Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (John 8:46-59):
So the Jews said to [Jesus], “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In our reading today, we read about a conversation which Jesus had with some people in the temple. And this conversation is one where the Jewish leaders are arguing with Jesus, and Jesus answers them back.
And it seems, as well, as though the Jewish leaders are getting more angry with each question, but Jesus answers them plainly.
St Peter in his first letter says: “In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame.”
…Always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…
Has anyone ever asked you to defend your faith? Has anyone asked you a question about your faith? Perhaps you look back at your life and you remember when this actually did happen to you, but you feel ashamed at what you said. Maybe you felt like the person had backed you into a corner. Maybe you didn’t know what to say – or maybe you tried to make yourself look better that all the other “stupid” Christians, and said, “Some Christians think this, but I am so much more enlightened!” Or maybe, like Peter, you denied your Lord three times before the rooster crowed.
If this is the case, then let the past be past. Lord, forgive me the sins of my youth! (That includes everything up until yesterday!)
But note that it is the same Peter, the same Peter who denied his Lord three times, who writes the words: “Always be prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”
St Peter is saying, “I wasn’t always prepared, but I’m telling you now, “be prepared”!” So take encouragement from Peter’s example, how he was forgiven by Jesus, but then was given the opportunity to bring the gospel to many people.
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In our reading today, listen to the things that the people ask Jesus:
“Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Then later: “Are you greater than our father Abraham? Who do you make yourself out to be?”
And then: “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
They weren’t an easy crowd. They were already angry with Jesus.
But notice what Jesus doesn’t do. He doesn’t say, “I can’t be bothered talking to these people”, and walk off. He doesn’t toss their question aside like a clever politician and go off the topic.
He just answers what they ask him.
When it comes to our defence of the gospel, too, this is exactly what we are called to do. When the most insignificant person asks the most insignificant question, you are called by God to answer them. You are called to give a reason for the hope that is in you. But you are also called in these situations to demonstrate humility, you are called to be gentle and respectful.
If you don’t know the answer to the question they ask, then say, “I don’t know”, and tell them that you’ll ask someone else, or you’ll go and research it, and then when you’ve found an answer that you’re happy with, go and tell them. Don’t pretend that you know everything and make a fool of yourself by giving them a silly answer or getting angry with them.
If they are angry with you, and they say, “You stupid Christian! How could you be so stupid as to be believe this or that?” don’t get angry back. Just take what they say at face value, and say, “I’m not stupid, but I do believe that.”
Remember that the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. If they think you’re stupid, it means that they have probably understood you.
Listen to the discussion that goes on in our reading.
The people say to Jesus, “Are we not right in saying that you have a demon?” And Jesus says, “I do not have a demon.” He doesn’t get angry with them, he just gives them an honest answer.
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In the church today, we are living in a time where people are scratching their heads day after day thinking, “How can we get more people to come to church?” There were some discussions about these issues in the newspapers during the previous week.
And we have to be honest – there are a lot less people in church in Australia than there were 50 years ago. But that doesn’t mean that we have to try and find gimmicks to bring people into church.
The gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or [even] come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.
The gospel is what creates faith in people, and nothing else.
If we want to get people to come to church, by flashy advertising and gimmicks, then we shouldn’t be surprised when the people who come to our church just want to be entertained.
If we want to get people to come to church by organising social events, don’t be surprised when people are more closely tied to the church because of their friendships than because of their faith.
If we want to get people to come to church by making ourselves look less like a church, then don’t be surprised when the people who come don’t want anything to do with the church.
The gospel is the gospel. The church is the church. God is God.
Some people will be saved, and some people won’t be. Some people will understand the gospel and will love it, and some people will understand the gospel and will hate it.
You might give someone who asks you an honest answer to their question about Christianity, and you might put it in the nicest way you can, and you said it in the friendliest, non-offensive way that you could, and they still don’t believe. They even understood what you said – they got it! – but they still think that you are stupid. They still think that you are a religious nutcase. Never mind! You did your job – you did what you were called to do. You are not called to convert people, you are called to give an defence of the reason for the hope that is in you. And that’s all that you can do.
