But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…
So far John has focused on the sad irony of a created people rejecting its Creator. He shifts his focus here to point out that, in contrast to the general trend, there were people who responded appropriately to the God who came to visit.
He describes them as the ones who received Jesus. They welcomed him. Welcoming foreigners is good manners, and it is a kindness rendered to people who are at a disadvantage. They may not speak the local language, they may not understand how the local culture functions, they may be in need of food, water, and provisions, etc. They may not know what is fair as an exchange rate. If you have ever been in a foreign country you know that, to a degree, you are at the mercy of the natives.
In Israel, care for strangers was a command. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.- Deuteronomy 10.19. Israelites were commanded to remember what it was like to be a foreigner. Israel had spent forty years wandering in the desert, as well as 400 years, mostly as slaves, in Egypt. They were experts in what it meant to be foreigners. Throughout their wandering in the desert God had provided for them. As a nation they were able to flourish even through this hardship. Caring for the foreigner, then, was an act of empathy, it was an act of loving one’s neighbor, and it was a way of remembering to be thankful to God. Providing for the needy foreigner was a way to identify with the character and work of God. The faithful receive foreigners.
It’s interesting to think of Jesus as a foreigner. In one sense, he was not a foreigner in Israel. He was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth. He was born of good Jewish stock. But he was also God. His nature made him foreign to others. Imagine having a friend who never sinned. This absence of sin would have made him strangely perceptive, as well. As God, as the one who had given life to all humans, as the one who pronounced human existence “very good”, and as the one who proclaimed males and females to be “made in his image,” this God should not have been foreign at all. But that was the big problem. He was a foreigner to his own people. The relational breech that had opened up between God and Adam and Eve was a Grand Canyon. He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. – John 8.23.
These people did more than receive him; they also “believed in his name”. Believing in someone’s name is an odd way to put it. Perhaps it’s helpful to think of it the way we think about signatures. When we sign a document we attest to the truth of the document. Or, in the case of a loan, we promises to pay the amount indicated. The person stands behind the signature. The name represents the person and all the person’s assets. To believe in Jesus’ name is more than just believing he was a historical character. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! – James 2.19. According to James the demons believed in Jesus enough that they feared his power. Apparently, that is not enough.
The belief being described here is one that accepts that Jesus is all he claimed to be. Fundamentally this means recognizing Jesus as God and Creator, Lord of the universe, Author of all truth and, more to the point of this passage, Savior.
…he [therefore] gave the right to become children of God… Jesus gave the right as a consequence of believing in him. Belief is rewarded.
I recently read a book by an atheist who scoffed at the idea of there being something inherently meritorious in belief itself. The atheist was absolutely right. There is nothing inherently meritorious in the act of believing. As Tim Keller wonderfully puts it, “Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.” So while there is merit in having faith, the merit comes from having faith in that which is worthy of faith.
What does that mean then, really? We can only judge rightly when our hearts and minds are clear of human idols. In ancient days idols would be strange-looking carvings made by the hands of men. But the worship of the gods these idols represented worked out fairly closely to the “enlightened idols” people worship today. We long for beauty, power, prestige, wealth, security, influence, pleasure, etc. These are all good things and, generally speaking, God wants us to have them. But when our approach to getting them is through foolishness, then they have become idols. If we are willing to cheat others, and steal, and injure, if we are willing to neglect our responsibilities, if we neglect those in need in order to acquire these things, then we have made them into idols. If we long for these things as more precious than the One who provides them for us, then our whole perception of the world has become twisted.
The Gospels repeatedly illustrate how the general population of Israel was amazed and delighted with Jesus, while the religious leaders despised him. All were seeing the same Jesus, seeing the same miracles, hearing the same sermons, seeing the same face. But the leaders were blinded by their idols. Jesus threatened their “stuff”. When the truth threatens the things we love, we suppress the truth.
So the merit displayed when people believed in Jesus was that they were not suppressing the truth. They were seeing Jesus appropriately. They could not see and understand him fully, of course, but they were seeing him as little children see, with innocence and with simple clarity. They were believing what they were seeing.
…he gave the right to become children of God… When John says “gave the right” I don’t think he is hedging his bets about those who believed. He is not saying that they earned an opportunity to become children. The text is pretty clear that they did become children of God. So the idea of the right introduced here suggests that before Christ there was no right or opportunity. The work of Christ, the life and death of Christ were necessary for any and all who would have the hope of being children of God. The emphasis here is the importance of the grace of God.
…he gave the right to become children of God… Now here is an amazing thought! The Old Testament had from the beginning proclaimed the glorious purposes God had in mind for human beings. He created man and woman in his image. This means that he gave us capacities patterned after his. We can think and sing and create and imagine and communicate complex ideas and procreate and love. It also means that he placed us on the earth to represent him, to rule in his absence, and to care for his created world. But John takes these astonishing concepts even further by suggesting that we are more than diplomats or stewards. He calls us God’s children. To be a child of God is to be royalty. In this case it is an exalted royalty, because God is King over all creation. To be God’s child also indicates how precious we are to him. To be a child of God also means that we are permanent, just as he is immortal. And it implies that we are holy, just as he is holy. These promises are the answers to all human fears and longings. This is “happily ever after” properly understood.
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