John 12:34-36 : The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?’ Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.” Jesus said these things, and he departed and hid himself from them.

What we read here today is what you could consider the anti-Christmas. “He departed and hid Himself from them.” Jesus was born into this world to save it, here the world’s rejection of King Jesus was accepted and He left us to ourselves in this world. What a horrible day. See how unable we are to save ourselves. When salvation stares us in the face, we ask “Who is this Son of Man?”

“The multitude” here continued to doubt the Jesus was “the Christ.” They were saying that they thought that the law said the “the Christ remains forever.” It is true that He was to remain forever, but the law also said that there must be a sacrifice for the sin of the world. It is by resurrection that any of us will live forever (although some of us may be resurrected alive, so to speak). The point is that when God speaks people should just listen and believe. There is no need to doubt God. He spoke us into existence. We can doubt anyone else because everyone else has been spoiled by sin. The people should have been keen enough to follow Jesus (although there was a reason for this discussed next time), but the leaders are in severe trouble because they mislead the people:

Matthew 18:5-7 : Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea. “Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes!…”

I don’t want to ever hear the word “Woe” in reference to me when God speaks. As Christians we will never have to hear that because of Jesus death. Jesus was the light that walked among us as John was saying at the beginning of the book, but many were not willing to walk in that light as we read here.