The Lutheran Hour
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"Seeing and Not Believing"
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Text: John 6:36
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. The resurrection record is true. Jesus Christ is alive, that is fact; to believe on the living Lord, is Spirit-given faith. This day, by God’s grace and the Savior’s sacrifice, fact and faith are brought together.
For more than six months the chauffeur had been driving the learned professor to one presentation after another. The audience and the location changed every night but the speech was always the same. Eventually a cordial relationship developed between the two men. So much so, that neither thought it out of line when the driver commented, “Prof, I’ve heard your speech so many times, I’m pretty sure that I could give it myself.” Not one to ignore a challenge, the professor chuckled and said, “I’ve got 50 bucks that says you can’t.” With those words, the wager was accepted. Before they arrived at their destination, they stopped at a gas station, exchanged clothing and places in the limo. When they arrived at the banquet, the chauffeur was seated at the place of honor on the dais and the professor sat, listening, in the back of the room. After the dinner, the chauffeur got up and gave the professor’s speech. It was perfect, flawless. When the chauffeur finished, there was enthusiastic applause, and in a few places of the great room, a number of people were on their feet, giving him a standing ovation.
The emcee got up and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I notice we still have a few minutes. Since we have such a brilliant mind with us, why don’t we take some questions and answers from the floor?” The first question was asked and the chauffeur’s face fell as he mulled over the complex inquiry. After a pause, he cleared his throat and with a brilliant flash of genius, said, “Sir, the answer to your question is so obvious, so simple I’m not going to answer it. Indeed, the answer to that question is so easy, I’m going to let my chauffeur give it to you.” Seeing his driver suffering, the professor had mercy, stood up in the back of the room and gave the answer.
You know, many people that I meet have a chauffeur’s reaction to the story of Jesus and the salvation He has won by His perfect life of surrender and suffering. These people have heard Jesus’ story; but they don’t understand His sacrifice. Somewhere in their life they’ve heard how Jesus was born in Bethlehem; they’ve become acquainted with some of His miracles; they’ve managed to pick up pieces, parts of His teachings. Although they may not believe the Savior’s story, or follow His teachings, they’ve got some of the raw facts down pat. For example, they know how Jesus was tried and crucified and died; and how, on the third day, a living Lord vacated His borrowed tomb. They’ve heard the Savior’s story so many times, they think they could, like the chauffeur, tell Jesus’ story themselves. Sadly, these folks have heard the stories, but they don’t have the forgiveness and salvation that faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection convey. They’ve seen Jesus the moralist, the philosopher, the teacher, the teller of parables; but they’ve never seen Him as their Savior. They have the facts but not the faith.
Sometimes I wonder if Jesus ever got used to people knowing facts about Him without ever having placed their faith in Him. From His birth to His death and past His resurrection, people knew facts but most never had faith. They saw Jesus, but didn’t believe in Him. Soon after He was born in Bethlehem, power-mad Herod looked upon Jesus as competition for His kingdom. Herod had a fact, but he never had faith. In Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, the citizenry saw Him as the son of Mary, the boy who had been apprenticed as a carpenter. They never, at least as far as Scripture reports, had faith in Him as the Christ who had come to free them from the condemnation of the law. They, too, had facts, but no faith. Jesus’ church saw Him as an upstart, a blasphemer, a desecrator of their laws, a Satanic seducer of souls, and an individual who, left unchecked, would call down the wrath of Rome upon them. Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator who allowed Jesus to be crucified, took a long, deep look at the Christ. When he did, he came away with some facts. He knew Jesus was innocent. He knew Jesus was being framed. He knew Jesus should have been released. Pilate also knew Jesus might cause him problems if the Savior’s story got back to Pilate’s superiors in Rome. Pilate had facts, but he was never, at least during Jesus’ trial, given faith. Read through the Gospel narratives and you will be struck by the number of people who looked at Jesus, but who never saw Him; those who heard Him, but never understood Him; those who followed Him, but never realized Jesus’ life was being given as a sacrifice to save their souls from sin. If ever a person has been misunderstood it is the Savior. People see Him, but they don’t believe. They have facts, but no faith.
You can see how facts without faith works in the sixth chapter of the book of John. The narrative begins with a great crowd of people following Jesus. Now, following Jesus is a good thing, if you’re following Him for the right reason. But Scripture tells us that this great crowd was following Jesus for the wrong reasons. They were following Him because they liked the “show” that He had put on. They were following Him because they had seen Him heal the sick.
