Confronting Unbelief

The title of today's message is Confronting Unbelief. In this passage, Jesus does just that. He specifically confronts the Jewish unbelief of that time, but also helps us to have a pattern for how we can help those we know who don't believe, both stated unbelievers, and also religious people, that is, people who think they are Christians, but whose hearts aren't for God. This might include those who consider themselves members of various Protestant denominations and those who are clearly in unbiblical organizations.

Jesus confronts the astonishing unbelief He encounters by essentially saying to them: “You are rejecting me because you are rejecting the essence of what it means to be a Jew.” When He says: “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” it must have been explosive. Nothing more startling and stunning could have been said. But in this, we see the Good Shepherd lovingly seeking lost sheep. Sometimes love has to be strong and confronting and that's what Jesus does in this passage. He is saying “Look to Me and find life.”