in Greek religion, however misplaced; they were uniquely prepared by God’s providence to hear those who came to them with the Gospel of Christ.
Again, I look at the salt. Salt may find itself dissolved in the water. It may find itself scattered upon the land so thinly that it is all but unnoticeable. Salt may take on some of the mineral content of that surrounding land. It may wind up with something of a local flavor, if you will. But, it remains salt, and that which is truly salt remains purely salt. So it was with the Jews in Alexandria, for instance. They had accepted some of the ways of Greek culture – certainly not all of it. They continued to hold true to the things that mattered in regards to faith, but discovered a flexibility that was unthinkable back home, as to matters of thought and practice that did not directly impinge on faith. They had learned new ways of thinking, and so, when the Christians came with a message that required new thinking, an acceptance of the possibility that the newness of the thing did not automatically indicate the wrongness of the thing, they could give this new Gospel a fair hearing. And, having heard the Gospel with open ears and mind, they found that their hearts were likewise open and ready to receive what God was so generously giving.
There is the tension in which the Christian ever lives. He cannot and should not shut himself off utterly to the culture, or he will become so culturally irrelevant as to have no hope of reaching the culture. At the same time, he cannot and should not embrace the culture indiscriminately, or he will become so thoroughly enculturated as to have no redeeming value for the culture. The argument rages in the Church as to whether it needs to make the Gospel relevant to today’s culture, or whether it should simply preach on as it has always done. The answer is, yes. Yes, there is every precedent for tuning the presentation of the Gospel to the culture one is seeking to reach. As I have noted, Paul gives us a fine example of this. “I become all things to all people that by all means I might save a few”. What will it take to get the Truth through to them? That’s what I’ll do! The presentation is subject to tuning. The message itself is not. That’s the distinction we must maintain, and that distinction is too often lost in the rush to become relevant.
Being relevant to a society does not mean that we simply accede to every morality or immorality that the society condones. That the society around us accepts and promotes all manner of sexual deviancy does not require the Church to likewise accept and promote such actions. That’s not being relevant to the society. That’s being the society. That’s eliminating any voice of the Church whatsoever. Face it. By attempting to be relevant in this fashion, the Church can only make itself totally irrelevant. If your preaching’s saying nothing, why say it?
It would be equally ineffective for the Church to react to the reality of such deviant behaviors in the society by acting as if they are not there. Refusing to take note of them is no different, in the end, than condoning them. “No comment,” on the part of the Church, is heard by the outside world as, “no problem.” Oh, they may shake their fists at us for commenting when we do. They may express their ire that we would dare to pass judgment on their behavior. Who are we after all, to say we have the exclusive access to Truth? What about that other religion down the street that says it’s not only OK to do what we do, it’s all good? Why should we listen to you and your morality when we have all these folks around telling us that the truly evolved know there is no God? No God, no morality! Why should I do what you say I should do instead of what I want to do?
No, the Church must continue to declare the Truth, and declare it unfiltered and undiluted. To do otherwise is to refuse our own mission, our own assignment from the Lord of all Creation. If we are His ambassadors, we can do no less than declare His ways to those who are, like it or not, His subjects. Oh, that prince of darkness still walks around like he owns the place, but we know better. We know the King, though He has been abroad for some time. We are here as His representatives. In many ways, our authority exceeds that of princes and presidents, but only if we exercise our own office more faithfully than they exercise theirs.
Let the Church be sensitive to the style of the culture, but let them be steadfast in delivering True judgments on the ways of the culture. Let her word be the Word, and please God, let our ways be daily closer in emulating Your Way! Let us learn to accept upon ourselves the scars of abrasion, as we scrub away at the culture. Let us come to the place of giving ourselves for the salvation of many as our Lord so utterly gave Himself for ours. What could be a more fitting resolution to take for oneself on this Good Friday!
