The Full Claims of Jesus

Is the Bible hate literature?

It's a serious question.

Is the Bible, in particular the Gospels,

in particular the Gospel of John,

is it an example of anti-Semitic literature

and therefore hate literature?

The official body of the Anglican Church

in the United States of America

at their official convention

their highest governing body

in their meeting in June

declared that the Bible was anti-Semitic

or that parts of it were anti-Semitic.

In fact, they were declaring

that the Bible was hate literature.

I have heard priests in this diocese

tell us just very casually

that the Gospel of John in particular

is anti-Semitic.

In other words, that it's hate literature.

I think if you're a Christian

just to even hear that somebody would say that

that would claim to be a Christian

to say that the Bible is anti-Semitic

would make you very upset.

It makes me upset.

But that is, in fact,

what the Anglican Church in the United States

has declared at its governing body.

The text today,

the Gospel text that we look at today,

brings this question as to whether or not

the Bible is the Gospel in particular

is hate literature.

It brings it right to the fore.

And some of you who've been here

these last couple of weeks,

I've been challenging us

about how our culture, in fact,

is sort of bipolar

when it comes to the Bible.

On one level,

it wants to treat the Bible

like it's a pious book

and has problems with it

because the Bible's not pious all the time.

And on the other hand,

there's those in our culture

who would gladly agree with what the,

in fact, see what Cusa just did

in the States as being heroic,

to recognize that it's hate literature

and our culture is schizoid.

And today we're going to look at the text

and see whether or not this is true.

In fact, I would suggest,

as you would well imagine,

that it's not the Bible

that has the problem,

but that it's us,

that we have a hard time

accepting the full claims of Jesus.

If what Jesus says is,

what Jesus says today

in this passage in the Gospel,

just as Athanasius pointed out

in the 300s,

17 centuries ago,

if what Jesus says is true,

he can only possibly be God.

And if Jesus is not actually God

and he says the things that he says he is,

then he's either insane

or he's either a terrible charlatan

because Jesus makes the deepest claims

about himself today.

So let's please turn in your Bibles

to page 923.

And we're looking at John 16,

John chapter 5, verse 16.

John 5:16

And those of you who know the Bible well,

or those of you who were here last week,

know that last week,

Jesus did the healing of the man at Bethesda,

the pool at Bethesda.

And it ends up with the religious leaders

and authorities being very upset with Jesus

because he healed somebody on the Sabbath

and told the man as a sign of his healing

that he was to walk and carry his mat.

And this got them all very upset.

And so verse 16 continues on

with this conflict with the religious leaders.

For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus

and sought to kill him

because he had done these things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them,

My father has been working until now

and I have been working.

Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill him

because he not only broke the Sabbath,

but also said that God was his father,

making himself equal with God.

I just want to pause here.

Just notice this amazing claim.

Verse 17,

My father has been working until now

and I have been working.

Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill him

because he not only broke the Sabbath,

but also said that God was his father,

making himself equal with God.

Jesus here is making a claim

that he is by very nature,

his fundamental nature is God.

Some of you who have been here for a while

know that Lake Lisa is pregnant.

Her baby will be coming within a couple of weeks.

Anne is with us this morning.

She's pregnant.

Her baby will be coming in a couple of weeks.

One's due date is the 5th of October.

The other is the 7th of October.

Janine, I think your due date's March, is it?

Yes.

And so we have three people here who,

at least three that I know of,

who are expecting babies.

And, you know, we can wonder

whether it's going to be a boy or a girl,

but nobody wonders whether it will be a pussycat

or a dog or a little pony

that will come out of any of these three women.

That human beings give birth to human beings,

dogs give birth to dogs,

cats to cats, fish to fish.

And that's the way the world works.

There's no doubt about that in any of our minds,

about what will emerge from the wombs

of these three women.

And so when Jesus is saying that God is his father,

the way that he says it to the religious leaders,

they understand that he is claiming

to be, in a sense, begotten by God, not made.

That he is of the same kind.

Just as when Louise and I come together

and have sexually known each other

and Louise gets pregnant,

she will give birth.

She will, I begat these sons and daughters

and she bore these sons and daughters.

They share of the same nature.

And what the claim is here being made

is that Jesus is of the same nature as God.

