We live in a world where it seems there is no easy win: The cure is often painful; the prize is won at great cost; no worthwhile venture is without risk. That is the way it is. Jesus acknowledged that in several parables. Before getting the field with the hidden treasure, the man had to sell all his goods. Before buying the priceless pearl, the merchant had to sell all his other jewels. To find the one lost sheep, the shepherd had to leave the other 99 alone, unguarded. Is it any easier with what Paul calls the “free gift of eternal life”?

If it is free, why is it so hard to accept?

We are in the gospel of John, chapter 8, in the middle of what I have called Jesus’ escalation; where it seems that Jesus is on purpose challenging the crowds, almost daring them to continue following Him.

Now, His message has not changed. What He taught in that first great Sermon on the Mount is still the foundation of what He is teaching. And I am willing to bet that many in these crowds have been following Him since then. So why does He have to challenge them? Haven’t they demonstrated by now that they believe in Him? that they are committed to Him?

I think the problem lies in what we mean when we tell ourselves that we believe in something or someone. We say we believe… but what does that really mean?

Do we mean we believe this ____ is true, until proven otherwise? With regards to Jesus, that would mean that we trust Him… until proven otherwise. But if that is what we mean, how does that differ from mere opinion?

Isn’t the “believing” that Jesus is asking of us, more than that? It has to be more… for otherwise it could not have the power to overcome death:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal.

Eternal life is unchanging. It cannot depend on something so changeable as an opinion.

The difference between opinion and belief is the existence of proof.

So, the question is: What kind of proof do I need in order to believe in Him? I bet that if we asked this question of the people in those crowds following Jesus, we would get many different answers. Each person could have a different requirement, a different standard for what constitutes enough proof. So, whose standard should we use?

A better question is: What proof did Jesus presuppose was enough?

The surprising answer has been with us since that Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:1-12 But seeing the crowds, he went up into the mountain, and having sat down, his disciples came to him; and, having opened his mouth, he taught them, saying, Blessed [are] the poor in spirit, for *theirs* is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed they that mourn, for *they* shall be comforted. Blessed the meek, for *they* shall inherit the earth. Blessed they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for *they* shall be filled.

Blessed the merciful, for *they* shall find mercy. Blessed the pure in heart, for *they* shall see God. Blessed the peace-makers, for *they* shall be called sons of God. Blessed they who are persecuted on account of righteousness, for *theirs* is the kingdom of the heavens.

Blessed are ye when they may reproach and persecute you, and say every wicked thing against you, lying, for my sake. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens; for thus have they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Let’s imagine we were there, listening to these words. Do we take them seriously? Or do we spiritualize them? Is Jesus simply telling the poor and oppressed masses this? “Don’t worry about it, I know life is hard down here; but God is on your side. It will be Ok, in the by and by”

If that were it, how much comfort is that offering us, really? If that were it, wasn’t Karl Marx justified in calling religion the opium of the masses? I find it hard to believe that no one in that first audience felt like raising their hand and saying:

“Excuse me! What do you mean ‘Blessed’? There is nothing blessed about being poor and destitute, hungry and beaten down! And you want us to be merciful to our oppressors? To strive to be called sons of God while they persecute us and take away everything we have? What kind of life is this?”

Had I been there, would I have raised my hand?

If I didn’t. Did that mean I fully understood what Jesus was saying? Did that mean that I accepted everything He said? Did that mean I believed Him then? I don’t think so. And that’s the problem. I may have liked what I heard, the Spirit behind those words… but I don’t know that most of us in that crowd truly took it seriously, literally.

You see, most of us are so used to believing in things and people conditionally, that we allow ourselves to listen, and then allow ourselves to shrug and say ‘that sounds good’; and then we just go on with our lives. We don’t decide. We don’t stop there and ask ourselves, Is this TRUE?

We don’t stop and spend the time to analyze what those words are asking us to believe, and then contrast that with what we tell ourselves we believe.

Why? Because – chances are – those two are not the same. And if what Jesus says is different from what I think (different from the way that I have been living) then I have to face the fact that I may be wrong. I have to face the fact that – if I am honest with myself – I have to engage in the struggle required to resolve this conflict.

Without engaging in that struggle, we do not really know what we believe. And if we do not know what we believe, we really do not believe anything. Without going through that struggle, we can’t really hear what Jesus is really telling us.

In that Introduction to the Sermon, Jesus may appear to be talking about the reward in the by and by; but if that reward is indeed awaiting us there, it is because we have accepted the underlying TRUTH that Jesus is expressing when He contrasts the Blessedness in the Kingdom against the hardship of this world: That Truth is that there are two kingdoms and we get to, we have to, choose which one we live in. In other words, Jesus has just told us a Truth that He would end up repeating later on, more and more explicitly: Count the cost:

If I want the Blessedness of the Kingdom to spill over into my life now, I have to accept that this world is not my friend; this world is not my home. And I have to take all the consequences that will come from making that choice if I want to follow Him.

Yes, the “by and by” is out there at the end of it all… if I make this choice. BUT making the choice has huge consequences right now in the way that I live… seeking righteousness, giving mercy, focusing on God’s will… and loving my neighbor even when he persecutes me.

This is what Jesus was asking the people to accept as He began the Sermon on the Mount.

Did they?

If none of them questioned the outrageous demands that taking those words literally made on their lives, I think it is safe to say not many truly believed. But Jesus would not let them off easily. And so, even within the Sermon we see a “mini” escalation.