Indeed, thousands went to see Jesus perform His miracles. The apostle John relates how, one day, there were about 5,000 men who came to see Jesus. Add women and children to that number and it’s probably not an exaggeration to say there were 10,000 people waiting to see what Jesus would do next. That’s a lot of bodies, and Jesus didn’t disappoint. He taught them; He healed them (Matthew 14:14); and He fed them. No, Jesus didn’t call McDonalds or Pizza Hut to send out a fleet of trucks. Jesus fed the crowd with a few loaves and fewer fish. It was a miracle of prodigious proportion; at one and the same time, both amazing, astonishing, and awe-inspiring, surprising, startling, and stirring. The people had seen Jesus’ miracles, and they were impressed with the man who had made them happen.
Although many of the folks in the crowd might have been short on formal education, they were pretty long on common sense. It didn’t take too long before the farmers and fishermen started to say to themselves, “Hey, this is great! With Jesus around feeding us, we don’t have to go out to the fields or the Sea of Galilee any more. With Jesus feeding us, we can forget the days and nights of back-breaking labor; with Jesus feeding us, our livelihood doesn’t depend on the whims of weather and wave.” Some of the crowd who were politically motivated might have begun to calculate the possibilities of staging a revolt against Rome. Normally such an act would be unthinkable, but with Jesus doing His miracles, that changed their odds. Think about it…if Jesus were in the army, the generals wouldn’t have to worry about food, supplies, and other necessities. Give Jesus a few loaves and fish, and the army would be fed for weeks. If Jesus were in the army, you could march bravely into battle knowing If a man was wounded, you could take him to Jesus, get him healed, and send him right back to the front.
Now I can’t be sure that’s what the people thought. The Bible doesn’t tell us. It does say the people were impressed. It tells us that in the minds of many, Jesus seemed to be fulfilling a prophecy which Moses had made 1,500 years earlier. Moses had promised. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you …” Listening to Moses’ words, and looking at Jesus, it was easy to make comparisons: Jesus just fed us in the wilderness like Moses did; Jesus has just done some miracles like Moses did; maybe Jesus can lead us out of slavery as Moses did. There was excitement as the people, by common consensus, decided to make Jesus their king. Now, don’t get me wrong, getting excited about Jesus is a good thing, if you’re excited for the right reason. But these people weren’t excited for the right reason. They wanted to confine Jesus to the role of being a healer, a leader, a free-meal ticket, a retirement program, a king who could protect them and provide for them, a genie who would be a slave to them and serve them. They had the facts, but they didn’t have the faith. The job the crowd wanted to give Jesus was one He couldn’t accept. Jesus had other business, heavenly business, His Father’s business to do. Although the crowd back then, and many people today, are confused by Jesus’ role, He never was. He was always about the Father’s business of saving us. The Bible says, to avoid being elected monarch, Jesus “withdrew again to the mountain by Himself” (John 6:15).
It wasn’t until the next day that the crowd managed to track Jesus down. Confronting the people who had the facts, but not the faith, Jesus basically said, “It’s a good thing to get excited about Me, if you’re doing so for the right reasons. Sadly, you’ve searched for Me because I did some miracles; you searched for Me because I fed you; you searched for Me because you’ve been given a full stomach and you think I can make your life easier.” Jesus told them, “You’re searching for the wrong thing. You ought to be searching for eternal life.”
Now, most people don’t like to have anybody pop their balloon, and these well-fed folks from the crowd were no different. No longer calling Jesus a respectful term like “Rabbi” or “promised prophet,” they suggested they might believe in Him if He took care of them like Moses had taken care of their ancestors. They might believe if He gave them food, if He gave them drink. They might believe. Maybe. What Jesus said next probably came as a surprise to those folks who had facts but not faith. It probably will come as a surprise to many of my listeners who think they’ve got Jesus all figured out. It may come as a surprise because Jesus talked in way that seems out of character. Most people think of the Savior as being meek and mild. There were certainly times that He was that. Jesus had infinite patience for sinners who came to Him with a repentant heart. He was glad to give them forgiveness. Jesus was willing to work with people who came to Him in ignorance. He was pleased to share with them the greatness of God’s grace. I can never think of a time when He was not glad to lift up those who had fallen spiritually; strengthen those who were weak; heal those who were hurting.
