The Church Then and Now

This past week I was reading a paper submitted by a senior leader of a denomination renowned for its social service. He commented that we Christians are tempted to assume that if we are perceived as the nice guys with a reputation for doing good then we will be received with open arms by the community we seek to serve. The experience of Jesus should teach us otherwise as he faces implacable and mounting opposition in the final weeks leader to his death. When do good works in the name of Jesus there will usually be a mixed response. Our Lord told us that we were to continue his ministry; that he is our model, and that we are to be ashamed to confess him as Savior and Lord. The early church discovered that in following Christ they too experienced rejection, ridicule and persecution, as our Lord had forewarned.

REJECTION BY RELIGIOUS LEADERS
We find Jesus in the temple area in Solomon’s Colonnade, a popular gathering place accessible to Gentiles as well as Jews, and. The people who gathered around him were the Jewish leaders as well as the curious. When John speaks of Jews he is referring to unbelieving Jews, who were implacably opposed to Jesus. They gather around in order to make him declare openly that he is the Messiah in front of witnesses so that they can formally accuse him as a danger to public order and to nail him with the charge of blasphemy in claiming to be the Son of God in a unique sense.
There is a certain irony in the incident in that occurred on the Feast of Dedication. This ceremony marked the triumph of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes who had promoted the worship of Zeus and set up his altar in the temple. The feast celebrated the cleansing of the temple from this pagan intrusion and its rededication to the worship of YHWH. The feast was celebrated by lighting candles, signifying the restoration of light. Yet here it is associated with the rejection of Jesus, the light of the world.
Here is a stark reminder that in keeping our traditions we can reject the very truths in which those traditions find their fulfillment. For a Christian, all of our worship must point to Christ. We come as light bearers not as fire extinguishers.

REJECTION IN A PLACE OF WELCOME
Solomon’s Colonnade was an area of the temple where Gentiles could be present offering some shelter from a cold and windy Jerusalem winter. It was where religious debates took place. It was also where Jesus ministered, especially during his final week leading to his arrest and crucifixion. Later the church in Jerusalem gathered in Solomon’s Colonnade to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ coming and the inauguration of his reign on earth and to exercise a ministry of healing and deliverance (Acts 3:11; 5:12).
The church today must be readily accessible and a place of welcome and never be allowed to turn into a place of exclusion and rejection. Often the local supermarket and restaurant is more inviting than a church building. That is one of the reasons that emerging, missional church stress that the church is a people not a place. It is a community that is dispersed throughout the week in order to live out its faith before the watching world.

REJECTION IS DIRECTED AGAINST THE VERY PERSON IN WOM WE MEET GOD
Early in his Gospel John makes clear that Jesus has replaced the temple as the place where we meet God and receive the forgiveness of sins. Hence, he accomplished in reality what the Maccabees prefigured in their revolt against their pagan oppressors. The unique claims of Jesus Christ have always been a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But we have no other place to go. God has not revealed any plan-B.

PLAIN SPEAKING IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST STRATEGY IN THE FACE OF UNBELIEF
The Jewish religious leaders challenged Jesus, “If you are the Christ tell us plainly.” The word they chose can also be translated “don’t keep us in suspense,” of even, “don’t annoy and provoke us.” They clearly wanted to drag out of him a statement they could use against him. They wanted a straightforward, claim from his lips declaring, “I am the Christ.”
John reports two occasion when Jesus had made such a direct claim, but on each occasion it was to individuals: to the Samaritan woman at the well (4:26) and to the man born blind whose sight Jesus had restored (9:37). Miracles in themselves do not constitute proof of his divine nature, but he bears witness that they done in his Father’s name. He reveals himself to those prepared to receive his revelation, not in order to give ammunition to his enemies.
Jesus tells them that if they listen to his teaching and observe the miracles he has performed in the name of God they can draw their own conclusions. But they have to connect the dots. Good communication is based on telling people a little less than they want to know, and for them to then go away and think about it. As we read the Gospels, Jesus words and deeds lead us to draw our own conclusions. They are plain enough for those persons with eyes to see and ears to ear. And so today as we witness to the Person and work of Christ, we do not impose the message on the unresponsive but propose to the sincere seeker.

JESUS OFFERS PROTECTION IN THE FACE OF REJECTION
Jesus draws a distinction between his sheep who he protects and the wolves that approach the flock seeking to drag away and destroy the sheep. The Jewish leaders are not only unbelieving sheep they are dangerous wolves. In the first half of this chapter Jesus spoke of himself as the Good Shepherd who calls each of his sheep by name. He gives to them eternal life. He declares, “They know me and I know them.” The evidence that they know him is that they eagerly listen for his voice and follow him when he calls. He goes ahead of them to show the way. In following in his steps they find protection. “No one can snatch them out of my hand.” There is no safer place because his hand is also his Father’s hand. When Jesus then said, “I and my Father are one,” nobody laughed.
It is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. Here is a fundamental principal of leadership. It is for the benefit of those who follow, rather than the followers existing to enhance the position of the leader. This is the attitude of the false shepherd. Sheep who have heard the voice of the Good Shepherd recognize false shepherds, and the voice of the stranger they refuse to follow. Rather, they run away from them.
Notice that Jesus refers to his impending death not in terms of events taking over. He lays down his life of his own accord in accordance with his divine destiny. No one takes his life from him.

MOVE ON TO THE RESPONSIVE
In face of determined unbelief Jesus doesn’t hang around. When they pick up stones to stone him he abandons the temple. This is his last public preaching before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week. At the end of this chapter he goes to the place where it had all started, by the River Jordan where John the Baptist met with the crowds who gathered to be baptized by him. At that place many believed in Jesus. While the religious establishment rejected him, the common people responded to him.