Worrisome Question
- Jeff Kent
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
There are some questions in life for which it is difficult to find satisfactory answers. Though this may be true, it is still worth our while to search for answers to such questions for in our search we always learn something and may even begin to find an adequate answer. Our question in this piece is one such: Why is it that some people believe in Jesus but others do not? Our text should lead us a little closer to a good answer for this question. Please read it now.
We begin with John’s observation that Jesus had performed “so many signs” in front of the people. His point is that there were more than enough miracles done to convince them that He was the Messiah. John then quotes Isaiah to say that this was fulfillment of prophecy that people would not believe in Jesus. He doesn’t say why that was the case, but indicates that their continual rejection of the obvious (that Jesus was from God) only served to blind their eyes and harden their hearts, thus making it even more difficult to believe!
Our question remains, however: Why weren’t these people brought to believe by seeing all of these signs? Some of the people were, but, obviously, many of them were not.
A further help to getting at an adequate answer lies in verses 42 and 43. Here John notes that despite this overall disbelief among the crowds, “many even of the rulers believed in Him.” Well, that’s a good thing. However, it goes no further with them. John says they refused to confess their belief in Jesus for fear of being thrown out of the synagogue because “they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.” (Instead of approval one translation has praise and one has glory.) So here could be some help in answering our question.
To believe in Jesus, to believe He is the Christ of God is to start down a path of change. This requires that I give up any number of things. It could be certain beliefs that I’ve held dear all my life. It could be a position, as with the rulers here. It could be family. It could be a lifestyle. It could be anything “under the sun” that a person holds near and dear. And they just won’t part with it.
This is likely a worrisome thought for all of us.