“Supporting evidence”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, March 10, 2023
John 5:30-47 (Forward, p. 40) CEV p. 1106
One of the kinds of television genres that I particularly like are the murder mysteries. And while I especially like the intuitive and highly observant sleuthing of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Father Brown, and ‘Death in Paradise’, I am rather impressed by the detailed, systematic and accumulative approaches of Sister Boniface and ‘The Bay’. In both of these latter series, the police simply pile up, accumulate evidence that leads them to their final conclusion and arrests. They make sure that there is sufficient ‘supporting evidence’ for this.
In a sense, this is what Jesus does in today’s passage. He marshals a whole array of evidence to support His claims of how He is and to invite their faith in Him:
a) John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus: “This is the one I told you would come. He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born…I am not good enough to untie his sandals” (John 1:15,27);
b) Jesus’ own works and deeds, the things ‘that the Father had given him to do’ (verse 36). The Pharisee Nicodemus, in his nighttime meeting with Jesus, freely acknowledged, “You could not work these miracles, unless God were with you” (John 3:2). Certainly, the crowds were continually amazed at the things that Jesus did.
And even Jesus Himself said—without blowing His own horn in the least—“I have done things that no one else has ever done” (John 15:24a). In fact, Joe Amaral, in his little book, Understanding Jesus, alleges that there were four Messianic miracles that Jesus fulfilled that no one else in all of history had done, which makes Jesus absolutely unique. He suggests that it was with the raising of Lazarus from the dead after four days, the final Messianic miracle, that ultimately moved the authorities to take definite action to remove Jesus from the scene;
c) The Father’s own words, His own testimony, as at Jesus’ own baptism and at the Transfiguration (Matthew 3:17 & 17:5);
d) The Scriptures themselves, for instance, Deuteronomy 18:15,18, which spoke of the coming of a greater prophet. But not only there, but there are hundreds of Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures, many of which only Jesus ever fulfilled.
e) Moses: “You have put your hope in Moses, yet he is the very one who will accuse you. Moses wrote about me, and if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me” (verses 45b-46). Here the references in Moses, in the Pentateuch, are myriad, beginning with Genesis 3:15; 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 49:10 and continuing on to the above referenced passage, Deuteronomy 18:15,18.
And so, there is abundant ‘supporting evidence’ as to who Jesus is and why faith in Him is warranted. However, much as Josh McDowell suggests in his Evidence that Demands a Verdict, many people, then and now, refuse to examine the evidence, for then, indeed, they would have had to make a verdict, which might be rather difficult to refute in light of all the ‘supporting’ evidence.
So, here let me offer a Lenten suggestion, namely that our Lenten reading focus especially on Jesus, and on the Gospels, as a way of solidifying and supporting our faith and trust in Him—as a way of building up our array of ‘supporting’ evidence for faith. Amen.
Forward notes: “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (verses 39-40).
“When I started seminary at Sewanee, Dean Guy Lytle suggested that we answer the question of whether we had been saved with just one word: Yes. After all, we had all been baptized, and Peter taught that baptism saves you.
“No, writes Paul, faith saves you. But no, claims James, works save you. Jesus intimates to the so-called rich young ruler that selling his goods and giving to the poor would save him, though elsewhere Jesus dubs good deeds to be the key to life.
“Which is it? Which of these avenues ends in salvation? All of them? None of them? Somewhere in between?
“The religious leaders are angry because Jesus has healed the man on the sabbath, a violation of one of the Big Ten (Commandments). Jesus isn’t mad the leaders wanted the day to remain sacred. He is angry because they are ungenerous. They would have man continue suffering for the sake of religious purity.”
“What saves you? I would move generosity to the top of the list.”
Moving Forward: “How can you give generously today?”
Some concluding notes: I’m afraid that Dean Guy Lytle was using 1 Peter somewhat out of context. The full passage reads, “Those flood waters were like baptism that now saves you. But baptism is more than just washing your body. It means turning to God with a clear conscience, because Jesus Christ was raised from death” (1 Peter 3:21). The turning to God is none other than faith and repentance, so the mere fact of the baptism, the outward act, was nothing in itself without these essential prerequisites.
And even with the Rich Young Ruler, Jesus says nothing about being saved, only that he would have ‘riches in heaven.’ Furthermore, after telling him to divest himself of his wealth and give the proceeds to the poor, He says, ‘then, come and follow me.” So, there is the need for faith once again.
And, by the way, Jesus’ healing of the man on the Sabbath was not a violation of the Big Ten, as our author puts it. It was a violation of the ‘hedge laws’ that mere humans, namely the religious authorities, had constructed to safeguard the Sabbath from being transgressed—or even ‘close’ to being transgressed. So, it was not a matter of religious purity at all, but a matter of over zealousness, being picky where even God was not picky, but indeed ‘erred’ on the side of compassion and love.