Mixed Responses to Jesus Even with all of His Miracles- John 12

Have you ever shared about something Jesus has done in your life that was amazing and you knew it was only because of Jesus, only to have the person try to explain it away?

Imagine being there when Jesus was on earth performing miracles. He healed the blind, deaf, invalid, and brought Lazarus back from the dead after four days. It seems only logical that all at that time in Israel would have believed in Jesus because of his miracles.

But the response was a mixed bag.

Some would not believe.

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 

This part is scary. that is from Isaiah 6 written over 700 years before Jesus came.

“He has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
    nor understand with their hearts,
    nor turn—and I would heal them.”

God hardened their hearts? For some their faith would come later. Some would never believe. They rejected Jesus and continually did so, so they lost out on the opportunity.

Some believed but in secret because they feared the consequences imposed by men and placed more value on what men thought than on what God thought.

Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;  for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

Jesus spelled out for them the nature of his relationship with God the Father and their respective roles.

Jesus came to be a light and show them God the Father.

Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.  I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Jesus did not come to judge but to save. God the Father judges those who reject Jesus.

If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 

God the Father’s command provides eternal life.

“I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

John recorded the command Jesus shared in John 3:16 which is in a chapter that also deals with the issues of Jesus coming to save not judge but there is a judgement. The command of John 3:16 is:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

What is our response to Jesus?

Do we value the opinions of other men and women more than God’s?

Thank you for reading. God Bless.