And as I said last week,

the way to understand the gospel of John is this.

John bears witness that God, the Son of God,

took on flesh of the Virgin Mary

and walked among us.

That God, the Son of God, walked among us.

And that not only was he God, the Son of God,

the man, Jesus, but he was also the Messiah,

the mighty deliverer that had been promised

by the scriptures for hundreds and hundreds

and hundreds of years.

The promises of God, of a mighty deliverer,

walked among us.

And that, in fact, the Lamb of God

who takes away the sin of the world

walked among us.

And John is describing what it is like

when the Lamb of God, God, the Son of God,

the Messiah, walks among us.

And how do human beings react

to this unbelievably momentous truth

if, like me, you believe that it is true?

And John does.

John staked his life,

his entire future, on this witness.

And so here we see this very, very great claim

that Jesus is the Son of the Father.

And the reaction of the religious leaders

is that they want to kill him.

And in the next five verses,

19, 20, 21, 22, 23, is that five?

Yes, five.

Jesus, in a sense, makes the claim even deeper.

Like, rather than saying,

no, no, no, no, no, no, you didn't understand me,

I was just using an analogy,

I was using a metaphor,

it was a simile, it's a bit poetic,

you know, come on, guys, get a life.

Rather than doing any of those little dodges,

Jesus drives the point home

in each of the following verses.

Verse 19,

Then Jesus answered and said to them,

and in the version that many of you are using,

it says, most assuredly.

It can be translated,

if you're using the King James Version,

it says, verily, verily.

It means, amen, amen.

Whenever you see this in the Gospel of John,

it means the following things

should all be written in capital letters

and in red letters or pink or yellow or something

to make sure you really hear them.

And Jesus says,

verily, verily, I say to you,

the Son can do nothing of himself

but what he sees the Father do,

for whatever he does,

the Son also does in like manner.

Verily, verily, I say to you,

the Son can do nothing of himself

but what he sees the Father do,

for whatever he does,

the Son also does in like manner.

What's Jesus saying here?

One of the things, first of all,

that Jesus is saying here

is that the religious leaders knew

that God couldn't keep the Sabbath

in the way that they wanted human beings

to keep the Sabbath.

They knew that God had to work on the Sabbath.

Why did they know that?

Because it rained on the Sabbath

and gravity still worked on the Sabbath

and prayers were answered on the Sabbath

and all of these things happened on the Sabbath

so God obviously had to be active on the Sabbath

and Jesus, remember last week I said

that Jesus in fact isn't breaking anything

in the Sabbath law,

he's breaking human interpretation of Sabbath law

and Jesus doesn't take this route.

He says, okay you folks,

whatever arguments and whatever passages

in the Bible you use to understand

that God the Father works on the Sabbath,

every one of those arguments apply to me.

It is a very, very strong claim

that Jesus is making

and he's also making the claim

that the Father reveals

in complete and utter fullness

everything that is in his heart

and everything that is in his will.

He reveals fully and completely

everything to the Son, to Jesus

and that Jesus has just as much power as God

because whatever the Father reveals

and asks the Son to do,

the Son does it with no exception.

That there is no difference

between the Father's power

and the Son's power.

Verse 20, for the Father,

and by the way in this text

there's a series of four fours

which all link this,

this spectacular claim

that Jesus in a sense,

not in a sense,

that Jesus is the Son of God

and there are linked four fours,

F-O-Rs,

that link this argument together.

Verse 20,

for the Father loves the Son

and shows him all things

that he himself does

and he will show him

greater works than these

that you may marvel.

And what this is saying here

is that not only is Jesus

equal by nature,

I am just as human

as my son Tosh

and as my daughter Victoria,

we are all equally human.

And Jesus is not only claiming here

that he is just as equally God

as his Father is,

he is also saying

that what characterizes

their equality

is loving union.

I mean, this is really important

because, you know,

in our culture

and as part of human nature,

when do I most want

to claim equality?

When I want to be independent

and out from somebody's power.

If I was to say to the bishop,

Bishop, I am just as,

I am equal to you.

I am in a sense trying to say

I'm going to be independent to you.

If I, you know,

if anybody is making

that type of claim,

it's very easy for us

humanly speaking

to think they are claiming

to be like almost like a rival

and they can be completely

and utterly independent.

