A Large Crowd

John 12: 28-37

I have never done well with large crowds, I remember many years ago in Dallas, Texas, talking with a large number of electrical line crews at Texas Utility and I was addressing the need to follow instructions while installing our 15kV terminations.  It was a great group of people, many I had trained at a local service center, but some of them took exception with a sales type telling them they were in need of forgetting the old way, the old instructions by the old replaced manufacturer and adhering to the new technology, the new measurements.  Jesus was also addressing a crowd that had seen Him do many signs and miracles, and here is His exchange with them about the voice they had heard from heaven and what they should take away as instructions.  Jesus said the following about the voice; “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.  Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  (John 12:30-32 ESB)   Jesus said this so that they would have some understanding of how He was to die, but you understand crowds often come with they’re own agenda, and this was true with this gathering.  This was the response from the people, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever.  How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?”  Who is this Son of Man?” (John 12: 34 ESB) 

Now it is the nature of people who are being given new information on how to do a new thing, to want to cling to the old.  That was what was happening to me in Dallas, and in my case some in the crowd did not see me as an authority on how to install a 15kV termination.  So after some give and take from that group gathered to solve the problem, of wrong measurements, and failures, Tommy Weatherspoon their Vice President, stepped up and thanked the guys for their thoughts and ideals and then said; now I need you to stop and listen to Bob, he is the expert on how to do this new technology that we as a company have gone to.  That was all it took, someone with authority, and they listened, and they were successful in their installation after that meeting.

If only this gathering around Jesus that day had understood who was addressing them, but it is clear most did not and they left being unbelievers.  But before Jesus left them this is what He said; “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12: 35-36 ESB) 
In my life time of 70 years, never has mankind needed to listen to and act on these instructions.  In John 8:12, Jesus is talking with some Pharisees who have brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, and that crowd wanted Jesus to pick up a stone and yet He bent down and wrote on the ground, and then said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7 ESV)  And they all left, no one was left to accuse her, and Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11 ESV)  But Jesus addressed some of the crowd standing afar, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)   Faith is acting like Jesus tells the truth.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice