The world’s rational hatred of Jesus

Sermon for Judica – Lent 5

Hebrews 9:11-15  +  John 8:46-59

The world has always hated God. And by “the world” I mean the unbelievers among mankind. And by “unbelievers” I mean everyone who does not believe in Christ Jesus, true God and true Man, the only Savior and Redeemer of the world. Unbelievers, including Adam and Eve after they fell into sin, until they were converted again and made believers. They came to hate God for a little while when they chose to love the devil and his lies instead of loving God and His word. Oh, most people don’t come out and say they hate God. They may not feel a seething hatred bubbling up toward Him when they think of Him or speak of Him (although some do). They may even claim to worship Him. But here’s the thing: according to the Bible’s use of the words, you either love the true God, or you hate the true God. There is no fence-sitting. To deny God’s existence is to hate God. To believe that God is not always good is to hate God. To believe that His word is not always true is to hate God. To love a false god is to hate the true God, just as to love a lie is to hate the truth.

In a sense, it’s entirely irrational to hate God. He does exist. He is always good. His word is always true. And so to hate the One who is good and true, not to mention the One who is the all-powerful Creator to whom everyone owes obedience and worship, is foolish. It’s irrational.

But if we’re just talking about fallen human reason, then it does “make sense,” it is “rational” for unbelievers to hate God, and by extension, to hate His people. For example, He tells them that He created the world and that He still preserves it. Nonsense! Evolution! “Science!” He tells them that their self-absorption and pleasure seeking is evil. He tells them that they are evil. Nonsense! “My body, my choice! Stop telling me what to do!” He tells them that He reigns over all things, which includes coronavirus and its spread, and they say, “Nonsense! We reign over it. We will either spread it or contain its spread. We will conquer it with our science and our behavior. And you Christians with your foolish belief in God and with your denial of ‘science’ had better stay home and not gather to worship God, or else you’re just a menace to society!” If you don’t believe in God, then everything they claim makes sense. Their hatred is rational according to fallen human reason.

In today’s Gospel, we see plenty of that “rational hatred” toward Jesus, and in this case, the hatred really was bubbling up and seething out of the Jews who confronted Him that day. He made some claims and promises in our Gospel that were so contrary to human reason, so direct and bold and “irrational” to the unbelieving Jews that their hatred for Him came shining through. And yet, to all who believe, the very same claims and promises inspire nothing but love for Him and peace and joy at being counted among His people.

Let’s look at Jesus’ first claim, in the form of a question: Which one of you convicts Me of sin? And if I am telling the truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷ He who is of God hears God’s words. This is why you do not hear, because you are not of God. First, Jesus challenges the unbelieving Jews to prove Him guilty of any sin, and, of course, they couldn’t. Instead, Jesus convicts them of sin. He claims that, by not hearing (and believing) His words, they were shutting their ears to God’s words. God’s people don’t do that. God’s people hear and listen and believe. And so He draws the conclusion for them: if you don’t hear and believe, you are not God’s people.

To which they responded: Do we not rightly say that You are a Samaritan and that You have a demon? To them, Jesus’ words were nonsense, hateful, even. So hateful they figured He must be demon-possessed. How could He claim to speak for God? How could He claim that they weren’t God’s people? They were Abraham’s descendants. They were circumcised. They did their part; they kept the Law. They went to church. They prayed to God. But Jesus claimed that none of that was enough, that they were still sinners who needed a Savior, that He was the promised Savior, God in the flesh. To them, it was irrational, and they hated Him for it. But to us, we stand in awe of God’s grace for revealing to us that Jesus does speak for God, that Jesus is God, that in Him we have forgiveness, and that because of Him we have nothing to fear, either in this life or in the next.

Jesus answers their objection, I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. ⁵⁰ I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks it and who judges. He claims God as His Father, not in the generic way, as God is the Father of all creation, but in a personal way, as His very own. And He claims that God His Father seeks glory for His Son and judges everyone who fails to give it. That’s a claim that defies human reason. If it’s false, then it makes sense for the unbelievers to mock Jesus, because here He is, just a man, claiming that God means to share His own glory with this man. But what if it’s true? What if Jesus really is the eternal, only-begotten Son of God, worthy of all praise and honor and glory? And what if everyone who fails to honor Him as such will be eternally condemned? Then to hate Jesus is to bring the full weight of God’s wrath and condemnation down on oneself.

But that isn’t what Jesus wants to happen. Listen to what He offers: Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death. What a silly thing to say. A man who claims that His word is powerful to keep a person from seeing death. The world laughs. The world mocks. More than that, the world hates Jesus for that claim, because, you see, it’s tied to keeping His word and believing in Him, whereas the world, if they believe in life after death at all, they want it on their own terms, not on Jesus’ terms.

But for those who believe Jesus words, there is no greater promise, no greater source of joy and peace and hope than this. It’s what brings us together in the midst of a pandemic, to worship the One who keeps us safe from death. It’s what keeps us from panicking. It’s what makes us bold to step out the door and face the world and do the things the day requires. Not that we won’t die at all; we know that earthly death will be the end of all of us, and we still avoid it as long as possible. But we won’t “see” death. We won’t “taste” death, because Jesus, our great High Priest, stepped into the Holy Place of God’s presence with His own blood, with His own death, to make atonement for our sins and to give us eternal life as a gift. And so we worship Him and trust in Him and live in hope.

Perfectly rational to the believer, but still irrational to the unbelievers. The Jews were astonished at Jesus’ claim. 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.’ ⁵³ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died. Who do You make Yourself out to be?

Jesus replied, If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. ⁵⁵ 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. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham was glad that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” You are not yet fifty years old! And You have seen Abraham? Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.

A 33-year-old man who claiming to be older than Abraham, claiming that they, the descendants of Abraham didn’t know God and were liars like the devil? Nonsense. Irrational. Hateful. Dangerous. So dangerous, the Jews tried to lay hands on Jesus and kill Him right there on the spot. It wasn’t quite time yet for Him to die, but almost.

Jesus didn’t shrink back from telling the truth to the world, and in the end, they did with Him whatever they wanted, whatever their hatred drove them to do. And yet it was all part of His plan to use the world’s hatred to accomplish His purpose to redeem us from sin, death, and the devil.

The world’s rational hatred of Jesus will always spill over onto those who are connected to Jesus. The more you live like Him, the more you talk like Him, the more you talk about Him as He truly is (and not as the Facebook memes make Him out to be), the more the world will grow to hate you, too. Know it. Expect it. And even rejoice in it. The world’s hatred of God’s people is part of God’s plan to punish the world on the one hand and to glorify God’s people on the other. The prayer of the Psalmist is the prayer of Jesus, is the prayer of all true Christians as we face the world’s hatred: Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For You are the God of my strength. You will suffer the world’s hatred and injustice. But in the end, you will be vindicated, even as Jesus was. Follow Him to the cross, and you will surely follow Him to the resurrection. Amen.