And Jesus here says,

yes, by nature,

I am just as much God

as the Father is.

Yet what characterizes

our relationship

is the purest possible intimacy

and loving union.

There is no desire

for separateness

or independence

that at the very, very heart

of the created order,

that that which in effect

created the entire created order,

the very, very heart,

is the relationship

of most profound,

pure, deep, unbroken love

of the Father for the Son

and the Son for the Father.

Verse 21,

for as the Father raises the dead

and gives life to them,

even so the Son gives life

to whom he will.

And here we see

that just as the Father

is the only one

who can give life,

so it is that the Son

also has that power

which only God has

to give life,

the power of life.

Verses 22 and 23,

for the Father judges no one

but has committed

all judgment to the Son

that all should honor the Son

just as they honor the Father.

He who does not honor the Son

does not honor the Father

who sent him.

And here we see

the Bible constantly says

that judgment is something

which only God can truly have,

that he is the final judge.

And we see here

that all of that power

of judging

has been bestowed

upon the Son.

Jesus is making

the strongest claim

that he is God,

the Son of God.

And he who does not honor

the Son

does not honor

the Father

who sent him.

Now, here we get back

to the question

of whether or not

the Bible

is anti-Semitic.

You know, it's funny.

The Bible has,

the Gospel of John

has the strongest

possible statements

of the Jewishness

of Jewish,

of Jesus.

In John chapter 4,

John 4 · chapter mention

Jesus to the Samaritan woman

says to the Samaritan woman,

salvation is from the Jews.

The strongest possible statement

of the fact

that the Jewish people

were God's chosen people.

All the way through

the Gospel of John,

Jesus is constantly shown

as a devout

and observant Jew.

Jesus goes to the Passover,

he keeps the festivals,

he is a devout

and observant Jew.

And so, John,

who wrote this Gospel,

is also Jewish.

All of the disciples

of Jesus

are shown to be Jewish.

And so,

it's because of that

that when we see

the phrase

all the way through

the Gospel of John,

the Jews,

Jesus can't,

John isn't possibly

meaning that there's

something defective

with the Jewish people.

He can't possibly mean that.

I mean,

he's already said

that salvation

is from the Jews.

He's shown that

Jesus is Jewish.

He's shown that

the God of the Old Testament

is the Father of Jesus

and that Jesus

is the Son of the Father.

And so,

all the way through

John's Gospel,

the Gospel is inviting us

to understand the Jews

as being a short form

for a spiritual

and human reality.

Completely separate

from those people

that we know

as Jewish people.

And we see

that the Jews

are used to understand,

they are,

they in a sense

represent,

the religious

and spiritual world

in rebellion

against God.

That's why

any one of us

can be the Jews.

Any one of us

can be the Jews.

Time after time

in John's Gospel,

in fact,

last week,

we looked at the Gospel

and we saw how

one of the things

that Jesus was warning

against was the power

of a religious spirit.

The fact that there

is a way of being religious

that in effect

creates a force field

around us

and actually keeps

God distant.

That there's a way

of being religious

and a way of being

spiritual

that in effect

immunizes us

against God.

And that these are

constant spiritual

temptations.

And so time

after time

after time

that the Scriptures

are inviting us

to say,

not when we read

these things,

not how bad

are these people,

but to say to God,

Father,

may this not be

true of me.

May I not listen

to those supposed

spiritual truths

and those supposed

spiritual practices,

those supposed

religious truths

and those supposed

religious practices

that if I adopt them,

it means that I am

building a force field

against you.

May it not be

true of me.

Lord,

deliver me.

Have mercy upon me.

The Bible,

time after time,

using this phrase

is inviting us

to repent.

And it's also

inviting us

to understand

and to recognize

when we see

such a spiritual

agenda

and such

a religious agenda,

even when it

comes to us

in the guise

that is culturally

acceptable

and we wouldn't

normally recognize it.

Okay.

In Canadian culture,

it would be easy

to think

that this

spiritual

and religious

world

that in effect

immunizes us

against God.

It would be easy

for us to maybe

see it in the

worst televangelists

or the kookiest

fundamentalist types

in the states.

But the hard part

is to recognize it

when we see it

praised and extolled

by the CBC

or by the National Post

or by the Citizen

or by Maclean's.

