In John 6, Jesus confronts the Jews with their unbelief in a fashion incongruous with their sympathies and certainly with our own. He tells them, in effect, that they did not believe in him because the Father was not drawing them to him.
44: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.45: It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Why would he do such a thing? Did he not realise that such talk opens the door to accusations against God of unfairness? If you want to say anything that causes people to get angry with God, it is such a statement.
Well, of course we believe he knew what he was doing. It is we who need our thinking adjusted. In trying to understand why Jesus would say this, let's consider further the effect that such a statement has upon fallen people.
First of all, it offends our pride. We do not like to think that we are not ultimately in control of our lives. The idea that there is something we cannot do unless God first does something for us is offensive to our pride, leading to anger for a perceived injustice. In reality, the reaction is just foolishness. God is God, whether we like it or not. Jesus' statement brings us face to face with the reality of our creatureliness. We are by definition finite beings, subject to the will of our Creator. Of course, that will ordains that our wills make significant decisions and are responsible for those decisions, but that's getting into the details - details none of us can fathom. For the sake of our understanding why our pride is offended by Jesus' statement, let us grant the truth that God does indeed decide what he will do with his own grace and when he will do it.
Secondly, it offends our sense of self-sufficiency - which is a fiction. Again, Jesus' words confront us with the reality of our creatureliness. By definition, we are dependent creatures. The Psalm appointed for today in our Prayer Book is 104. Read it again to get a feel for how much we are dependent, as his creatures, upon his oversight and provision. It is true, but it offends. We don't like feeling inadequate. The thought of helplessness scares us. No wonder our society is obsessed with trying to talk itself out of any such thing.
Thus we find that the Jews were offended by Jesus' statement regarding God's sovereignty and their helplessness because such ideas offend pride and self-sufficiency. So was this the goal of Jesus' statement? To simply rouse the ire of the Jews? Before I answer that, let us observe that this kind of dealing with the Jews is not found here alone. Consider the statements of the LORD to Israel, commanding them to circumcise their hearts in the Old Testament. We recognise that circumcision of the heart is equivalent to what Jesus speaks of in John 1 & 3 regarding the new birth - that it is something from above by the Spirit, not generated by the will or religious resources of men. Is this not the same kind of thing as Jesus' directions to the Jews that they were to believe in him (v. 29)? In the command to circumcise their hearts, the LORD is telling the Jews they must do something they cannot do. Jesus' statement in John 6, then, is not unique. What is God doing?
Consider God's purposes. He did not send Jesus to the world to confound the world but to save the world. Surely the answer lies here. Everything Jesus did was consistent with his goal to redeem his people. How could such confrontational statements tend to that end?
If a person is willing to admit the truth of their creaturely finiteness and their creaturely dependence, then, in the midst of their fear of God's judgement for their sins and their pain and emptiness in this fallen world, they will fall down before God and cry out for mercy. In a word: they will pray. They will seek what they know they need which only God can give them. And the God who has shown them the truth about themselves, which has given them humility and a sense of helplessness so that they will pray to him for mercy, will give that mercy. For, it was that they might have his mercy that he showed them the truth of their creatureliness and sin in the first place. In other words, Jesus tells the Jews they do not believe because God has not drawn them so that they will seek God to draw them and receive the faith they need to believe.
This is the explanation that seems to make the most sense to me. For one thing, it fits Jesus' ultimate purpose. Secondly, we know from other Scriptures that humility and helplessness are prerequisites for prayer. These two things are precisely the issues involved in Jesus' statement. It seems that the cultivation of humility and a sense of helplessness would therefore be the purpose for saying such a thing to these people to the end that they might pray and receive what they lacked.
Now comes a tough question: do we include such statements - true as they are - in our evangelism? A caveat may be found in the fact that Jesus wasn't evangelising those ignorant of the Scriptures. He was confronting the Church. The Jews were the Church and they knew the Scriptures and they knew that God was sovereign and their Creator. They could not deny the truth of their creatureliness in these respects. Their problem was that they were not accepting the implications of this doctrine resulting in their spiritual inability to recognise the Messiah. I think it's better, when it comes to evangelism, to stick with Jesus' other statements which were more broadcasted proclamations: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (7:37).
So what about us? Do we give God the glory and admit our creatureliness - that He is ultimately in control? that we are absolutely helpless to do anything of faith unless he give us the grace? Is our pride humbled and do we sense our total helplessness? Then let us be encouraged. God has given us this much grace that we might come to him in prayer and have whatever else we need. And as uncomfortable as humiliation and inadequacy may be, let us thank him for leading us in the truth so that we might be eternally blessed.
