Jesus Appeals For Acceptance By The Jews (J21)

Jesus continued to the Pharisees,
“You study Scriptures thinking to receive
Eternal life, but fail to accept me,
The One who gives life to those who believe!
When you are judged, I will not accuse you;
That will be Moses, in whom your hope lies;
He wrote of me*, said you would listen to;
You don’t listen like Moses testifies!
You sent to John Baptist; he told the truth**;
Yet, you would not accept that God sent me;
Look at all my works***, healings by God’s ruth;
They testify I have been sent by He!
The Father’s words do not dwell in your heart;
If they did, you’d know of Him I am part!

* Deuteronomy 18:18-19—“ ‘I [God said to Moses] will raise up for them [the people of Israel] a prophet [Jesus] like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I will call him to account.’ “ [Brackets added]

** John 1:24-27—“Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him [John the Baptist), ‘Why do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ ‘I baptize with water;’ John replied, ‘but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’ “ [Brackets added]

*** Isaiah 35:46—“say to those with fearful hearts [Israelites], ‘Be strong, do not fear, your God will come, … Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf be unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy.’ “ [Brackets added]

This is the third poem/commentary on the invalid that Jesus healed at the Pool of Bethesda. It describes the last portion of the speech of Jesus to the Pharisees in response to their ticky-tacky interrogation due to the healing being done on the Sabbath and being called “work”. The words of Jesus in the poem are paraphrased; His meaning is retained. You can read His actual words for yourself in John 5:31-47 (NIV). It should be clear now why John selected the miraculous sign of the invalid’s healing as the third of only seven he put into his gospel book. Jesus is given a double opportunity: 1. That of preaching the gospel of salvation by acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God; and 2. An opportunity to needle the unbelieving Pharisees into hatred that will result in His rejection and crucifiction. A few of them did believe in Him, like Nicodemus, but they feared to let it be known by their peers. Jesus did not want them to fully accept Him, for that would ruin His mission, which was to die for all the sins of men. He gave them scriptural and testimonial evidence that He was the Son of God. It hardly seems credible that the Jews did not believe Him; their foolish pride would not allow their belief, because their own interpretation of scripture was so contrary to God’s intentions.

Old Testament scripture is littered with passages like Deuteronomy 18:18-19 and Isaiah 35:46 quoted above. These Pharisees were experts in Hebrew scripture, and their dullness seems ridiculous. Any objective research into the life of Jesus, especially at the time He lived, would have concluded that He was who He said He was, particularly if you add His resurrection from the grave to it, and yet Judaism today, in 2010, still awaits the coming of the Messiah, futilely of course.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)