In God’s Hand
John 10:22-30[1]
Our world doesn’t feel
very safe right now. A global pandemic. Another war in Europe. Financial
instability. Wildfires consuming millions of acres of land. A deep rift in our
country created by anger and mistrust. It all leaves us feeling quite
unsettled. More than that, it’s stressful. Any one of those situations would be
stressful by itself. But we’re dealing with all of them at the same time, not
to mention whatever personal crises we may be facing. That kind of stress, and
the fear of sweeping changes going on right now, can leave us wondering where
we can turn to find safety. I don’t know about you, but to me it feels like
it’s harder to know where to find safety these days.
Many of us will of
course take refuge in our faith and look to God for our safety. But that might
not necessarily be true for everyone. After all, the Christian faith is known
(or perhaps notorious) for the idea that God loves those who love him, but
condemns those who don’t (or at least those who don’t love him the “right way”).
That doesn’t sound very safe to me! And in the Presbyterian Church we follow
the Reformed tradition, which was founded by John Calvin, among others. Most
people who have heard of Calvin know him as the guy who said that you’re either
chosen or rejected, you’re “predestined” either to blessing or punishment.
Again, it doesn’t sound very “safe.”
I believe our Gospel
lesson for today addresses this situation. Last year we looked at the earlier
part of this chapter from John’s Gospel, where Jesus identifies himself as the
“Good Shepherd” who cares for, protects, and even lays down his life for us all.
Our lesson for today provides the follow up. The Jewish leaders pressed Jesus
for an answer as to whether he was the Messiah. While he had told them in many
ways, he hadn’t “said the magic words” they were looking for: “I am the
Messiah.” So they were still searching for an answer.
Jesus answered them in
the first place by telling them that the reason they didn’t believe in him
already is because “you do not belong to my sheep” (Jn 10:26). If they had,
they would have been able to understand and believe in him, because, as Jesus
said it, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (Jn 10:27).
That could sound like we’re right back on that “thin ice” of you’re either
chosen or rejected. But I don’t think it’s that simple here. Even at this
point, which is rather “late in the game” in John’s account of Jesus’ ministry,
Jesus still tries to convince them to believe in him because of the “works”
that he had done among them (Jn 10:38). That doesn’t sound like he had written
them off. It doesn’t sound like their fate was “predestined.”
More than that, Jesus made
one of the strongest declarations about his ability to protect those who turn
to him. I’d like to quote the full context: “My sheep hear my voice. I know
them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and
they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand” (Jn 10:27-28).
I’ve always found this statement to be a source of comfort and assurance. To
me, it says that our salvation, our security, and our eternal destiny rests
safely with the one who loved us enough to lay down his life for us on the
cross. And no one will ever be able to “snatch” us out of his hand.
But Jesus didn’t stop
there. Because he’s not the only one on whom our salvation, our security, and
our eternal destiny rely. No less that God the Father, the creator of all the
heavens and the earth, holds us safely and securely in his hand as well. Jesus
said it this way: “My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and
no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The
Father and I are one” (Jn 10:29-30). Again, I think the point of this is to
provide us with unshakeable confidence in the comfort and assurance we have in
God. Think about it: the one who holds the power to create all the heavens in
their vastness and this world in all its intricate complexity, the one who
holds the power to raise Jesus Christ from the grave, this is the one in whose
hand our fate rests, safely and securely.
I think it’s important for us to clarify something
about our faith here. The doctrine of predestination was developed by the
Reformers like John Calvin to provide assurance to believers in the face of all
the threats we may face in this life. Yes, Calvin himself wrestled with the
implications this idea held for those who never come to faith. But he continued
to hold out hope that all people would come to faith. In that context, the
point of the doctrine of predestination is to affirm that God has already
chosen us all in his grace and love and mercy that are beyond our
understanding.
One of my college professors put it this way: when
you’re approaching the gates of heaven, the inscription reads, “Let anyone who
wishes come and take the water of life as a gift”
(Rev 22:17). After you walk through the gates, when you look back the
inscription reads, “chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world” (Eph
1:4). I’ve always liked that way of looking at it. There is no pre-selected
list of those who are “in” and those who are “out.” All are invited to come to
faith. But the amazing thing is that all of us who have come to faith learn
that God chose us in his grace even before anything existed. And that means, in
the midst of all the turmoil of our lives, and even in the face of the worst
this life can throw at us, we never have to worry about our ultimate destiny,
because we are all safely in God’s hand. And no one and nothing can ever change
that
[1] ©
2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm Ph. D. on 5/8/2022 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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