Why do you believe in Jesus?
Text: John 2:13–22
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Belief in Jesus is no longer a given. Why do we believe in Jesus? This is a foundational question that each of us should be able to answer. Our gospel reading provides some direction as we consider this simple, yet challenging question.
There was a time when just about everyone identified as Christian and belonged to a church somewhere. The place you belonged generally came from your nationality or heritage further back: we became the “German church” while the Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists all had their own roots.
Membership in a particular church was pretty much your birthright, and it was a big deal to defect and join another one or, God forbid, marry across. The question tended not to be why you believe in Jesus, but where or how you practiced your faith. I didn’t grow up in that time while many of you did, so I’m telling someone else’s story.
What we can all agree on, though, is that belief in Jesus is no longer a given like it once was. There is no longer a broad acceptance of Christianity or a general understanding of what it even means to be a Christian, let alone which specific stream you might come from.
It is quite normal for people to hop across different churches, even without committing to membership at any of them. It is quite normal for Christians and non-Christians to marry, let alone Christians of different kinds.
Christian schools are no longer schools for Christians, but for whole communities—rather than offering in-house education, our schools have become outreach opportunities.
Our world is changing quicker than it ever has before, which plays out within the church as well. We have hardly had to consider why we believe in Jesus because we just have. Even I can say that as someone who was raised in a Christian home. But people like me are becoming far less common.
Rather than why we believe in Jesus, the main questions were about where and how you did so. It’s not a question of which church you go to anymore, but whether you do at all. But even going to church is optional—that’s a question of how you believe in Jesus, not why.
So, with the help of today’s gospel reading, we’re going to explore why we believe in Jesus at all.
Maybe we believe in Jesus because it makes rational sense. After all, any reasonable person would agree that our world and everything in it had to be created by someone or something—it can’t possibly be pure coincidence.
We can extend that logic to Jesus as well. It’s been proven that he did in fact exist at the time the Bible says, and so the things he said and did must have also happened, at least loosely as they’re described. The miracles can only be explained by Jesus being the Son of God and having divine power. The facts check out, so we believe.
There are two problems with this response. The first is that our sin clouds our judgment, makes our thinking self-centred, and prevents us from perceiving things as they really are. Secondly, St Paul says that the cross of Christ is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Co. 1:23).
To believe in Jesus based on proof or logic is not belief at all. Only the Holy Spirit can grant us the faith required to be convinced beyond what our minds can comprehend. So, we don’t believe in Jesus because it makes rational sense.
Maybe we believe in Jesus because of the good things he promises. We come to worship on a weekly basis to be regularly reminded of God’s grace. As Lutherans, we believe that through Christ, we receive forgiveness, life, and salvation, all of which are impossible to obtain by our own work or effort. Jesus is the only source of this Living Water.
As true as all of that is, and as much as we cherish the gifts God gives, these are not the reasons why we believe in Jesus. To do so is to turn God into our divine butler, simply receiving what he gives (even gratefully and humbly so) with no relationship or sense of connection to the Giver. If we believe in Jesus because of what he gives us, we put the cart before the horse.
Maybe Scripture can help us. When we read in John 2 that Jesus stormed into the temple and gave the traders a good talking to. He had been consumed by his zeal for his Father’s house and fiercely protected it, telling them not to turn it into a “house of trade.” Understandably, the Jews demanded an explanation—they wanted proof that Jesus had authority to tell them what to do in the temple.
It’s the time of the Passover, so these people are selling livestock to be used for the Passover feast. It’s not that different from when we see legs of ham, whole turkeys, and pre-made pavlovas in the supermarket before Christmas time. They’re taking the opportunity to make some money and the people take the opportunity to buy what they need to observe the festival. It makes sense to do this in the temple, the centre of not just their religion but their whole culture.
So, when Jesus very abruptly interrupts their pre-festival buzz (and income stream), those in charge want to know why he thinks he has the right to do it. “Why should we do what you say, Jesus? Why should we listen to you, Jesus?” Maybe we can take their question a bit further: “Why should we believe in you, Jesus?”
How does Jesus answer? “Destroy this temple, and I’ll raise it again in three days.”
The Jews obviously miss the point, wondering how on earth it could be possible to rebuild something so big in such a short timeframe. Jesus is even more ludicrous than those people on Grand Designs who think they can build a house from start to finish in 6 months.
The disciples missed the point at the time, too. However, John helps us out: “After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.” (Jn. 2:22)
The disciples witnessed everything Jesus did, his miracles, his preaching, the Transfiguration, his Baptism, and everything else. Yet, they couldn’t fully come to grips with who Jesus is from those things alone. The disciples believed in Jesus because he rose from the dead.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that the resurrection is everything. Without it, his preaching and the people’s faith was in vain.
Without the resurrection, my preaching and the preaching of every pastor you’ve ever heard, your faith itself and everything that has led you to this point in your life, every prayer, every Bible study, this church are all pointless, pretend, fake.
If Jesus had just died at that was it, we’d still be stuck in sin and we’d be the laughing stock of the world. But we know that Jesus rose from the dead. That gives purpose to everything we do and everything we believe.
We believe in Jesus because he rose from the dead. It might seem premature to start talking about resurrection in the middle of Lent, but consider it a reminder that we celebrate this season at all because of how the Easter story ends. We can call it Good Friday because of the good news of the resurrection.
We are repentant in anticipation of the mercy God has towards us because of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We wander through the wilderness of this life knowing that we will one day enter into paradise with Christ.
Even Jesus’ resurrection is not the end of the story. Don’t forget the promises that are ours by faith—the promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation, and that God will raise us with Christ when he makes all things new.
So, why do you believe in Jesus? It’s a question we’re only being asked more and more. We can’t convince people with logic. We can’t even lure people with God’s gifts. We simply tell people that Jesus rose from the dead—it might be foolish to some, but to us, the message of the cross and the resurrection together are the power of God. Amen.
