Game Changer
It had to be a shock for people to hear that God has changed the game.
After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized —John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison. Now a discussion about purification arose between John's disciples and a Jew. They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him." John answered, "No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease." The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God's wrath. - John 3:22-36
We Christians don't find it difficult to accept what God did when He chose to become one with us through Jesus, and call Jesus his Son.
The idea that God would change the relationship between us and Him would have been blasphemous to many followers of the faith.
They might have seen the move as a passing of the baton, or a delegation of responsibility and relationship from God to a human.
Without seeing Jesus as the Messiah, and even more, as God himself, the move would have been insulting.
And now John is telling his followers that eternal life is only granted through the Son. Whoever disobeys the Son, he says, will not see life.
Wow. That is a lot to deal with.
Of course, no one expected to have eternal life at the time, so what God was offering through His human self was unique and amazing.
Why make such a radical change? Why would God want to live among us and seek our love and commitment first hand?
If you do a search, questioning why God chose to come to earth as Jesus, you will find an answer that may be even more troubling. Jesus was sent to be a human sacrifice for our sins.
Really?
No wonder some people have trouble accepting the faith.
What if we're wrong about that? What if God chose to be one of us to show us how to live fully in this life?
What if what we do here is not a test to see if we deserve eternal life, and what if Jesus did not have to die for us to be saved?
What if God knew the good news Jesus was spreading would result in his death, because of our sinful nature and ignorance, but He chose to do it anyway?
Why?
So we would see that our lives could be fuller, better, more loving and compassionate toward one another, the way it will be when we come to see the truth after this life is ended.
I like that better.
More to come...