Blind by Choice (John 12:37-43)
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jeremy_1_02-05-2026_122426: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Rebuilding Faith.
These are 10 minute Bible messages for people with questions and doubts. And one of the reasons I love teaching the Bible, I love reading the Bible. I love exploring the Bible is that it continues to speak to the present moment. And in fact, I remember reading the Bible as a kid and having insights then, and I can read those same passages today and I see them in a new light today, especially as I look around us and figure out what do these words teach us about this moment?
This is an ancient document that is messy and complicated. And yet it speaks profoundly to the human condition. And I'm gonna show you some overlap that I see today as I explore the verses in John chapter 12. So we're gonna begin reading. John chapter 12, verse 37 says, but despite all of the miraculous signs that Jesus had done, most of the people still did not [00:01:00] believe in him.
I mean, John has already said one of the reasons he is writing this book is to have people believe in Jesus, find life in Jesus as they see all of these signs that point to Jesus. But then halfway through John's like, yeah, despite all the things that Jesus was doing, many people still did not believe in him.
It's interesting to consider what would it take for people to believe in Jesus? You know, some people say, well, if I could just see Jesus, then that would be enough. Then I'd have all my questions answered. But. We can see that clearly wasn't the case for people who could literally see Jesus. Some people say, well, if Jesus still did miracles today like we read about in the text, then, then I would believe.
But again, we see that they had all those miracles and it wasn't enough for them either. It shows that even though John is building this case, that all of these signs point us to Jesus. At some point, you have to eventually want Jesus himself. [00:02:00] Not The signs, not the miracles, not all the things he can do, but Jesus himself, you have to be drawn to Jesus and go, yes, he is offering us a better way forward.
Let's follow that. And for a lot of people, they just never get to that point. Then you get to verse 38. This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted, Lord, who has believed our message, to whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm, but the people couldn't believe for, as Isaiah also said, the Lord has blinded their eyes and heartened their hearts so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.
Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah's glory. Now the idea of people's hearts being hard is an interesting one. I get asked about this a lot. As [00:03:00] someone who teaches these kinds of stories, many people think, well, that's not fair. If God hardens people's hearts, how can God hold that against them?
Pharaoh is a famous example of this. How is that fair? But I think it's helpful to note that this hardening is not some arbitrary punishment from God. It's the natural result of sustained refusal that when you continue to refuse, when you continue to double down, this is what it produces. When you refuse to change your mind for any reason, you get a hard heart.
And we are seeing this today with so much of. The church, and I would say it explains how we are watching Christians today defend pedophiles. We're watching Christians defend people being murdered without due process, without trial,
We're watching Christians defend the complete [00:04:00] dehumanization. Of people who don't look like us. See, hard hearts don't happen overnight. It requires repetition. And as I look at especially the last 10 years, it's been a decade of repetition, a decade of chances to change your mind, and the refusal to do so creates a hard heart that then can support things that many of us are looking at saying How on earth.
Do you support that? And yet we're seeing this idea of hard hearts played out in real time. The phrase we just read, I could literally say about much of Christianity today, their eyes cannot see, their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to Jesus and have him heal them. And many of us who have appealed to Christians that we love and we know in saying, please.
Realize what it is that you're endorsing, [00:05:00] what it is that you're supporting, and we have that same thing of, there's nothing I could say, there's nothing I could show them. At this point, it's the same feeling that we're seeing in John chapter 12. Then verse 42 says, many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders, but they wouldn't admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them.
From the synagogue for they loved human praise more than the praise of God. Again, I cannot help but see this in light of our present moment, what we continue to see happen today as it was happening in Jesus' day as well. I think many Christians who have gotten caught up in the MAGA movement. Probably are afraid to admit what they know in their heart to be true.
That however they got into this, whatever they thought was going to be the case, whatever they thought would be true, [00:06:00] it's not that case anymore. And what they're seeing doesn't make sense. I believe there is a disconnect for many people, but I also think many of them are afraid to change their minds.
They're afraid of what would happen to me if I didn't go along with this movement that I've been a part of, or if all these things that I've been defending for all these years, if I were suddenly to acknowledge I was wrong, what would that mean for my relationships? It would cost something for these people to change their mind, especially at this point.
But faith that costs nothing. Tends to change nothing. And I think the invitation, if this is you, or this is someone that you love, is incredible transformation. When a heart becomes soft again, when someone who has repeatedly refused to change suddenly says, you know what? I'm willing to lean in. I'm willing to see it.
I'm willing to acknowledge what I actually see as I reflect on this passage. I [00:07:00] wanna close with this question. What if. The opposite of belief isn't disbelief as we might think, but self-protection. What if we're really looking at the heart of all of this is, is self-protection. That self-protection is causing some people to lose the ability to see clearly.
They cannot see what's in front of 'em because they're so committed to their self-protection. I just doubled down on this. I've already said, this is the side I'm in. This is my tribe. And because of that sense of self-protection, they cannot see the horrors that are going on around us right now.
And what if self-protection is causing other people to lose the courage to acknowledge what they can see? But they haven't fully lost the ability to see they know what they're seeing is wrong, and yet they are lacking the courage to see it. See, self-protection might actually be the thing we have to address [00:08:00] here, that we are seeing that hearts have become hardened.
But as we see in John, this is something that often happens in different seasons and Jesus dealt with it. And yet, if we're gonna have any chance to break out of it, there's got to be a risk. There's got to be a desire to say, this might cost me, and yet I know this is worth it. I know this is going to be better for me and better for others.
If I'm willing to face it. I close with a quote from Oscar Romero. This is such a beautiful idea. He says, A church that doesn't provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn't unsettle a word of God, that doesn't get under anyone's skin, or a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed.
What gospel is that? Very nice pious considerations that don't bother anyone. That's the way many would [00:09:00] like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as to not be harassed so as to not have conflicts and difficulties do not light up the world they live in. He is speaking to the tensions we have of, we can bury our head in the sin.
We can pretend, but we will have nothing to offer the world. A hard heart has nothing to offer to a world that is hurting, but if we're willing to let go of our self protection, if we're willing to lean in, no matter what it costs us, then we have something to offer. We can be a part of the healing of what has been broken.
I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
