Grace and Peace to you from God, our Creator and Sustainer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that abides in each of us.  Amen.

Did you ever ask a question to which you already knew the answer?  My kids used to love to ask questions that they knew the answer to.  In my house, the infamous question was always the one that would be asked over and over about something that they had been told “no” to.  So we would get the, “Why can’t I…?  After several attempts of answering the repetitive question, Jill or I would finally say something like, “Look, we have already given you our answer; if you have to ask again, we are not going to answer it!”  I see a lot of parents’ heads nodding.  Now, at least in my house as the kids were growing up, there were two of us to take on the onslaught of questions.  In my frustration, I could always turn to Jill for support as I pulled my hair out during those teen years.  Okay, now you know why I am bald!

In much the same way, throughout his ministry, Jesus was bombarded with questions, and many times the questions that were asked had already been answered.  Our text this morning begins with one of those questions that must have really irritated Jesus and made him feel awfully lonely.  As our story begins, we are told it was wintertime, the time during which the Jews would have celebrated the festival of the Dedication.  We know this festival best today as Hanukah.  Jesus was in the Temple in Jerusalem and John tells us that “The Jews [the religious leaders] gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’"  We have actually tamed this translation in our English translation.  If we were to translate this question literally it would read, “How long will you take away our life?”  That doesn’t make sense, but as most Greek scholars will tell you, this phrase was an idiom, a phrase that the people of Jesus’ day would have understood not literally but figuratively.  When we understand it as an idiom, it should be translated, “How long will you continue to annoy us?  If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”  I can just hear Jesus screaming, “How long will I annoy you?  Will I tell you plainly?” 

Remember last week when we talked about how Peter had missed all the signs of who Jesus really was?  Well, we have the same thing going on in our text today.  Jesus has not verbally said he is the Messiah, but he had turned water into wine (2:1-11), and they knew it.  He had fed 5000 people with five barley loves and two fish (6:1-14), and they knew it.  He healed a man on the Sabbath who had been ill for 38 years (5:5-9), and they knew about it.  Jesus had healed the man born blind (9:1-41), and they knew it.  How much clearer could he have been?  Immediately after this story, the leaders will witness Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus could have verbally said anything, but instead he wanted his actions to speak for who he was so he told them plainly, “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me…” (10:25)  Jesus must have been frustrated with these so-called wise men.  He was trying so hard to open the world’s eyes and hearts to God, but he apparently was alone.

At this point, he told them why they did not understand.  They did not understand because they did not belong to Jesus’ “sheep.”  In other words, You guys have already made up your minds that I am not the Messiah so no matter what I say or do you will not see me for who I really am.  It is not that they cannot be part of Jesus’ flock; in fact, they have been invited to be, but they have chosen to reject the invitation.  They have chosen to ignore the obvious and seek a different answer.  They wanted a messiah that would do things the way they wanted them done.  They wanted a messiah that would conform to their way of understanding scripture.  They wanted God that would dole out His justice and mercy based on their conditions.  Jesus would not respond to their demands that day, or any day, but instead he continued to invite them to draw their conclusions on the basis of his actions.  In our case, I think Jesus expects us to draw our conclusions based on the actions of those who call him Lord today. 

The bottom line for me today in our lessons is that old saying "Actions speak louder than words."  We should not have to tell people we are Christians; they should know it by our actions.   The problem is, for most of us “Christians,” we spend more time worrying about what we should think or believe than how we should actually live our lives.  We love to stress orthodoxy in our confessions, that is, right thinking, but right thinking does not always translate in to right living.  Jesus is willing to let his "works" be his witness (5:36; 10:38; 14:11), and he expects us to do the same.  When Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” he wasn’t talking about a physical state; he was talking about the fact that the Father’s will and his will are the same.  Jesus was willing to live his life doing as God wanted him to.  Jesus was willing to live his life forgiving sinners.  Jesus was willing to be merciful even to those who despised him.  Jesus was willing to love those whom did not love him back.  Jesus was willing to share all his gifts with others.  Jesus didn’t see his gifts as something to be exploited for personal gain, but as gifts God had given him so that he could bring about God’s will in this world. 

Jesus and the Father are one, but as that 1968 hit song by Three Dog Night said, “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever be.”  It is lonely being one with the Father because the world would prefer to do things its own way.  The world would prefer to deny God’s justice and determine its own justice.  The world would prefer to deny God’s total forgiveness and insist on developing its own limited form of forgiveness.  The world would seek to keep the oppressed oppressed while God desires to see the oppressed freed.  The world would prefer that those born blind to God’s ways stay blind; God wants everyone to see his grace and love.  Joining God on His mission can be a lonely venture.  You see, when we live as one with God, we are likely to annoy many in this world.

The world loves to talk about peace at the expense of others.  The world loves to talk about human rights, but in reality it benefits the wealthy and powerful to have people who have few or little rights so they can be used to generate more wealth.  To go about working in this world to bring about God’s justice and mercy means that we will turn the world upside down because in God’s Kingdom there are no poor, there are no hungry, there are no homeless, not because there is more wealth generated but because those of us with the wealth and power will share it and make sure all are treated fairly.
 
This sounds easy enough, but it is not.  The religious and political leaders of Jesus’ day didn’t like the answers they got from Jesus because his answers, God’s answers, called for them to live differently.  Jesus said, My Father expects you to live differently.  He has given you much wealth, power, and talents, and He expects you to share them with those in need.  They didn’t like that answer.  They wanted a messiah that would keep things as they were so they kept asking questions hoping to get a different answer.  Are we really that different?  How often are we open to answers that may be different than what we want to hear?
 
Brothers and sisters, in a world filled with greed, power, and individualism, living God’s way can be lonely, but we have been invited by Jesus to be one with our Father.  Are you ready?  Are you willing?  All week as I have hummed and listened to that song by Three Dog Night I have come to a different conclusion than the song.  You see, in this world, one really is a lonely number, but in God’s Kingdom, one is the only number.  Amen.