Please be patient with me as I ask you to think through why it is that you do not believe Jesus is God's Son. Pause to do that before reading on.
So what conclusion did you come to? Is it because you doubt the stories of the miracles? Perhaps you think that His teachings were misunderstood, that for example Jesus never claimed to be God's Son. That's just a fable His fanatic fans invented.
Maybe you doubt Jesus even existed, that He was some sort of fictional character made up to coerce people into behaving better.
Well, fortunately the people that did believe Jesus was God's Son wrote not only about Jesus, but about the many people who did not believe in Him as well. Let me share with you some of the things they, the unbelievers that is, said about Jesus. As I do, compare their reasons for not believing with yours. See what you do and do not have in common with them. Hey, if nothing else it ought to be entertaining!
Note: As you read these verses, one name that pops up from time to time is the "Pharisees". They were a sect of the Jews that emphasized, or rather were obsessed with, keeping what they thought were they important parts of the law of Moses as well as many religous traditions not found in the Old Testament writings.
What Unbelievers Said About Jesus
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.'" - Mark 3:20-21 (NIV, and so throughout)
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"Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, 'Could this be the Son of David?' But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, 'It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.'" - Matthew 12:22-24
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In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind by putting mud on his eyes then having him go to a pool and wash it off. After the man had done so, he could see. The day Jesus did this was the Sabaath (i.e., Saturday), a day on which no work was supposed to be done. We pick up the story at the John 9:13, where they take the man born blind to the Pharisees:
"They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.
Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."
The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"
"We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner." He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."
The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out." - John 9:13-34
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Many of them [the Jews] said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?" But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ [meaning "the annointed one", the Savior from God, the King], tell us plainly."
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"
"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came-- and the Scripture cannot be broken-- what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."
Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp." - John 10:20-39
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Those who passed by hurled insults at him [Jesus], shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" - Matthew 27:39-43 (see also Mark 15:31-32, Luke 23:35)
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Well, what did you think? What do you have in common with these who did not believe Jesus was God's Son? What reasons of theirs are different than yours?
Here is what I find fascinating about all of this:
The reasons many of Jesus' own people did not believe in Him were quite different. It wasn't that they didn't believe Jesus existed. They saw Him, talked with Him, and killed Him for crying out loud! It wasn't that they didn't believe Jesus did miracles. The miracles were undeniable! The enemies of Jesus even acknowledged that Jesus saved others when they mocked Him as He was on the cross - "He saved others but He can't save Himself!"
But no, what they said was "He's mad", "He's demon-possessed", "He's using the power of demons", "He's a sinner because, on the day you are not supposed to work, He worked when He healed others", and "He's just a man, but He's claiming to be God!"
Let me ask you: Do you believe Jesus was mad? Do you believe He was demon-possessed or using demonic power to accomplish His miracles? Do you believe He upset God for working miracles on a non-working day? Most likely not. Understand then this fact about the reasons that are left for refusing to believe Jesus was God's Son - even Jesus worst enemies didn't believe those.
I beg you to reconsider.
Thanks for reading!!!!
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