John 5:31-47
         Believe So You Can Believe

        Why should a person believe in Jesus? Or to ask a stronger question: Why should a person believe Jesus is God? Our passage today narrates Jesus answering that question about himself. Like a defense lawyer in a courtroom Jesus presents testimonies to prove his case. He begins following Torah law by saying that he cannot testify on his own behalf. He acknowledges the need for other witnesses. This raises the question whether the historical Jesus ever actually claimed to be God or if his followers made that claim for him after his death. In the three synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus spends very little time talking about himself at all. In John’s Gospel he talks about himself a lot and goes into complicated explanations of his equal but not quite equal relationship with God. So even between the four Gospels we have conflicting accounts whether Jesus ever made this claim of divinity for himself. And even here in John, he begins this teaching by saying that even if he did claim to be God, it would not be proof because you can’t testify on your own behalf.

So then he moves on to John the Baptist. John the Baptist is his principle character witness. In the first chapter of this Gospel John the Baptist say a lot about Jesus including, “I myself have testified that this is the Son of God.” So that’s pretty clear. Why should you believe Jesus is the Son of God? Because John the Baptist says you should believe.

Next, with the dramatic flair of a courtroom lawyer, Jesus transitions from John the Baptist to his next witness. He says John was a burning and shining lamp, a beacon of truth, beyond reproach. But you think that’s impressive, he says, “I have a testimony greater than John’s!” The second witness Jesus offers is the miracles he performs. So far, in this Gospel he has turned water in wine and healed a man who was hopelessly sick for 38 years. In the other three Gospels, the miracles are lined up one after another like a miracle laundry list. But, in this Gospel each miracle is carefully highlighted and lifted up as proof of the power and divine identity of Jesus. Who could do these things except the Son of God?

Then he moves to his third witness. His third witness is God Almighty or God, the Father as Jesus calls him. Now this one is tricky. Jesus uses some circular logic and rhetorical slight of hand. But as we will get to in a minute it also may be his strongest argument. He says in verse 37 that the Father has testifies that he is the Son of God. But, you can’t actually hear the testimony or as a matter of fact see the witness. Why? Because you don’t believe Jesus is God. So Jesus attempts to prove he is God by submitting a witness who can’t be heard or seen unless you believe Jesus is God.

His final witness is the Scriptures of the Hebrew Bible. Now here we come to one of the main disagreements between the early Christians and the Jewish leaders of the time. The early Christians claim that all of the Hebrew Bible from Genesis through the prophets points to the revelation of God in the form of a humble, suffering, spiritual Messiah. The Jewish leaders on the other hand agree that a Messiah is coming but it will be more of an apocalyptic, kingly Messiah that will lift up the nation of Israel over all other nations. So the author of this Gospel if obviously an early Christian and has Jesus presenting the Hebrew Scriptures as support for the humble, suffering Messiah, which more closely fits the person of Jesus.

Then Jesus changes roles from someone defending himself in a court room to someone prosecuting the Jewish leaders. “I know” he says, “that you do not have the love of God in you.” “How can you believe” he says, “when you accept the glory from one another but do not accept glory from God?” Then he pulls another rhetorical flourish by claiming that Moses will be their accuser. Moses in the Jewish thought of the time was the one who would advocate for people before God. God might be unhappy with how people are living, but Moses will defend the people as a mediator between God and humans. But, Jesus turns that around and says that in fact, Moses will be the one who accuses because Moses was always pointing to Christ.

So to summarize, why should you believe that Jesus is God according to Jesus in this passage? Because John the Baptist says so, because of the miracles Jesus performed, because God says so and because the Scriptures say so. And, according to this Gospel, if you don’t believe it, then that, shows you have no love in you and Moses will be your accuser before God.

The trouble is most of these four arguments don’t mean much to many modern people. Who cares if John the Baptist says that Jesus is the Son of God? So do millions of other people in the world today. And millions of others say he’s not. Why should we give any authority to John the Baptist. You could say we don’t know John the Baptist from Adam. And yes, the gospels record stories of Jesus doing lots of miracles. But, miracle workers are a dime a dozen in religious stories throughout the world and throughout history.  From Native American stories, to Hindu stories to Buddhist stories, there are lots of miracles in religious texts. Does that prove that all those miracle workers are Messiahs? And regarding the testimony of the Hebrew Scriptures, many mainline Christian scholars today are more sympathetic to the interpretation by the Jewish leaders of that time. In order to say that the Hebrew Scriptures call for a suffering messiah instead of a conquering one you really have to pick and choose your Old Testament messianic reference carefully.

Which leaves us with the testimony of God. The testimony that Jesus is the Son of God and you can only hear that testimony if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Why do you believe Jesus is the Son of God? Because when I believed Jesus was the Son of God, God told me so. That might not get us very far in a court of law, but in fact, it is the way of faith. A life of faith only makes sense to those who believe. Perhaps you could argue someone into believing in Jesus with historical documents and archeological evidence, but the real evidence comes only after you believe.

That’s not really such an outrageous thing. If you are very sick and you try some kind of new alternative treatment, you may not understand how it works. Somebody says they are going to take a cold wet lasagna noodle and lay it on your head while they read the alphabet backwards and it will cure your illness. You aren’t sure it will work. Some people have told you it worked for them. You’ve read some explanation about the latent energy in the cold, wet lasagna noodle and the synergetic effects of a backward alphabet reading. So you submit to the procedure. You have enough faith to give it a try. Then, low and behold it works! You feel better. You are made well. Now you believe. You believe after you believe.

It’s the same with faith in Christ. You don’t need to have it all figured out, but if you believe, even if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, its enough to get started.    

So then wake up tomorrow morning and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he loves you and you are forgiven of your sins. Wake up and believe that if you do what he teaches and love neighbor and love God you will be doing the most important things in the world. Believe enough to do a little. And you will be given evidence to prove why you believe.