44: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.45: It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Why would he do such a thing? Did he not realise that such talk opens the door to accusations against God of unfairness? If you want to say anything that causes people to get angry with God, it is such a statement.
Well, of course we believe he knew what he was doing. It is we who need our thinking adjusted. In trying to understand why Jesus would say this, let's consider further the effect that such a statement has upon fallen people.
First of all, it offends our pride. We do not like to think that we are not ultimately in control of our lives. The idea that there is something we cannot do unless God first does something for us is offensive to our pride, leading to anger for a perceived injustice. In reality, the reaction is just foolishness. God is God, whether we like it or not. Jesus' statement brings us face to face with the reality of our creatureliness. We are by definition finite beings, subject to the will of our Creator. Of course, that will ordains that our wills make significant decisions and are responsible for those decisions, but that's getting into the details - details none of us can fathom. For the sake of our understanding why our pride is offended by Jesus' statement, let us grant the truth that God does indeed decide what he will do with his own grace and when he will do it.
Secondly, it offends our sense of self-sufficiency - which is a fiction. Again, Jesus' words confront us with the reality of our creatureliness. By definition, we are dependent creatures. The Psalm appointed for today in our Prayer Book is 104. Read it again to get a feel for how much we are dependent, as his creatures, upon his oversight and provision. It is true, but it offends. We don't like feeling inadequate. The thought of helplessness scares us. No wonder our society is obsessed with trying to talk itself out of any such thing.
Thus we find that the Jews were offended by Jesus' statement regarding God's sovereignty and their helplessness because such ideas offend pride and self-sufficiency. So was this the goal of Jesus' statement? To simply rouse the ire of the Jews? Before I answer that, let us observe that this kind of dealing with the Jews is not found here alone. Consider the statements of the LORD to Israel, commanding them to circumcise their hearts in the Old Testament. We recognise that circumcision of the heart is equivalent to what Jesus speaks of in John 1 & 3 regarding the new birth - that it is something from above by the Spirit, not generated by the will or religious resources of men. Is this not the same kind of thing as Jesus' directions to the Jews that they were to believe in him (v. 29)? In the command to circumcise their hearts, the LORD is telling the Jews they must do something they cannot do. Jesus' statement in John 6, then, is not unique. What is God doing?
Consider God's purposes. He did not send Jesus to the world to confound the world but to save the world. Surely the answer lies here. Everything Jesus did was consistent with his goal to redeem his people. How could such confrontational statements tend to that end?
If a person is willing to admit the truth of their creaturely finiteness and their creaturely dependence, then, in the midst of their fear of God's judgement for their sins and their pain and emptiness in this fallen world, they will fall down before God and cry out for mercy. In a word: they will pray. They will seek what they know they need which only God can give them. And the God who has shown them the truth about themselves, which has given them humility and a sense of helplessness so that they will pray to him for mercy, will give that mercy. For, it was that they might have his mercy that he showed them the truth of their creatureliness and sin in the first place. In other words, Jesus tells the Jews they do not believe because God has not drawn them so that they will seek God to draw them and receive the faith they need to believe.
This is the explanation that seems to make the most sense to me. For one thing, it fits Jesus' ultimate purpose. Secondly, we know from other Scriptures that humility and helplessness are prerequisites for prayer. These two things are precisely the issues involved in Jesus' statement. It seems that the cultivation of humility and a sense of helplessness would therefore be the purpose for saying such a thing to these people to the end that they might pray and receive what they lacked.
Now comes a tough question: do we include such statements - true as they are - in our evangelism? A caveat may be found in the fact that Jesus wasn't evangelising those ignorant of the Scriptures. He was confronting the Church. The Jews were the Church and they knew the Scriptures and they knew that God was sovereign and their Creator. They could not deny the truth of their creatureliness in these respects. Their problem was that they were not accepting the implications of this doctrine resulting in their spiritual inability to recognise the Messiah. I think it's better, when it comes to evangelism, to stick with Jesus' other statements which were more broadcasted proclamations: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (7:37).
So what about us? Do we give God the glory and admit our creatureliness - that He is ultimately in control? that we are absolutely helpless to do anything of faith unless he give us the grace? Is our pride humbled and do we sense our total helplessness? Then let us be encouraged. God has given us this much grace that we might come to him in prayer and have whatever else we need. And as uncomfortable as humiliation and inadequacy may be, let us thank him for leading us in the truth so that we might be eternally blessed.
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