God’s repetitive grace & mercy

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

The verses we will focus on today is from John 12:44-46 – And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

Have you ever noticed that politicians seem to repeat themselves?  They say the same thing over and over again. One well-known line is “let’s make it great again.” Whatever ‘it’ might be.  There is a perception that to form a good habit you need to repeat it for 21 days.[1] 21 days on that new diet, giving up alcohol or even coffee. Unfortunately, a recent study by the University of Chicago found that there is no magic number.[2] That 21 days of repetition is now much longer.

I don’t know about you, but when I read the gospel reading from John today, I shook my head.  I thought, haven’t we heard all this before?  What’s with all the repetition? Why is John going over the same stuff thing again and again? Isn’t there something new, fresh and exciting he could be telling us? However, what might seem unusual on first read is quite purposeful.  John is reminding us of God’s grace and mercy on repeat. Maybe he knows about the study from the University of Chicago.

The reading today opens with Jesus departing to an unknown location.  This doesn’t make sense until we look at the prior chapter (see verses 35-36) where Jesus tells the crowd that he will be here for a little while longer. In the last two verses of the previous chapter, Jesus uses “light” and “darkness” 8 times. Jesus is telling the crowd about his impending death which ultimately leads to God’s grace and mercy on repeat for us. When he will turn “darkness” into “light.”

Commentators divide today’s reading into two main areas.

  • Verses 37-43, with focus on “blind unbelief,” and the question of “Who has believed?”[3],[4]
  • And verses 44-50, which is about the “divine sending” with an “inescapable judgement.” [5],[6]

One commentator calls this chapter the “Epilogue of Jesus’ Ministry.”[7] It’s interesting to look at the meaning of the word “epilogue” which is the end that serves as the conclusion to what has happened.[8]  Appropriate really, given this is the last time Jesus speaks publicly before he hides himself away, before his persecution and death.

You may recall last week Pastor Mark focused on the blind man receiving sight (see John 9:1-12).  Where Jesus calls out:

  • the “night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). The forecast of darkness.
  • And we hear an “I am” statement of Jesus being the “light of the world” (John 9:5).

But the Pharisees and the people closest to the blind man didn’t see, nor did they believe. Jesus goes on to tell them that they remain blind, and in sin. The people remained bound by their lack of faith.  This is a similar message to the crowd in John’s gospel.  Despite Jesus performing not just a sign, not a few signs, but “so many signs, they did not believe in him” (v37).  They were stranded in their unbelief.

This makes me wonder, with so many signs repeated by Jesus, why didn’t they believe?  Why didn’t they get the message?  Well, John tells us.  It was to fulfil what the prophet Isaiah said. John retells Isaiah 53:1 by asking, “Who has believed our message…?” And the answer is, no one. Jesus is rejected by the crowd. A rejection that plays out over and over in John’s recount. And plays out in the world around us today.

Then John takes us to Isaiah 6:10, where we are reminded of people’s calloused hearts, dull ears and closed eyes. Where seeing and hearing, are linked with the act of believing and following God.[9]  This repetition is to remind the people that they have heard this before.  It is a familiar story.  It has been shared from generation to generation.  Repeated, over and over.  They should have remembered.  But they didn’t.

This is where John shifts things a little. After repeating a section of Isaiah 6:10, John shares that God “blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts …”(v40). What? God hardened their hearts, and they couldn’t hear the good news that Jesus was sharing. That seems harsh, doesn’t it? I thought the whole point of Jesus being there was to bring the message to them. And now they can’t hear it. This doesn’t sound like our God.

Moving to verse 42, we are told that “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.” They did not believe because they were scared of what other people might think.  They valued the opinions of others and their position in the synagogue over professing their faith. They placed their value in human wealth over eternal glory.[10] Their nature of unbelief, sown by Adam and Eve, rooted deep within their hearts.[11] 

I don’t know about you, but this again seems familiar.  A repetition of what we’ve heard before in Exodus. We can recall Moses and Aaron begging Pharoah to let the Israelites go. We are reminded of how Pharoah hardened his heart. How God brought devastation. And we see it repeat, over and over until they are set free. Until God’s grace and mercy shines through.  We learn that placing value on worldly things, such as position, power, and image, as Pharoh did, ultimately leads to death.

So, is God in the business of hardening our hearts?  Of closing our ears so we won’t hear the good news of Jesus our saviour. The answer is a resounding no. As John reminds us in verse 43 “for [the crowd] loved human praise more than praise from God.” They loved earthly things which they freely chose over God. God allows and we freely choose. We succumb to the desires deep in our hearts. We desire the ‘more,’ which shines and makes us stand out. These things ultimately blacken our hearts and draw us away from God. Just like the people in today’s text, our free will condemns us to death.

