The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—
36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.40
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.
41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”
42 And many believed in him there.
Everyone knows that John begins his gospel with overtones of Genesis when he writes:
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God”
and he ends his Gospel with a similar confession, Thomas on his knees before the Lord Jesus after his resurrection,
“My Lord and my God!” And right in the middle of the Gospel he places another such assertion of Lord’s divinity. We have the one in the middle before us this morning: “I and my Father are one.”
The Lord did not hesitate to use the plural form when speaking of himself and his Father and the Holy Spirit. “We will come to him[that is a Christian believer]
and dwell with him.” But, as here, he also will say, “I and the Father are one.” All three persons have a single name in the great formula of baptism: “Baptize them in the name [not names] of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” “You believe in one
God? You do well,” writes James, the Lord’s brother. Distinction in unity. That is the conclusion to which the biblical evidence inexorably leads.
This is the doctrine that identifies Christianity and separates it from Judaism and from Islam. While they are monotheistic faiths, they have no tri-unity in the
Godhead. And, this is no accident. They also make very little of what lies at the heart of Christian faith and life; the possibility and the privilege of actually knowing God, of having a relationship with him as Father, brother, advocate, friend, Savior.
That is what the Trinity means for us; God known to us, loved by us, trusted by us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is in relationship with us for He is in relationship with Himself. We are invited into that reality through Jesus Christ!
The Jews in our text certainly took the Lord Jesus to be making an assertion that was blasphemous for any mere human being to make! What else was this but a claim
to be God, and by a mere man at that! The Jews knew what He was saying, that He was equating Himself with God, that He was God in the flesh…And they were right! That is exactly what He was saying!
But, as odd as it might sound, perhaps we could learn something from these Pharisees. While it is true they did not understand nor believe the truth that was right
in front of their eyes, at least they believed that blasphemy happens. They believed that blasphemy is a real sin and that men commit this sin, and that it is a horrible sin to commit. I say, at least they believe this, because we have to step back and wonder
if the modern church even thinks there is such a sin! It could very well be that the scribes are way ahead of many Christians today in this regard.
Blasphemy occurs when unworthy things are attributed to God as well as, when worthy things that should be attributed to God, are denied Him. But it is also blasphemous
to attribute that which is God’s alone, to any other. This was a serious charge and the people of the day knew it to be a serious charge! In fact, if convicted carried with it, according to the law of Moses, death.
In our day with how flippantly we speak of God, how lackadaisical we come into the presence of God, and how disrespectful we are in our words and actions when speaking
of and addressing God, we have to wonder if anyone really takes blasphemy that seriously in our day? Listen to this well-respected pastor of our day, he sums it up as well as it can be said:
“…if the very idea of an Almighty God, wonderful in glory, who inhabits eternity and dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see, if the very
idea of a God whose insupportable glory must provoke the deepest reverence in the hearts of men, if such a God no longer exists in the mind of men or the mind of the culture, how can there be such a thing as blasphemy? It might be true that today we say things
about the President or entertainers, public figures that are crude, disrespectful and downright mean. But those things are not blasphemous because the object of the slur is too small. For there to be blasphemy, there must be a figure so exalted that everyone
understands, commands absolute respect, reverence, fear and homage. To belittle such a figure as that is blasphemy. But, (and here is the point), God is no longer such a figure in the minds of modern men and certainly not in the mind of the culture.”
I wish I could say that there was a distinct difference between the culture and the church, an antithesis. I wish it were true that, when the culture blasphemes, you
could almost literally hear the church’s collective gasp, realizing what has been said and done. But is that the case?
How can it be, when the church is busy participating in the same things and speaking in the same low, watered down, domesticated way about the Almighty? Do we see and know God to be the Majestic Being that He is? Do we approach Him and call upon Him
as though we really see this and believe it?
Many Christians in our day lament, and understandably so, the low ebb of true Christian piety, holiness and engagement with the unbelieving world. But if we are truly
serious about a change in this downhill slide we would be wise to begin with an exaltation of our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our hearts, our minds and then evident in our choices and behaviors. We would do well to begin on our knees…and stay there.
Jesus told the leaders of the people that their problem was that they did not know the Scriptures or the power of God. (Matthew 22:29) To know the Father is to know
the Son. Perhaps herein lies the problem for the church in our day too. We don’t know the Scriptures. We don’t know the power of God…a power Jesus says that was made clear in and through the works He was doing, the works of the Father.
They didn’t know what to do when Jesus spoke this way. They should have bowed the knee…some did. (vs.42) But instead, the leaders could only think to be rid of Him.
What will we do with Jesus? There are only these two choices.
Prayer:
I bow before you my God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and confess that I am a sinner in need of Your mercy. I do not know you as I ought, I do not seek you with all my heart, soul, strength and mind. I too often treat you as if You are not the mighty, awesome
and powerful God that you are…please forgive me. Give me a sight, just a glimpse of Your wonder, awe and glory and I will be forever changed. But most of all, help me to see You as You are in Your Word and make my knees never stiff but easily bent to You and
Your will, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: All Hail Adored Trinity
All hail, adorèd Trinity; All hail, eternal Unity; O God the Father, God the Son, And God the Spirit, ever One.
Three Persons praise we evermore, One only God our hearts adore; In Thy sure mercy ever kind May we our true protection find.
O Trinity! O Unity! Be present as we worship Thee; And with the songs that angels sing Unite the hymns of praise we bring.