But Jesus was quite different with people who tried to tell Him His job. He didn’t like it when Peter tried to talk Him out of His mission to save us. When Peter did that, Jesus said, “Get behind Me, Satan, you’re a hindrance to Me” (Matthew 16:33). When religious leaders substituted their laws for God’s laws, Jesus called them “snakes” and “vipers.” When merchants made God’s house into a marketplace, the Savior grabbed a whip and drove them out. It wasn’t much different the day the crowed tried to demote Jesus from being the world’s Savior to being their own free-lunch ticket. Jesus set those folks straight. In effect He said: “Let’s get things clear. First, Moses didn’t feed you in the wilderness, God did. Second, you ought to think more about eternity than you do your bellies. Third, I will take care of anyone who believes in Me as Savior. I will take care of his present; I will take care of his future. If you believe in Me, I will take care of your spiritual hunger and thirst. If you believe in Me, I will heal your souls from sin, I will raise you from the dead, I will take you to heaven.”
Jesus was substituting His facts for theirs. He was calling them to a new faith, a bigger faith, an eternal faith. Jesus was telling them that if they were convicted of their sin, He was the go-to guy for forgiveness; if they were sick in their souls, He wanted to be their physician; if they were tired of this world, He wished to give them rest. Jesus was calling them away from their incomplete facts, and trying to give them a full dose of faith. And what did the people do? The Bible says: “After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.” That’s right, those people left Him. As they walked away, they were probably muttering under their breath, “He’s not the guy I thought He was,” or “What a disappointment.”
And do you know what Jesus did as the crowd started to walk away? Some of you listening to me today; some of you who have incomplete facts about Jesus; some of you who think of Jesus as a fellow who was never judgmental and always accepting of all people; some of you who think you’re going to get to heaven with all of your sins intact; some of you who have come to think that Jesus should be grateful to get you just the way you are, may be surprised. Jesus didn’t run after them, calling out, “Hey, what’s your rush? Let’s not get carried away; let’s not be so hasty. You know, we can talk this out. I think we can come to a compromise.”
No, Jesus didn’t do any of those things. Jesus didn’t try to find some middle ground. Jesus didn’t try to remake Himself into what the people thought He ought to be. Jesus didn’t give in. He never did. What Jesus did was watch those people walk away. He watched the very people He had been born to save; the very folks for whom He was living His life; the folks for whom He would suffer and die, walk away. There were other times that Jesus had to do the same thing. When a rich young ruler wanted Him to figure out another way to be a disciple, Jesus watched that young man walk away. When one of His closest friends, Judas Iscariot, decided to betray Him, Jesus tried to warn the man, but ultimately, eventually, the Lord had to watch His erring disciple walk away. When the populace of Jerusalem refused to follow Him, Jesus wept. That’s right, He wept.
Of course, you could ask, “Why didn’t He find another way? Didn’t He love them?” Oh, my friends, He did. Jesus loved them, and you, far more than my simple words can tell. Jesus loved the world so much that He was unwilling to compromise the completion of His sacrifice which wins salvation for all who believe on Him as Savior. He loved them so much that even when they turned their backs on Him; He refused to do the same to them. Jesus loved them so much that He refused to step away from the path on which He would be beaten and spit upon, whipped, lied about, and crucified. Jesus watched them leave. Why? Because if Jesus had conceded, He would not have been the Savior. If Jesus had tried to change the rules, He would not have been our Redeemer. If Jesus had done what they asked, He would not have been doing what His Father asked. And as far as finding another way; there was, and is, no other way to be given forgiveness, hope, and heaven. That is why, even with a breaking heart, Jesus remained faithful. He was faithful as He laid down His life on the cross for you and me. He was faithful in taking the punishment for sin that we deserve. He was faithful because He always remembered that He had not come to be served, to be famous, or to be rich, or to become popular, or to have the crown of an earthly kingdom. Jesus came to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). Those are the facts. And upon those facts the Holy Spirit gives to God’s elect, forgiving faith. Facts and faith.
My friends, do you believe this? Oh, I pray you do. My years have taught me that everyone has faith in something–faith in some creed; faith in themselves; faith in fate, faith in science, the doctor, a spouse, or, against all evidence, in humankind. Even the atheist has faith in his own reason and judgment. But I want you to know there is only one set of facts which can serve as a foundation for an unshakable, unwavering, unflinching faith: belief in the sin-carrying, temptation-resisting, death-defeating Son of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Get the facts; be given the faith.
