Scripture: John 12:44-50 (ESV)
And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
“But that is not this day! This day we fight!”. That is how Aragorn ends his powerful speech to the combined forces of Middle Earth in the Return of the King movie. These are his final words before he resigns himself to what must surely be his end. His forces are massively outnumbered and the enemy far superior. But as fearful as the warriors are, he rallies them with this speech.
In some ways that is what this passage in John feels like. Jesus knows that this is his last opportunity to speak to the crowd as a group. He wants them to believe in him. This is his final public plea for all who would listen. He starts by telling people that if they believe in him, they are in fact believing in God the Father. To trust in the Son is to trust in the Father. To see Jesus’ work is to see the Father’s heart. Jesus is the incarnate God and God loves his people. This is in direct opposition to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. They kept on saying that Jesus is an imposter, a false prophet, a demon possessed man. But Jesus makes it clear: no he is the light of the world who has come to shine in the darkness. Without his light, the people will remain lost in darkness.
I think it is interesting that in this, his final plea to the people, Jesus only talks about the salvation of people. Jesus’s first coming was to save the world, not to judge it. He says, “If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.” Jesus’s purpose on the cross was to save, to bring hope, healing, and a way back to God. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be judgment. He says that those who reject him and his words will be judged by those very words on the last day.
Jesus will return one day. Sure he came to save the first time around, but when he comes again he will come to judge the living and the dead. If we come to him in faith we will be saved. If we reject him and refuse to believe, then we will be judged. One path leads to eternal life with him. The other to eternal condemnation.
This is how the “Book of Signs” ends in John’s Gospel. John has curated a list of signs and wonders that shows Jesus’s divinity. He chose these signs so that we would believe in Jesus, the light of the world. Now he calls us to respond.
So as this section of of the book comes to a close, the question we are all faced with is this: If Jesus has the power to turn water into wine, make the winds and waves obey him, and even raise people from the dead, and he himself then calls us to believe in him, shouldn’t we?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for showing us your power through your miracles. Help us to believe in you with all our heart. Amen.
Spiritual Challenge:
Think about the last time you doubted your faith. Remind yourself of all the miracles and signs Jesus did to show us his divinity.
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