How many of you like mystery novels, mystery movies?  I like a well-written one or well-directed one that kind of does the real essence of what a mystery is about.  It’s keeping you on the edge until the conclusion.  There are twists and turns along the way with new clues and use of words and hits here and take you down a false trail there.  But that’ s what a mystery is about.  A good mystery gives you that sense of the author having worked well. 

Jesus is considered by some a mysterious person.  The Gospel for some is mysterious.  But actually Jesus was very straight-forward in understanding who He was and is and actually communicating it according to the Gospel.  We know Jesus through the Scripture; but we also know Jesus through our lives.  The question for this morning is, “What is the mystery that still intrigues people about Jesus?”  Or, “What is behind the mystery that they may have in their questions?”  You see, in a mystery, you must listen to the clues, the words very carefully.  And you must have a trust that the author is crafted and skilled enough to sort of wrap it all up for you.  What would it be to come to the end of a mystery with not finding out the questions that you have?   The end has to be credible; it has to give a sense of peace that all is resolved.  And that’s what God does for us through Scripture when we read it with that understanding and that trust.  

But the people in the Scripture for today in the Gospel of John, Chapter 10, they don’t have that trust.  They don’t have that desire to truly know the answer. They are actually kind of scared about things because they are fearful of what the answer to the mystery might be.  So that’s the setting that I want to give you at this moment.  We are going to hear the Scripture as it is presented and then some further interpretation. 

Gospel of John, Chapter 10:22-30, “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?’” (That’s the basis of a mystery, isn’t it?) “’If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’  Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you but you did not believe me.  The miracles that 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; and not one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.” 

There’s an unbelief, an unbelief in Jesus that He has the answer to the mysterious question, “Why keep us in suspense?” in a sense.  But the suspense that is based here is maybe a little different than what you might suspect.  We understand those who are asking the question are asking it, “Are you the Christ?  Are you the Messiah?”  That in that setting means, “Are you the one that God has promised is going to come and liberate us from the Romans and from all oppression that we have been held down for the last century?”  That’s really behind their question.  Are you that Messiah?  Well, Jesus says, “No, I am this Messiah.  The mystery to your question is that you have asked the wrong question.”   

So don’t condemn the Jews because they asked the question.  There are people today, even Christians, will ask the very same question.  There are people, Christians and churches, who do not, as it says in the Scripture, hear the voice of the shepherd.  Jesus says, “My sheep will hear my voice but you are not my sheep.”  Meaning you are looking in a different way.  You are not willing to hear the words, even the clues that I am going to give you and have been giving you.  This is Jesus’ last public presentation in ministry.  In the Gospel of John it is not necessarily something that Jesus is going around saying, “I’m the Messiah!”  In fact, there is only two times before that John records and both of those are in private when He says, “I am the One, the Christ, the Messiah.”  That’s to the Samaritans woman and the man born blind.   

What Jesus says, the mystery here about the words spoken, the answer to the mystery question you have are the actions that you have seen—the miracles, what I have done for you, what I am doing for you.  And may I say, in context for today, what God continues to do for us.  The power of Jesus saying that you are not my sheep, some have taken that to interpret that these are predestined to not be accepted.  And in a sense that is true!  You see, if a person could choose to follow and chooses not, they choose their own destiny.  They would not hear, they will not hear the voice of the Shepard given their choice. 

Throughout the New Testament, and the church continues to struggle with this basic division, is the question of, “Does God have a plan and a purpose for everything and everything under the sun (as Ecclesiastes says)?”  And the answer to that is, “Yes”; God has a plan and a purpose.  You can see it from the beginning of the Scripture to the end if you read it with that lens.  But the other side, though, if God has a purpose then what is our choice?  And that’s the other balance that the New Testament continues to help us to see is-- there is God’s plan and purpose, but it is our choice whether we will be a part of that plan.  Human choice, human kind’s free will is still very much a part of the struggle. 

What you have are people who are asking the question, “Are you the Christ?”  But they don’t want to listen.  They are choosing not to be a part of God’s purpose and plan.  So again, don’t make the Jews out to be the bad people here.  Maybe you, I know a time I have asked the very same question.  Is he really the Messiah, the Christ?  But when you accept Jesus as the Messiah, as the Christ, the Savior, then you are in His hold.  You have accepted; you have listened to the voice. 