There is no easy road to the growth of the church. Jesus says, “Make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything I have commanded you.” If we don’t make disciples like this, then the church is not making disciples at all. If we are not baptising and teaching people everything, then we are building people up with nothing.
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Let’s go back to our reading today.
There are three things which Jesus defends in our reading, and which are also our calling to defend. And these three things are very important for us, as we prepare for Palm Sunday next week, and Holy week and Easter. If we don’t understand these things, it will be very difficult for us to understand what Good Friday and Easter are about.
The first thing is that Jesus defends to the Jewish leaders that he is without sin.
He says: “Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Jesus is without sin. Many people if they want to criticise Christianity say that Jesus was a sinner. They say: “He’s just an ordinary bloke, like us! And if he was truly human, he must have been a sinner. Everyone’s a sinner, right? Everyone sins, don’t they?”
Yes, everyone sins except Jesus. And we have to understand that to be a sinner is not originally what it meant to be a human being. God created us in his image, and we fell from that image. Our image became corrupted.
So when Jesus died on the cross, he died as one who was innocent. If you believe that Jesus was killed because he deserved it from something, then you are not a Christian. St Peter says that Jesus was a “Lamb without blemish”. Jesus is the Lamb of God who died for the sin of the world. St Paul says: “He who was without sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.” And he died because he was a real man. He wasn’t less than human because he didn’t sin.
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The second thing that Jesus defends is his words and his teaching.
He says, “I do not have a demon, but I honour my Father, and you dishonour me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
The teachings of Jesus and the words of Jesus are more powerful than death, and they give you life. The words of Jesus actually protect you from death and give you eternal life.
It’s not enough to say that a person is a Christian because they follow Jesus. Nobody follows Jesus if they don’t listen to his word and believe it. If you turn yourself away from the words of Jesus then you turn yourself away from Jesus himself.
So far, we have two things which Jesus defends: his sinlessness, and his words.
But the third thing is that Jesus shows that he is truly God.
The Jews said to him, “You are not fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” He says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Jesus is saying that he existed before Abraham. He is older than Abraham because he is truly God. He is “I am”. When Moses was at the burning bush and asked God what his name was, God said, “I AM”. This is what Jesus means when he says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He is saying, “I am God.”
Because Jesus was a true man, he was able to die. But because he was God, he was able to make a perfect sacrifice for our sins. He is true man and true God. He is the same God who said to Moses, “I am who I am.”
So we have these three things which Jesus defends: he is without sin, his words are true, and he is truly God.
And then, here is one of the most important things in our reading: The last verse of our reading:
“So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”
They picked up stones to throw at him. They wanted to kill him.
Do you know what this means? It means they understood! They understood exactly what Jesus was saying.
So too for us, we should not be afraid when people truly understand what we say and even so they reject us for it.
And we might say, “well, what was the point of Jesus saying anything in our reading today if all that happened is that no-one believed in him, and they wanted to kill him?”
Well, we believed him. And these things were written down for us. And Jesus promises us the same things, that “we will never see death.”
And that’s why eventually he did die. He died on the cross so that we would never see death. In the end, as we remember particularly on Good Friday, they did kill him, they did kill the sinless man, the Lamb without blemish, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
And his word is still preached. His words are still heard, and “we will never see death.”
And we are standing in the presence of our living Lord Jesus, who existed even before Abraham, and before Adam and Eve, and who created the world. We are standing in the presence of our living Lord Jesus who holds life and death in his hands, and forgives us, feeds us and blesses us.
That’s what the point of the reading is today. So have courage! And be strengthened! There is no reason to fear those times when we are called by our heavenly Father to give a defence of the reason for the hope that it in us.
Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you for the sinlessness of your Son. We thank you for his words, and we thank you is God of God, Light of Light, true God from true God. Help us to keep these things always in mind, and send us your Holy Spirit, and the words to say, especially in those times when we are called to defend the faith. Amen.
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