Being With Jesus:
John 12:37 & 42 (NLT)
Even though He had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in Him… Nevertheless, many did believe in Him, even among the rulers…
Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette wrote, “As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet.” His was also the most polarizing life ever lived. Now in our day, perhaps in his day too, to be polarizing is neither an endearing trait nor a winning strategy to get you to the top. But Jesus didn’t care; his mission was to save souls (Mark 10:45), which required him to unflinchingly preach the truth, prove his ministry by mighty miracles that often collided with the established rules of religion, confront sin and ultimately die as the only sacrifice that could redeem fallen man and set him right with Father God.
To that end, Jesus pulled no punches. And you either loved him or hated him. That was the case here in John 12:37-50. Some people heard his teaching and discerned a level of grace, truth, love and spiritual authority they had never witnessed in human teachers before, and in Jesus, this was the Messiah they had been waiting for. Others heard his teaching and saw his miracles and believed he was the Messiah, but because they were more concerned with maintaining their standing with the Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus, kept it a secret. And then, of course, there were those who hated him so much they were willing to do anything to kill him off—despite the outstanding miracles they had seen with their own eyes.
Love him or hate him, Jesus forces that choice upon you. As C.S. Lewis said,
“[With Jesus] you must make a choice. Either He was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman, or something worse. You can shut Him up as a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.”
And yet while people are still curious about Jesus in our day, far too many are still trying to ride the fence about a man who did his best not to give us that option. I have heard people say, “Oh, Jesus, yeah…he’s a great prophet…he is a marvelous teacher…he’s really something. The guy turns water into wine, feeds thousands with a few loaves and fishes, cures sick people. Man, this guy is something.”
Untold thousands of people, the rich and famous as well as the poor and unknown wear the cross as their jewelry of choice, the symbol that identifies him more than any other. Athletes, politicians, movie stars and rock and roll icons whose lives are incongruent with his teachings invoke his name with not a second thought about who he claimed to be. I’ve talked to young men dressed in starched white shirts and ties at my front door who come in his name yet deny his deity. I see raunchy entertainers spew filth in one breath and claim Jesus as a good buddy in the next breath. I have good friends and close family members who acknowledge the historical Jesus, yet ignore his teachings and claims. I have witnessed to people who claim to believe in him as a great moral teacher, worthy of deep respect and honor, but certainly not worthy of the Lordship of their lives.
It is amazing what we have done with Jesus! Dorothy Sayers, a brilliant writer and Christian thinker, once mournfully remarked, “[We have] very efficiently [clipped] the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him as a household pet fitting for pale curates and pious old ladies.” That he is not, by his own claims:
To know him was to know God. John 8:19 says, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’”
To see him was to see God. In John 12:45, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
To believe him was to believe God. In John 12:44, Jesus taught, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.”
To receive him was to receive God. Mark 9:37 says, “Whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
To hate him was to hate God. John 15:23 says, “He who hates me hates my Father as well.”
To honor him was to honor God. John 5:22-33, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.”
When you consider these claims Jesus made about himself, you have to eliminate most of the nice-sounding, politically correct things people say they believe about him. In other words, he cannot be just a good teacher, just a great moral leader, just a respected prophet, just a great figure of history. There is no “just” with Jesus. It is true, he is the most polarizing figure ever—and he wants it that way. You either love him, hopefully, or hate him. There is no middle ground.
Jesus cannot be de-clawed, nor can he be tamed or even be contained! No matter how people may try, he is still the Lion of Judah! As Josh McDowell wrote, the evidence of his life and teachings demands a verdict: He is either Lord of all…or he is not Lord at all!