Who's-in and Who's-not

John 5 - Part 1


I have enjoyed no other passage of John more than the fifth chapter. There is big stuff going on in this section. It begins with two miracles - the official's son healed at a great distance (at the end of ch. 4) and the crippled man standing at the pool of Bethesda. John wants to showcase Jesus saying something important, so he sets the scene by saying that these miracles are "signs." They are posts sticking out of the ground with directions on them.

The bulk of this chapter is Jesus telling his listeners what the signs are pointing at. The practical, accessible material have Jesus focusing on LIFE. Zoe in Greek. The kinda of stuff that is inside and spilling out of God. The kinda stuff that makes dead people--like us--perk up and experience what we're made for. I got really into this study and taught on it before our church.

What I didn't get into in John 5 was Jesus saying that he is the "Judge.” Not a comfortable topic for me. Not something that most folks coming to church for the first few times probably would desire to hear about: "In conclusion, Jesus miracles show us that he judges people. Amen. Come back next week."

But this morning, my men's study (just two of us today) began going through Galatians and we asked some of the tough questions most Christians ask about salvation. What does faith mean? Does your faith now affect your standing with God in five years, ten years, fifty years? What if the faithful person changes, rejects God, and does something awful, like, hunting fifth graders for fun? What if you are faithful to God, but your picture of God is slightly askew? We're familiar with such inquiries. They basically boil down to the question, "who's-in and who's-not?"

Then Rick--the other guy--said something profound, like, “These topics are interesting, but what do you gain by asking who gets in?” Not only was I not sure, but all that useless material I had skipped over in John 5 came flying back to me. "If Jesus is judge, then who's-not?"

I'm not.

How freeing! Isn't it? To not have to look at those you care about and say: you're definately going to hell. Isn't it freeing to know that you cannot make that call? To find that Jesus--the one who said, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest"--is the only one able to make such decisions.

"The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son" (5:22).

So--we might ask--what are Jesus' criteria? Certainly Jesus has some standards. He isn't arbitrary, is he? What hoops would Jesus want us to jump through? What are the rules to this game? What are God's policies? How can I win? How can I ensure that I'm-in?

Catch the theme here? Hoop jumping misses the point! Paul calls one form of hoop jumping “a different Gospel” in Galatians. We should be mindful.

But as I thought on these passages something else occurred to me. Not only are we free from the burden of hoop jumping, but surely God is too. If God is so concerned with us not be held down by laws, rules, regulations, policies: why would he possibly want to place himself under such bondage, especially in regard to who he will and will not have saving compassion on?

God is not a concrete wall, standing fixed and immovable. The God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth is an alive, dynamic, ever-loving personality that reacts to his creation in generous and thoroughly creative ways. Do we really believe that God has opted for stagnation regarding how and who he is going to draw into his wondrous love such that it can be systematized? I don;t know about you, but there is no God I would perfer to serve more than one that deals with me systematically. Think: DMV.

For those of us who want to talk about God in meaningful ways and describe what he’s up to, we need to keep this mind.

"But how do we know what we're supposed to do?!? Because I love Jesus, I want to know the expectations." Again, that's just the point of Galatians. It is not what you do; it is what Jesus has done (and is doing) for you. Get your eyes of yourself. Quit being so self-absorbed. Surrender.

Certainly, God has set a certain course. Certainly, it is Jesus death that is saving men from sin as we saw in John 3. Certainly how we look on Jesus--this faith--describes our relationship with God and has some specific elements. And there is a way God is doing things and we can write these things down and study them.

But what do cliff notes to a great novel look like if the novel has not been completed yet? What does the movie review look like for a film that isn’t yet in the can? We must always hold this perspective in front of us when we talk about God, for what would a systematic theology look like if God kept doing new stuff?

Tragically dated.

Brian McLaren rightly points out that theology is an alive science. If it were not--if it were simply a set of immovable facts--then God isn't doing anything. He has set everything in motion to run in clock-like order without myself. This, however, is the god of Deism, not of Christianity.

The God of Christianity has a personality--three in fact. We know him, not just through the past and what he has done, but what he is presently doing. He makes new decisions. He has new encounters and adjusts as a loving Father would. God is affected by who people are because he loves them! He internalizes these relationships and reacts to specific needs. God engage us, not like the DMV, but in an individual manner. Why would we think his judgment is any different?

It seems then that those who want to say who's-in and who's-not are crowding Jesus space. They're saying, "Hey man, scoot over. I can do your job a bit better. You obviously were not thorough enough in that book.”

As Aquinas said looking at the volumes of theology he had composed: it's all just so much straw.