Think about it: He tells them they are still required to obey the Law (like the Pharisees have been telling them). But their righteousness has to exceed that of the Pharisees. Anger is as bad as murder. Lust in your heart is as bad as adultery. You must love your enemy. Put your treasure in Heaven. Do not judge your brother…

Trust in the God that is unseen and obey Him even when it is the narrow way… And, to sum it all up: if you want to get to into the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus says “Obey My words.”

Matthew 7: 21-24 Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he that does the will of my Father who is in the heavens. Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied through *thy* name, and through *thy* name cast out demons, and through *thy* name done many works of power? and then will I avow unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, workers of lawlessness.

Whoever therefore hears these my words and does them, I will liken him to a prudent man, who built his house upon the rock…

Do you think the people listening to this Sermon took these words at face value? I mean, here is a man, a human being, telling us plainly that He is the “gate keeper” of Heaven; that admittance into the Kingdom of God is only to be gained by His permission.

Isn’t that an outrageous claim?

What proof has He offered that we might take this claim seriously?

The answer is: The only Proof that He always claimed was enough: His Word; because that Word is what the Father has spoken. He has been saying this since He began the escalation:

John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every one that has heard from the Father [himself], and has learned [of him], comes to me…

John 7: 16-17 Jesus therefore answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but [that] of him that has sent me. If any one desire to practise his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is of God, or [that] I speak from myself.

All the Proof that we need is freely available to all of us because the Father is not silent; and He is Lord of All.

This is why accepting the free gift is so hard: No worldly proof will ever be revealed because no worldly certainty could ever be enough. The certainty only comes from an unseen – and, yes, even unheard – source… a source that by definition lies beyond the reach of our physical senses; a source that only our spirit can hear and vet. Yet, Jesus declares we all can hear it…

The problem is that we let the voice of the world compete with the Father’s voice

And that is the challenge Jesus is facing at this point of His ministry. Almost three years have passed. Crowds have followed Him everywhere. They appear to be listening. They claim they are listening. But if they really were, would they react like this?

John 8:12-13 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said to him, Thou bearest witness concerning thyself; thy witness is not true.

Yes, claiming to be the Light of the world may be outrageous; but no more outrageous than being the bread of life, or the source of living water unto eternal life, or the “gate keeper” of the Kingdom of Heaven. So, Jesus has to repeat Himself:

John 8:14-16 Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness concerning myself, my witness is true, because I know whence I came and whither I go: but ye know not whence I come and whither I go. Ye judge according to the flesh, I judge no one. And if also I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who has sent me.

Jesus is practically telling them: “You wouldn’t know Truth if it slapped you in the face. But I know Truth because the source of all Truth sent me: The Father.” He has been saying words like this since John chapter 5 and yet they did not grasp the meaning of it then. So, again, He is going to remind them that the Father is speaking all the time:

John 8:17-19 And in your law too it is written that the testimony of two men is true: I am [one] who bear witness concerning myself, and the Father who has sent me bears witness concerning me. They said to him therefore, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me nor my Father. If ye had known me, ye would have known also my Father.

The problem is, they do not recognize the Father’s Voice.

And since this is the escalation, there is no more time to waste. Maybe reminding them of the consequences of ignoring the Father’s Voice will shake them awake:

John 8:20-21 These words spoke he in the treasury, teaching in the temple; and no one took him, for his hour was not yet come. He said therefore again to them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin; where I go ye cannot come.

If Jesus is speaking logically (not spouting random aphorisms), then the statement that they will die in their sins must be connected to the statement that they will not be able to go where He is going. All along He has been telling them that He is offering them eternal life; what else would this statement mean except that they are risking losing it? But they do not get the connection. They focus on that which they humanly think they can refute: “What do you mean we cannot go where you can go? How are you better than us?”

John 8:22 The Jews therefore said, Will he kill himself, that he says, Where I go ye cannot come?

And Jesus tries again:

John 8:23-24 And he said to them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above. Ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore to you, that ye shall die in your sins; for unless ye shall believe that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins.

And in this response, Jesus has elevated the escalation. The Greek phrase ego eimi used here by Jesus means I AM, namely the covenant name of Jehovah. But it could also be taken to mean “I am he” in the human sense of identifying yourself.

It could be taken that way… but the whole response only makes logical sense if He is really saying I AM. Because He says He is not of this world; and the price, the consequence, of not accepting this, not believing that He is the I AM, is dying in their sins.

But they cannot hear it that way:

John 8:25-26 They said therefore to him, Who art thou? [And] Jesus said to them, Altogether that which I also say to you. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but he that has sent me is true, and I, what I have heard from him, these things I say to the world.

You can almost hear the frustration in Jesus’ voice. He has so much to teach them about themselves, about how they are living their lives, but it would all be wasted… going into ears that cannot hear. So, Jesus will do exactly what the Father told Him to do: Speak these Words. That should be enough. The Father has decreed that that should be enough… We know this so because He is TRUE. He knows everything and He knows what is required and what is more than enough.

The question is, will they listen to the Father?

John 8:27 They knew not that he spoke to them of the Father.

So, just like at the beginning of His ministry (when they were demanding that He prove Himself with a sign) here He tells them the same thing He told them back then, the PROOF the Father has decreed is enough for all humanity is coming: The Cross… (and the Resurrection…)

John 8:28-29 Jesus therefore said to them, When ye shall have lifted up the Son of man, then ye shall know that I AM, and [that] I do nothing of myself, but as the Father has taught me I speak these things. And he that has sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I do always the things that are pleasing to him.

And finally, as John relates these words, he tells us, there is hope:

John 8:30 As he spoke these things many believed on him.

They believed, on the basis of the same Proof we all have today…

no more, no less.

Is that enough for us?