Listen to the end

of verse 23 again.

He who does not

honor the Son

does not honor

the Father

who sent him.

I don't know

how many of you

last week

read The Citizen

on Sunday.

Somebody asked me

about this art

interview with

Karen Armstrong

and The Citizen

last Sunday.

I don't know

how many of you

read it.

And Karen Armstrong

is a celebrated writer

who wrote

a celebrated book

called The History

of God

a couple of years ago.

I don't know

how many copies

it sold,

but it was

a celebrated book.

One of those things

that's reviewed

by everybody

as to how many

people read it,

that's another question.

But reviewers love it

and it was a highly,

highly praised book.

And there's an interview

with her in The Citizen

last week

whereby she says

that really religion

is just a product

of the human imagination,

that it's all about

keeping,

you know,

that religions

are basically the same,

that in fact

they're all ultimately

about the golden rule

and about trying

to be good

and about the certain

types of toxic

religious belief

and on and on

and on and on.

And at the end

of the day,

all of the things

that she said,

and I'm not maybe

portraying it very well,

but it was all

just very culturally

accepted.

The sort of things

that if you said it

at the Starbucks

or at a religion faculty

at the University

of Ottawa

or in the average

Anglican church,

people would just

nod and say

yes,

yes,

yes,

yes.

But her entire

religious system,

her entire spiritual system

was a denial

of what Jesus

has just claimed

about himself.

It is,

even though it is

couched

in spiritual language,

in culturally

acceptable language,

and even though

it is highly praised,

if you listen

to her thought,

then what Jesus

has just said

about himself

is completely

and utterly impossible.

she is the Jews.

Icusa

is the Jews.

Lord,

may it not be true

that you and I

develop a series

of religious beliefs

and spiritual practices

which lead us

to the point

where we do not

honor the Son

and do not receive

the Son

for all whom he is.

is the Jews.

Briefly,

just two more things

about this text.

Let's just continue

reading verse 24

because Jesus

says something

unbelievably astounding

in the next verse.

Verily,

verily,

I say to you,

it says most assuredly,

but gosh,

that's one of the things

the King James Version

does well.

Isn't there something

about verily,

verily?

Verily,

verily,

I say to you,

he who hears

my word

and believes

in him

who sent me

has everlasting life

and shall not come

into judgment

but has passed

from death

into life.

Just,

isn't that,

just read that again.

Verily,

verily,

I say to you,

he who hears

my word

and believes

in him

who sent me

has everlasting life

and shall not

come into judgment.

That actually means

shall not be judged

adversely

but has passed

from death

into life.

Just shared that

Janine and Anne

and Lisa

are pregnant

and here's another

simple lesson

from the natural world,

folks.

You can't be

half pregnant.

It's completely impossible.

You're either pregnant

or you're not pregnant.

You can't be

half pregnant

and it's exactly

that idea

which is at work here.

Jesus has just said

the most astounding thing.

He has said

to you and me

that if you,

there is a way

of hearing his word

and believing in God

who has sent Jesus,

there is a way

of hearing the word

of Jesus

and believing in God

who has sent Jesus

that to do this

we receive

everlasting life,

that we will not

be judged adversely,

and that we have passed

from death

into life

with no middle ground.

That is dynamite.

And over the next

couple of weeks

we're going to continue

to look in verse,

in chapter 6,

Jesus is going to

talk more about

what it means

to believe.

But the thing for us

is right,

here's the invitation

to you folks right now.

And God is so cool,

he loves this.

There's an invitation

for you and me

right now to say this,

Father,

whatever on earth

that means,

may it be true in me.

Whatever that means,

I want that

to be true of me.

I mean,

if you say that

prayer to the Father,

he hears it

and honors it.

And to say,

Father,

I want to know

more and more

about what that means.

I want that to be

more and more

true of me,

but Father,

whatever that means

in verse 24,

make it true in me.

Make it true in me.

Help me to hear

the words of your Son

and help me to believe

in you who sent Jesus

so that the final word

about me is not judgment,

but is,

well done,

now good and faithful servant,

come into my kingdom.

That the final word

about me is not

that I am partial

and finite,

but that I have

everlasting life.

That the final word

about me,

me who aid

switches

and who can get sick

and is finite,

that the final word

about me is not death,

but life.

