The Trust of Christ

Another interesting topic with my church small group – it’s nice to have that on Sunday so I have something (usually) to talk about today, not that I’m taking personal advantage of my small group. But we looked at John 2:24-25 – “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. ­He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” So would He entrust Himself to us? As Christians, we said, He already has; but isn’t it true that those God foreknew he also predestined… And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified?

That’s a trick question: Romans 8:29-30 says that.

Okay, end of post. Have a nice Monday!

You know I won’t leave it there. See, I like to look at the Bible also through a literary lens. Once you’ve all collected your breath, hear me out: “story” resonates with humans. Story structure, further, resonates with us; beginning, middle, and end, the classic arc, is not just “how it’s been done” it’s how it must be done – it’s how our minds like stories. Much of the Bible comes to us by way of a story. God revealed Himself to us through the story of the Israelites. Jesus revealed Kingdom truths through stories. “A man goes out to sow seed…”

And, sometimes, the entirety of the Scripture can be seen as one giant story arc with beginning (Genesis) complication (the rest of the Old Testament) climax (Gospels) denouement (epistles) conclusion/epilogue (Revelation). Other times, tiny little literary devices pop up within chapters and books.

Take a look at the end of the first chapter of John: “Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” (Interesting footnote: the “you” in “very truly I tell you, you will” is plural, possibly/probably encompassing both Philip and Nathanael).

Christ says: “You will see greater things” and “you will see heaven open”. To me, that sounds like he’s entrusting himself to the disciples – entrusting the message of why he had come into the world. At the end of the next chapter, the scenario is very nearly the same: Jesus performs a sign (“I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you”/“many people saw the signs he was performing" [John 2:23b]) and belief is proclaimed (“Rabbi, you are the Son of God”/ "and [they] believed in his name”); but because “he knew what was in each person” he told Nathanael “you will see greater things than these” yet “he did not entrust himself” to the many who saw signs.

I don’t think this is unintentional. It may have been on John’s part: he wrote what the Spirit compelled him to write. But God gave us His words specifically: we may interpret them wrong, learn from them wrong, or teach them wrong; but it doesn’t change the fact that He designed it to be “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16).

“Those God foreknew…He also called.” If you have been called, and you have answered, He has entrusted Himself to you. He trusts us, and we are capable through Him whether we think so or not.

Let’s do the dying world a favor: let’s think so, and act so. They need Him.