He doesn’t make it easy for us. In John 10 you can read about a group who came to Jesus to ask him a question.
“Are you the Messiah, Jesus? Give us a straight answer. No games now. Yes or no. Are you the one?”
“I’m not giving you anything else, “ said Jesus. “I’ve said my piece and done what I’m going to do. The ball’s in your court. What are you going to do?”
How easy it would be if we all awoke tomorrow morning to see YES, I DO EXIST scorched across the sky in flame. How easy it would be if, in a coordinated effort, flag-waving angels appeared on motorways across the world. How easy it would be. Instead we find ourselves in a staring contest with God, but rather than submitting we stubbornly dare the creator to blink first.
There was no sign of the risen Jesus in Herod’s palace on that Sunday morning. He didn’t walk those halls, waving to the startled servants with a nail-scarred hand. Neither did he appear to Pilate during breakfast, disturbing him in his meal in order to say, “I told you so.”
Instead he appears only to the terrified, uncertain, defeated mob of those who had already thrown their lot in with him. A perfect moment to prove to the unbelievers that he had been right, but instead he wastes it by showing himself only to those who were already on his side.
“I’ll follow you Jesus. I’ll do what you want, but…well, I need a little more proof. It’s a big decision, isn’t it? I have to be sure.”
“I’m not giving you anything else,” says Jesus. “I’ve said my piece and done what I’m going to do. The ball’s in your court. What are you going to do?”
No wonder he said, “Blessed are those who believe without having to see.”
But He doesn’t make it easy for us.