May it be true of me.

Jesus goes on

and talks about

other things.

In fact,

there's another

very strong claim

to divinity there

later on

where it talked

in verse 26

about having life

in himself.

The three words

could be hyphenated,

life in himself,

which is a powerful claim

once again

to the divinity of Jesus.

And it goes on then

to talk about

the different types

of witnesses

to Jesus

that exist.

And at the heart

of all of these

different claims

is this,

that if God actually

is your witness,

why do you need

any human witness

ultimately?

If God has said

you're the one,

then what does it

really matter

whether there's a vote

on the planet Earth

and what the vote is

because you've got

the key vote

by having God say

that you're the one

who is my son

that has come

to be the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

But just one final thing

just before we close.

Turn,

look at verse 39

and 40.

And this is part

of this Jesus

talking about

witnesses to him.

And I just want

to draw your attention

to this.

you search the scriptures,

verse 39,

for in them

you think

you have eternal life

and these are they

which testify of me

but you are not willing

to come to me

that you may have life.

I'm going to read it again.

You search the scriptures

for in them

you think

you have eternal life

and these are they

which testify of me

but you are not willing

to come to me

that you may have life.

what this is warning us of friends

is that there is a way of reading the scriptures

that completely and utterly misses the point

that the scriptures have a point

six times in fact in John's gospel

this similar claim is made by Jesus

six different times in six different places

it's the same claim that's made in a variety of ways

in Matthew, Mark and Luke

and that in every one of these cases

the claim is that the point of what we call the Old Testament

the point of that entire body of revelation

is to point to Jesus

and the entire point of all of that

is to point to Jesus so that we might believe in him

and it is possible for us to read the scriptures

and read the scriptures and know the scriptures

but completely and utterly miss the point

you know one of the things that was really hard for me

when I was in my equivalent of seminary

is gosh you know I'd be

there's this there'd be these professors up front

and they'd speak like six languages

they could just go from

oh yeah this is the Greek

and oh yeah by the way this is the Hebrew

and then they could say oh yeah and this is Akkadian

you know and this is this and this is this

and they could do all of these things

and they were nicer than me

their IQ was probably double my IQ

they were probably ten times nicer than me

and and all of these things

but the problem is

that I would listen to them

and they would deny Christ

and if you listen to their teaching

it would mean that the that Jesus wasn't who he said he was

that he was some type of an example

or something that would allow

he was some type of being or person or story

that would fit within their religious and spiritual system

and you know it can be very very

I'm speaking here especially to you students

it can be very very intimidating

in the face of somebody

who's obviously so much smarter than you

and knows so many more languages than you

and and and seems to be nicer

and more together than you

and all of those types of things

but the fact of the matter is

is that they are teaching

and reading the Bible in such a way

that misses the entire point of the Bible

which is to believe in Jesus

and to know him

in fact one of the great tragedies

of the of the statement made by the Anglicans

in the south to United States

is that to say that the Bible is hate literature

how could one possibly want to go to it

and read it in such a way

that they might have eternal life

it in effect is a way to shut the door on Jesus

Lord have mercy upon them

and Lord have mercy upon us

I encourage you folks to read the word of God

to read the scriptures

to read it humbly

intelligently

systematically

to read it

and every day you read it

to open it up and say

dear father

may you show me your son

and what it means to know

and follow your son

as I read your word

let's bow our heads in prayer

loving father

we

we acknowledge before you

that it is very easy

to see a

speck in somebody else's eye

and to miss the log in our own eye

we ask loving father

that you might deliver us

from systems of religion and spirituality

that in effect

immunize us against you

from religion

systems of religion

or liturgy

or spirituality

which create a force field against you

from systems

that end up making us feel superior to you

dear father

we acknowledge before you

that we can become blind to these processes

in our own lives

our own lives

and we ask that your Holy Spirit

would move with power

that your Holy Word

would move with power in us

delivering us from these things

that you might grant us

humble

yearning

open hearts

and minds

hearts and minds

which are humble before you

and yearn for you

and long for you

and father

we ask that you might so guide us

in the reading of your word

that more and more and more

our whole lives

all that is us

is a yes to you

this we ask in the name of Jesus

your son and our savior

amen

you

thank you

thank you

for tuning in

this

is