The miracles and the signs of that day and that setting which Jesus was referring to, we can understand the day more clearly as the Easter people because we have the sign of a resurrected Lord.  We have the Word of Jesus Christ Himself saying, “I am raised and will be with you to the end of time.” As the Easter people, we have an inkling to the answer to the mystery question.   

Now with all of that background, I want you to hear again the same passage.  And listen to what might be your response.  Where are you in the setting of this Scripture?  Are you the one asking the question?  Are you the sheep who are following the voice?  Do you feel that you are in God’s hands or in the hands of Christ or do you not?  Are you questioning whether Jesus had died upon the cross?  Where might you fall in this passage as we hear it again? 

“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, tell us plainly.’  Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you but you did not believe me.  The miracles that 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; and not one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

Remember the basis of a mystery—you have to listen clearly to the words or even the clues.  And you heard it clearly in this passage.  Do you trust that the author will wrap it all up for you and that there is a purpose and a plan?  Is the end that Jesus tells us about God’s word in the Scripture?  Is it credible?  Does it give us a sense of peace that all is resolved?  It’s all based upon trust, actually.  Trust again what God is saying.  Trust it is God’s word.  It’s a leap of faith as we have said.   

You’ve probably heard the old story about the guy who was a very practiced gymnast.  And he learned to walk the tightrope.  And he learned to walk it so well that he went on the road.  And he would set up his display and he would choose to stretch a tightrope across a ditch first and then attach it latter to the chasm in the river.  He would announce that he was going to cross on this tightrope.  And the bigger the chasm, the greater the crowd.  But before so he would stand there and say, “Alright, you’ve seen this rope and you’ve seen that I am here.  And today to add a little more suspense, I am going to add a wheelbarrow to this.  And I am going to push this wheelbarrow across on this tightrope. Do you believe I can do this?”  The crowd responded, “Well, of course, we believe you can do it!”  He said, “All right, but do you trust that I can do it?”  “Oh, yes, yes,” they all cheered because they wanted to see him do it of course, encourage him on.  Finally he said, “Well, do you trust me enough that at least one of you will get in the wheelbarrow?”   

Are we willing to trust that much?  To a tightrope walker, maybe not, but in a sense what God is saying, “Are you willing to let me write this story?  Let me be the author.  Let me have a purpose; let me have a direction.”  We use the words, “In God We Trust” so easily in this country.  Oh, by the way, how many of you have a license plate?  Ok.  I didn’t know about it and I just sent in and got this little stinky sticker that I put on the back.  I didn’t get a chance.  I suppose if I went in I could trade it in.   I think; I don’t know.  And then all the flurry about whether or not it is fair.  Well, it’s a choice isn’t it?  You have to ask for it; it doesn’t come automatically.  Isn’t that the base of freedom of choice?  “In God We Trust”, if you want a license plate, you can get one with it on yours or maybe your time has not come up yet as it rotates through.  It’s a fascinating discussion.   

A little bit of side history, just for your awareness.  Do you know when “In God We Trust” was first put on money in the United States?  The Civil War—just before—based upon encouragement particularly in one letter I read from a minister.  And he said it in this way, “If this country should ever dissolve and disappear, we should have something that would leave in our heritage to show what we believe in.  We should have it on our money.”  And that’s when it really started.  But it only became a law in 1955 that it should be on all money.  And a little extra side note, on the new coin it is on there but it is on the edge.  If you get one that doesn’t have it on the edge, hold on to it; it is worth a whole lot more money. 

But we carry the coins around and the paper in our pockets or billfolds.  We might even get a license plate.  By the way, you can get a bumper sticker for $4.50 or $6.00 if you wish.  But when you use those words, “In God We Trust”, are you saying, “In God we trust and generalize because I trust everybody else does but sometimes I’m not sure”?  Could you get one that said, “In God I Trust”?  Are you just being patriotic?  Do you believe those words?  Do we as a nation believe those words?  Do we come to Jesus Christ and say, “In God we trust, but are you the Christ?”  Those two questions should not go together; the one should answer the other. 

But what it comes back to, of course, is simply that we have a mysterious aspect of our faith.  There are some parts of it that we can “prove”.  But mostly it comes back to trusting God.  And when Jesus said, “I am the Christ and I have shown you by my actions”, words aren’t really enough.  You can say, “In God We Trust” on your license plate, but please be careful how you drive or what fingers you use to point out someone else on the road.  You could give God a bad name.  When it comes down to the world knowing who God is today, they look to you and to me.  They look to people of the faith, people who say, “We are the sheep and God, in Christ, is the Shepard.”  Trust is what it comes down to.  Do you trust in your life and do you live it in a way where you live a life of trusting God ultimately for God has a story to tell?”  And the mysteries of today will be resolved in due course and time.   

