May 22 - Risking Separation

May 22 – Risking separation

Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
    “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn — and I would heal them.”

Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him. Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God. (John 12:37-43)

Sometimes it isn’t easy to follow Christ.  Even if we call ourselves Christians, we find that actually following Christ doesn’t work out quite like we think it should.  It isn’t easy to follow Him in our churches, much less our jobs or in social settings.

Those who wanted to believe that Jesus was the Messiah were frightened of being put out of the synagogue.  And who could blame them?  That was the center of their earthly existence.  The family wasn’t as important as the synagogue.  For centuries, the Temple was the link for every Jew to God.  If they weren’t allowed to be there, they weren’t allowed to establish a relationship to God.  Everything went through the hierarchy of the Temple … and the synagogue.  Consequently, that was a lot of power held in the hands of a few.  If you read the Old Testament, you see how that corrupted the Kings of Israel.  And by the New Testament, it was corrupting the priests … and the ruling council of the Jews.

Later on, we see it corrupting priests and popes.

Why?  Because we are sheep.  So many of us rely on others to lead us and when that happens, we give them power over us.  God wanted to lead His people, but they called for a King.  Saul wasn’t a great King, David was much better, but soon the corruption was practically inherent in the monarchy.

God wants to lead each of us, but John tells us that those who worried about being put out of the synagogue were more worried about human glory than that which comes from God.  They were worried about what people thought of them … and gave the leaders of the synagogue power over them.

God wants to care for us and lead us.  Sometimes that is difficult because it leads us away from what the rest of the world thinks is appropriate.  Many times we are too afraid to move away from the norm because we want the approval of humanity.  When it comes to risk … this is a big one.