And what is the response of God?  His response follows in verse 44-50.  Jesus was sent down to Earth as a divine sacrifice.[12] Jesus is sent as the sacrificial lamb and faces an “inescapable judgment.”[13] God places his mercy and grace on repeat.  Why? For you. For me. To set us free from the bondage of our sin. To shine a light on the path to eternal life.

Listen. You can hear Jesus cry out from today’s text:

  • I have come for you.
  • I have come to save you.
  • I haven’t come to judge you.
  • I have come to lead you to eternal life.
  • I have come to be a lamp on your feet and a light on your path (see Psalm 119:105).

He cries out for us to see and hear. To listen to what he is saying. Yet we don’t listen, and we don’t see.

Today we have the benefit of knowing what happens in the story of Jesus Christ. John is foreshadowing what is to come. That the Messiah, the “suffering servant” is here. Taking our sinful nature upon himself and shouldering the pain of rejection to the cross. Where he nails it there.  Where it is no longer remembered and no longer a burden. It is in this moment we find hope in Jesus’ redemptive love.  Where God places his mercy and grace on repeat.

And how good is this hope?  That we know the truth. That amongst all the darkness in Gethsemane there is light. An eternal light. And everything points to God.

Yes, we repeatedly fail in life. Each week we come to church seeking forgiveness. Each week we are showered with the blood of Christ and washed clean. We say we won’t do it again.  Seconds later we walk out the door and mess it all up.  We head out into the world and fall to our sinful nature.  To the gossip, lies, or maybe something else. We try to justify it by saying ‘it was only a little white lie,’ or ‘no one was going use it.’ But we can’t justify it.  For in God’s sight, they are all equal.

Luther struggled with the same thing. Often, he spent hours confessing the smallest of sins. Some may say trivial, but not to Luther. He wanted to be sure that nothing separated him from God’s grace. On one occasion he received absolution and no sooner did he walk away and was overcome with the feeling of pride. He fell into sin. He failed.[14] And so Luther repeated the cry of forgiveness.  And God met him with grace and mercy, on repeat.

God knows how messy our lives are. He knows that we are broken, and we will fail. He knows we will reject him. And despite the rejection, ridicule and disbelief, he still reaches out the hand of grace to his creation. Our loving God is as close as our next breath. He has never left us. And when we turn away, he draws in closer. He says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20). God’s awesome grace and mercy, always on repeat.

 Amen.

Let us pray. Lord God, our heavenly Father. Thank you for your repetitive grace and mercy.  May we be encouraged to extend grace and mercy to those around us.  Amen.

References:

Barclay, William. The Gospel of John : Chapters 8-21. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975.

Beasley-Murray, George R. John, Volume 36. Zondervan Academic, 2018.

Clavin, Whitney. “No Magic Number for Time It Takes to Form Habits.” California Institute of Technology, 17 April 2023. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/no-magic-number-for-time-it-takes-to-form-habits.

Crossway Bibles. ESV: Study Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

Ford, David F. The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021.

Solis-Moreira, Jocelyn. “How Long Does It Really Take to Form a Habit?” Scientific American, 24 January 2024. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-does-it-really-take-to-form-a-habit/.

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. “Lutheran Theology of the Reformation | Teaching the Faith.” Lutheran Reformation, 2024. https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/.

University, Cambridge. “Epilogue.” Dictionary.cambridge.org, 2024. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/epilogue.

 

Worthing, Mark. Martin Luther: A Wild Boar in the Lord’s Vineyard. Northcote, Vic: Morning Star Publishing, 2017.

[1] Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, “How Long Does It Really Take to Form a Habit?,” Scientific American, 24 January 2024, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-does-it-really-take-to-form-a-habit/.

[2] Whitney Clavin, “No Magic Number for Time It Takes to Form Habits,” California Institute of Technology, 17 April 2023, https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/no-magic-number-for-time-it-takes-to-form-habits.

[3] William Barclay, The Gospel of John: Chapters 8-21 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), 131-133.

[4] David F. Ford, The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021), 246.

[5] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 134-136

[6] Ford, The Gospel of John, 248.

[7] George R Beasley-Murray, John, Volume 36 (Zondervan Academic, 2018), 215.

[8] Cambridge University, “Epilogue,” Dictionary.cambridge.org, 2024, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/epilogue.

[9]  Ford, The Gospel of John, 248-250.

[10] Ford, The Gospel of John, 248.

[11] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 133.

[12] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 134-136.

[13] Ford, The Gospel of John, 248.

[14]Mark Worthing, Martin Luther: A Wild Boar in the Lord’s Vineyard (Northcote, Vic: Morning Star Publishing, 2017), 27.