Read: John 8:48-59
The movie, “Arrival”, is not your average alien thriller. The aliens arrive quietly and non-violently, mysteriously hovering over the earth in strange oblong spaceships. They aren’t at all humanlike, except for their desire to communicate with the humans. A linguist is sent to make first contact and bridge the language barrier, and she quickly learns that their language, even the way they think, is absolutely foreign to the way humans think and communicate. Naturally, some of the humans are threatened by these cosmic intruders and try to bomb the ships, resulting in the sudden disappearance of the aliens.
As you’ve been reading through John 8, you’ve probably been struck by just how strange Jesus’ responses are to the people He’s speaking to. Much like the alien race in Arrival, Jesus comes into our world from a very different context with the intention to teach us what His Kingdom is, and how we can be a part of it. Consequently, just like the threatened humans in Arrival, the Jews resorted to violence, picking “up stones to throw at Him”, and Jesus disappeared.
With a passage like this, it can be easy to point accusing fingers at those faithless people who didn’t trust Jesus. But I want you to take a moment to look inward. It could be—possibly subconsciously—you are even right now picking up stones to throw at Jesus. Let me explain what I mean.
Almost always when we read Jesus’ words in the bible today, there’s a little voice filtering it for us to help it go down smoother because, let’s face it, Jesus isn’t exactly a “spoon-full-of-sugar” sort of teacher most of the time. Granted, it would be impossible to read Jesus’ words with no filter; I don’t believe He literally intends His followers to poke out their eyes the moment they cause them to sin, for example. However, if our first inclination is to water-down Jesus’ words, then we’re guilty of the same thing He accuses the pharisees of doing with the Law. Taking the words of God and making them into “traditions of men”, or in this case, embroidered pillows, lock screens, and cute wrist tattoos—picking and choosing what already fits our preconceived notions.
It’s fascinating to see how many different forms of Christianity there are for different lifestyles. There’s a Christianity for rich people, a Christianity for poor people, for college-students, for stay-at-home-moms, for dads, for singles, for young-marrieds, etc. The natural human tendency is to take our lives like a cookie-cutter and force them over God, cutting out whatever doesn’t fit, rather than letting our lives be shaped by Him. When Jesus wore sandals and walked with other human beings, He came with the authority of the creator of reality, stepping out of the realm of God’s perfect will into the chaotic, muddy sea of lies that had become human reality. Only, He did not still this sea with a wave of His hand, as our daily experience of pain and sin will demonstrate. Instead, He established the Kingdom of God wherever He walked, and taught others how to do the same by keeping His word. He came to teach us how to be like Him, to ‘cookie-cutter’ Himself over the top of us, and cut out whatever doesn’t fit.
If you’re a modern American, a close reading of Jesus’ words ought to offend your individuality, because although God accepts you as you are, He does not expect you to stay the way you are. He wants you to grow to look like Christ—and there is not a more rewarding calling than that! Ask yourself, are you really letting Jesus speak for Himself when you read His word, or are you making Him march to the beat of your own drum? Picking up rocks can be very subtle, and more often than not it comes in the form of constructing a mental idea of Jesus which is more approving of our sin than He really is. For many reasons, I’m thankful that Jesus does not pick up stones against us, but instead chooses to love and invite us in. However, like at the end of this passage, if we do pick up stones, we cannot blame Him if He chooses to hide Himself.
