The Right Reason to Trust in Jesus

Right after the Apostles told Jesus that they believed he came from God (John 16:30), Jesus prayed to God for them. And he prayed a happy prayer! Can you guess what he was happy about? Guess what Jesus’ joy was regarding the Apostles...

We'll tell you: The Lord Jesus rejoiced that the Apostles had ‘come to know’ that everything God gave him had its origin in God.

Let’s repeat that. Jesus was overjoyed that the Apostles had ‘come to know’ that everything God gave to Jesus had its origin in God.

That may sound redundant. It might even sound convoluted. But let’s hear Jesus in his own words and see if we can make sense of this odd expression "everything God gave to Jesus had its origin in God."

In John 17:6-8 (NASB), Jesus prayed to the Father like this:

I have revealed your Name to the men whom you gave me...

Now they have come to know that everything which you have given me is from you;

for the words which you gave me I have given to them; and they received them

and truly understood that I came forth from you,

and they believed that you sent me.

Weird-Sounding

This passage undoubtably will sound strange to untrained ears. It will sound like a riddle or an oddity. And if you try to set it to logic, you will think: “If someone gives you something, it always comes from them.”

If you try to set it to logic, you’re going to think: “Why would Jesus make a big deal about the disciples understanding that everything God gave Jesus came from God?”

However, that line of reasoning is deficient. That kind of thinking is a superficial take on Jesus’ words. The problem of dealing with the passage through the lens of logic is that Jesus wasn’t using logic, he was using poetry.

Parallelism

Jesus wasn’t arguing “when someone gives you something it comes from them.” He wasn’t stating the obvious. Rather, he was using the famous Hebrew poetic device parallelism—something we’ve explained on our website many times. Jesus was repeating the same thing twice, and he was doing it to reinforce the right reason for trusting in him.

What is that "right reason"?

Jesus' relationship to the Father

And Jesus confirmed that the Apostles had that very reason--the right reason! You'll notice that if you pay close attention to the words in fuchsia in John 17:6-8 above. What is the theme of those words? It’s God. And you'll notice that Jesus addresses God as you.

For example, Jesus says that everything he had was:

… from you… the words which you gave me… [and that] I came forth from you, and… you sent me.

Bad Reasons

There are a lot of different reasons for trusting in Jesus, but the very best reason, the one mature believers have is because of his relationship to God.

To understand the goodness of this reason, try contrasting it with the bad reasons. Consider the crowds that received bread from Jesus. They trusted in Jesus, didn’t they? Sure they did, and it was because they knew he’d make a great king. In fact, they wanted to make him their king on the spot.

And that’s exactly why Jesus hid from them. The Scriptures say:

Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone (John 6:15).

These bread-loving crowds didn’t have the right reason to trust in Jesus. They wanted a free baker, but Jesus got away from them.

Hosanna Hypocrites

And consider the crowds that cheered ‘Hosanna’ when our Lord arrived at Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. They likewise expressed strong confidence in Jesus as King of Israel—because that’s exactly what they called him.

But did they have a solid faith in him? No. And that’s evidenced by the fact that the same people were yelling ‘Crucify him’ a week later.

… the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and began to shout, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel...'

… he [Pontius Pilate] said to the Jews, 'Behold, your king!' So they cried out, 'Away with him, away with him, crucify him!' Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your king?' (John 12:12-13; 19:14-15; NASB).

Even Pontius Pilate, a cynical pagan Roman, noted the capriciousness and flimsy faith of the Jews. That’s why he asked them if he should crucify the one they called “king.” That’s also why Pilate posted “King of the Jews” over Jesus’ head on a tablet nailed to the Cross.

Pilate was a witness of bad belief. He knew just like you and I know that false faith doesn’t do any good.

Hometown Hustle

And false faith festered in Nazareth too. The members of Jesus' hometown synagogue knew him from the time he was a baby. They were traditional Jews—people of the right religion. And they thought very highly of Jesus. According to the Bible account, ‘all were speaking well of him.’

So, a reasonable observer would say that the Jews in Nazareth believed in Jesus. But it was a short-lived belief. It was false faith. Once Jesus preached something they didn't like, something that demonstrated that they would not get the "hometown advantage” they were expecting—they tried to kill him!

Here’s the narration from Luke:

And all were speaking well of him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips...

... and they got up and drove him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw him down the cliff (Luke 4:22, 28–30; NASB).

Who Is Jesus For You?

Is that the kind of trust you have in Jesus? We hope not. He’s not our "little king" who passes out free bread. He's not or our "little hometown helper." He didn’t come to bring prosperity to family and friends.

Jesus doesn’t obey the predictable psychology of human association. He’s not guided by genetics, society, or economics. He is guided by the Spirit. And his Kingdom is not of this World.

Do you believe in Jesus for the right reasons, or for the wrong reasons? Who is Jesus for you?