In April of 1988, a TV cameraman jumped out of a plane to get some footage of other skydivers. He did a great job, filming the opening of one chute after another. With the last of the free-fallers safely drifting to earth, it was time to pull the ripcord on his own chute. When he reached for the line, he realized he had completely forgotten to put on his own parachute. The camera, in the following minutes before the deadly crunch into the ground, told the story of a man who had made the worst mistake of his life. His facts were wrong; his faith had been misplaced. Don’t you make the same mistake as that parachutist. Get the facts and get to know the Savior. Be given faith in His great grace. If you want fact and faith, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for August 13, 2006
TOPIC: Why Did Jesus Have to Die?ANNOUNCER: And now Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hi Mark. What’ve we got today?
ANNOUNCER: Well, a couple of questions. First, if God is all-powerful and He wants to save humanity from sin, why was it necessary for His Son to die? Couldn’t God just say: OK, everybody’s saved. And, since He created everything perfectly, wouldn’t it have been easier for Him just to start over and then remake us into what He wants us to be?
KLAUS: Interesting questions. It’s sort of like asking: Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?
ANNOUNCER: How’s that?
KLAUS: In one sense, the listener is asking: Why did God allow bad things to happen to His Son, who is the best of all people; in fact, the only perfect person who ever lived?
ANNOUNCER: You know, it does seem unfair that God would make His Son pay for someone else’s failures, doesn’t it?
KLAUS: Well, of course it does. It was unfair. Jesus deserved much better. We deserve much worse.
ANNOUNCER: So, getting back to the listener’s question, why couldn’t God then just wave His hand and make everything perfect again?
KLAUS: Well, Mark, even though God is all-powerful, that is, omnipotent, there are some things He can’t do.
ANNOUNCER: Such as…?
KLAUS: Well, I remember a Sunday school teacher who once said: God can’t please everybody. He was right.
ANNOUNCER: And what else?
KLAUS: God can’t be untrue to Himself or His Word.
ANNOUNCER: And now I think we’re getting close to the issue here.
KLAUS: We are. God has a number of attributes or qualities. He has revealed some of these attributes to us in His holy Word. Three of them especially relate to what we’re talking about here. The first attribute is found in Malachi 3:6 where God says, “I the LORD do not change.” Remember that: God in unchanging. The second attribute is found in Isaiah 45:21, “There is no other God else beside Me, a just God…” God is just. The third attribute we want to look at is from 1 Corinthians. In chapter 1 verse 4, Saint Paul writes, “I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ.” The third attribute is grace.
ANNOUNCER: So, three attributes. God doesn’t change. God is just. And God is gracious.
KLAUS: Good listening! Now let’s put them together. God doesn’t change. He is just. When He laid down the rules in the Garden of Eden, He said: Don’t eat of the forbidden tree, because if you do, you will die.
ANNOUNCER: So, when Adam and Eve sinned and ate of that fruit …
KLAUS: They disobeyed; they had to die. God’s justice demanded it.
ANNOUNCER: And because God doesn’t change …
KLAUS: He couldn’t just pretend nothing had happened. And that is the answer to our listener’s question. God is bound by His own Word and Law. The Bible says: without the shedding of blood, that there is no forgiveness of sins.
ANNOUNCER: But the Bible also contains the Gospel, which is the Good News of how we are saved.
KLAUS: Exactly, Mark. And that is what takes to our third attribute.
ANNOUNCER: Which is the grace that comes to us through Jesus Christ.
KLAUS: Exactly. Because of one man’s sin, death came into this world. Now, God would, in His grace …
ANNOUNCER: And what is grace?
KLAUS: Grace is underserved kindness. Because of God’s undeserved kindness to us, He decided to save us. And since death enterered the world because of one man’s sin, by one man’s sacrificial death, the world could be saved. Of course, there was a catch …
ANNOUNCER: A catch? What was that?
KLAUS: That man had to live a perfect life.
ANNOUNCER: But nobody can do that.
KLAUS: Which is why God sent His Son. Jesus was the only one who could lead a perfect life, die the death we deserved, and defeat sin, death, and devil.
ANNOUNCER: Which is why the cross is so important.
KLAUS: Which is why the cross is so important. And Christ’s resurrection shows that God has not only accepted Christ’s payment for sin, but has already begun to restore all things to the way they should be.
ANNOUNCER: So, three attributes that help to describe God, and tell us how God saves through Jesus Christ. Would you have a Bible verse that sums it all up?
KLAUS: You know, you could come up with a lot of them. But probably the best would be the one Paul wrote to the church in Rome: “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“I Know My Faith Is Founded” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“Be Thou My Vision” arranged by Travis J. Cross. From In the Spring by the Concordia University Wind Ensemble (© 2005 Concordia University, Nebraska) Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.
“The Church’s One Foundation” by David Cherwien. From Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven by David Cherwien (© 1992 Summa Productions)