Jesus’ words sound bitter to some, sweet to others

Sermon for Judica – Lent 5

Hebrews 9:11-15  +  John 8:46-59

I’m sure you wonder sometimes why so many people in the world, even in our own community, have no interest whatsoever in listening to the Word of God, why so few wish to gather with us here, or in any of the right-teaching churches around the world. At the same time, many people around the world and in our own community wonder why on earth we would gather here faithfully every Sunday to worship this God in whom we believe. To us, it seems foolish for them not to join us in worshiping this God, and to them, we appear to be the fools. And that’s the way it’s always been. The truth is, Jesus’ words sound bitter to some, and sweet to others.

To whom do Jesus’ words sound bitter? They sound bitter to those who are still the devil’s children, to those who are in league with the demons. As Jesus asked the unbelieving Jews, If I am telling the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is from God hears God’s words. This is why you do not hear, because you are not from God. The natural state of man—our natural state in which we’re born—is not good, is not godly, is not ready to listen to the Word of the Lord. Our natural state—the state in which the unbelieving Jews were still in—is one of hostility to God, unbelief, blindness, corruption, and wickedness. We trust in ourselves by nature, not in God. We want to listen to our own ideas, our own beliefs, our own desires, not the Word of God. We don’t want to hear that we’re sinners, and that God damns us for our sins, and that we can only escape condemnation if God Himself saves us. We don’t want to hear that our beliefs are wrong, that our actions are evil, that the Man Jesus is also true God and mankind’s only Savior. We don’t want to hear that we must change and become different people, people who live according to God’s commandments. And so, when God speaks—when Jesus speaks words that attack people’s natural wickedness and their natural faith in themselves and what they think is right, then His words of Law and Gospel sound bitter, not sweet.

But to us who believe in Christ Jesus, His words are sweet. He who is from God hears God’s words. When you hear and believe Jesus’ words about your sin and about the free salvation He offers and everything else, you have proof that you are from God, and you give thanks to God for calling you out of Satan’s kingdom and for bringing you to repentance and faith and for placing you on a new path of love and good works that ends in eternal life. To you, the words of Jesus are sweet.

But since Jesus’ words sounded so bitter to the unbelieving Jews, they attacked Him. The Jews answered and said to him, “Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and that you have a demon?” They think they’re the smart ones, the righteous ones, the elites. They look down on Jesus as a simpleton, as a lesser person. He’s so “hateful,” so “wicked,” that He must be possessed by a demon. Again, why? What evil has He done or spoken against God’s Word? None. He has simply contradicted them and their words. He has revealed their errors and spoken the truth about their lies. But the truth sounds bitter to those who embrace lies, to those who are unknowingly in league with the father of lies, the devil himself.

You know it’s true. Those who speak simple truth and highlight simple facts are viciously attacked still today. And ridiculed. And spoken down to. Say in public that someone pretending to be a girl is actually a boy, say that homosexuality is evil and wrong, that sex is only for marriage, say that every religion except for the Christian religion is wicked and from the devil, and you’ll see just how bitter those words sound to the world.

But Jesus keeps speaking, and His words keep stinging those who remain in unbelief. I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it and who judges. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

Jesus claims to honor God the Father, and that the Father seeks honor for Jesus and judges those who refuse to honor Him. Those words sound bitter to those who will not accept Jesus as Lord, because He’s telling them that they’re doomed. And He assures them that they will see death, because they do not keep His word.

On the other hand, to those who believe in Jesus, His words are sweet, because we know that the Father will spare us from judgment for Jesus’ sake. In fact, we know that the Father loves us, not because we are so lovable by nature or so obedient, but because we have been baptized into the Beloved, baptized into Christ, and because we have been brought to love Jesus. And the sweet words of Jesus assure us that we will never see death. When it comes to each of us, it will not harm us; it will grudgingly usher us into the arms of our Savior.

The Jews simply can’t believe that Jesus would dare to make such a claim, to have power death, to speak words that save people from death. “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets. And you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”

Jesus answered, “If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father who honors me, of whom you say that he is your God. You do not know him; but I know him. If I were to say, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liar, like you. But I do know him and keep his word.”

Biting words. Bitter words. “I know God, and you don’t. I tell the truth, and you speak lies.” Jesus says the same thing to today’s world, and His Church echoes His words. “We know the true God, and all you who deny the God whom we preach and believe in—you don’t know God. And if you claim to know Him, then you’re lying.” Bitter words to those who cling to other gods, or who view themselves as their own gods.

But to Christians, even these words are sweet, because they’re true, and we can depend on them. There are not many Gods. There are not many paths to God. There is one true God and one path to Him, through His Son Jesus Christ. We know Him, and others don’t. We don’t speak those words in pride or to exalt ourselves. We speak them because the world needs to hear them, needs to hear that the path they’re on leads only to death, needs to hear where alone salvation is found, in Jesus the Christ, the promised Son of Abraham.

Jesus then presses the Jews on their relationship to Abraham and paves the way for His boldest claim of all. Your father Abraham was glad that he would see my day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old! And you have seen Abraham?”  Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Yes, Jesus, the Man in His 30’s, was claiming to be the eternal God, the LORD, Jehovah or Yahweh, who spoke with Abraham 2,000 years earlier, and whose birth Abraham foresaw by faith. Those words were so bitter to the unbelieving Jews that they picked up stones to throw at Jesus in order to kill Him.

But to us, those words are so sweet that we have abandoned everything in order to follow Him, because we know we’re not just following a great teacher or a great prophet. We’re following God Himself. And next week, as we remember the great suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ during Holy Week, remember throughout all of it that this Man is God, your Creator and your Redeemer.

And remember this, too, that many who find Jesus’ words to be bitter today will be changed by those very words tomorrow. St. Paul found Jesus’ words to be bitter for years while he continued to trust in his own works as a Pharisee, until Jesus’ words changed him and became sweet to Him. So keep believing, and keep speaking the bitter/sweet words of Jesus. Speak them boldly, and stand on them confidently, and pray that many who now find them bitter will finally embrace them for the sweet comfort of life and salvation that they bring. Amen.