A beautiful psalm and it is so often repeated, in fact chosen by Hilda yesterday for use in Dudley’s service, but listen to the impressions of trust that are there in this most popular of Psalms:  “The Lord is my shepherd; and I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters.  He restores my soul.  He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake.  Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.  They rod and thy staff they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of thy enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and love and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” 

It’s like a mystery with all the mystery solved.  It’s like a novel that is complete based on trust in the one who inspired it.  Today it is a challenge for us to trust—for you and for me.  Not for the “we”—the generalized that can encompass every body and no one.  When you say the phrase, “Do you trust in God?”  The question is there.  For it is a challenge for us to trust in God when the world’s bad news continues to plague us with more soldiers and civilians in Iraq and other places around the world killed by violence.  It is a challenge to trust God but He is the ultimate author.  When we look at our own culture and we’ve been blessed so greatly and we seem to trash it by our choice of culture.  And we chase after other Gods.  You see, the license plate doesn’t say which God we trust in.  “In God We Trust’—big letter “G” or small “g”?  And we fuss about it and we complain, but the question is in our own hearts.  Do we accept the challenge to trust in God of all or the little god of our culture? 

It is a challenge to trust God, to not let editorial letters or articles of the paper become what we believe more than what we trust in what God tells us.  It is a challenge in our world today to even live with the frailties of other brothers and sisters in Christ.    When they call, do we lose trust in God or do we trust that God can even work through their falling to bring resolution to the mystery of life?  It is a challenge to trust that God is something that we must believe in for our ultimate faith, not just for this life but in the life to come.  Not just for our corner of the world, but for all of the world.  As a pastor you may think I constantly walk around trusting God for everything.  It doesn’t work that way.  I’m as human as any one else.  It is very easy for me to begin to believe that if I do things right as a pastor, this church will go where it needs to go.  Now who’s in charge then?  Or do I trust that ultimately this is God’s church?   

Do I believe or do I live as if I misbelieve?  The story that Jesus tells in Mark 9:21 about the healing of the little boy who was possessed.  And he says to the father, “If you can, everything is possible for him who believes.  And immediately the boy’s father responds, ‘I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.’”  You might change that and say, “I do trust, but help me overcome my un-trust.” 

When the risen Christ encounters us, when we hear and see the words and hear them in our hearts that Christ has risen for you and for me, when he says, “My sheep will hear my voice,” and we hear that voice, do we trust that we are in His hands capable as they are and in the Father’s hands?  Do we trust?   Do we believe?  It’s always a challenge.  It is more difficult to trust fully in God only on your own.  It is helpful when others around you bolster you up when you have doubts or questions.  That’s what the church is about.  And the sheep together point to the shepherd and say, “He is the One.  He is the Christ.  He is the Messiah.  He is the One who is the author of all life as mysterious as it is.”  For Jesus promises them, and you and I, that there is eternal life in His passage.  And He promises that the lift will have no end—it’s eternal.  And He promises that you and I will have a life secure in God’s trust.  Not always secure in the way of the world.   So ultimately what Jesus is saying, “I’m ready to cross the tightrope.  Will you get in my wheelbarrow?  Will you trust me?  Will you hear me and follow my voice?” 

Remember, in a mystery and in the mystery of life, you have to listen clearly to the clues and the words that God gives you, that you have to trust God is the author and will eventually, in God’s own time, wrap up the mystery and solve it all for you.  The end is life and life to come.  And God tells an incredible story with a great sense of peace that in time, God’s time, as we trust, the mystery will be solved. 

Let’s bow our heads in prayer, “We may be most forced to face the questions we have in our lives when we walk the last journey with a loved one who has died.  For it helps us to see clearly, there is a dividing line from this life to life to come.  Maybe we trust most then, or maybe we struggle still with the question, but gracious God most of the time we just live our daily lives.  We trust more in our own strength, in our own wisdom, in our own work, in our own efforts too much.  We need to ask you the question, “Is Jesus Christ?”  And mean, “Is Jesus the one that brings us the hope and the peace and the purpose?”  And may we choose, gracious God, anew each day our choice to trust in you.  Amen.”

E-mail Comments to: Pastor Bob Coleman

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