In 1985, approximately 200 Biblical scholars formed a group that was named the “Jesus Seminar.” Their stated purpose was to differentiate between the “historical Jesus” and the “Jesus of faith.” They began their work with these three major assumptions:
- Jesus never made any prophetic statements about such things as the destruction of the Temple or Jerusalem and His own death and resurrection. We know this because no one can predict the future, so these prophecies must have been added many years later by zealous followers.
- Since miracles are not possible, every recorded miracle in the Gospels must be a later elaboration added by an admiring disciple – or may be explained on the basis of some physical or natural cause.
- The historical Jesus never claimed to be God, the Son of God, Savior, Messiah, Judge, Forgiver of sin, sacrificial Lamb of God, etc. All of these are the later claims of His devoted followers, but they are not the claims of Jesus Himself.
Basing their studies on these three assumptions, the Jesus Seminar came to these conclusions:
- Jesus was born in Nazareth and not in Bethlehem. His mother’s name was Mary, but she was not a virgin. He had a human father whose name may very well have not been Joseph.
- Jesus never healed anyone of any true illness, disease or infirmity. The only afflictions that he ever seemed to cure are those that we now consider to be psychosomatic.
- Jesus did not walk on water, did not feed the 5,000 with loaves and fishes, did not change water into wine and did not raise Lazarus from the dead. Not a single one of the miracles is true.
- Jesus was arrested in Jerusalem and was crucified by the Romans. He was executed not because He claimed to be the Son of God – but because He was just a public nuisance.
- The empty tomb is a fiction and Jesus was not raised bodily from the dead. Belief in the resurrection is based on visions and hallucinations of His followers – unreliable people like Paul, Peter, John and Mary Magdalene.
Now remember – the original members of the Jesus Seminar were recognized Biblical scholars. When you look at what they set out to do and what they actually did, you understand that the only real purpose of the Jesus Seminar was to discredit the Bible. To discredit the Christian faith. To discredit your faith. To plant doubts in your mind. To lead you away from Jesus. Because, after all, if the so-called experts of the Jesus Seminar are right, then Jesus isn’t our Lord and Savior. According to them, Jesus was just a man – a man who ultimately means no more to us than any other man.
You probably have never heard of the Jesus Seminar before today – but you’ve almost certainly heard about others who try to discredit your faith in Jesus. Since it was first published seven years ago, over 80 million people have purchased copies of Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code, a book claiming that when Jesus died on the cross, Mary Magdalene was pregnant with his child – and many tens of millions more saw the movie. Although Brown’s book was labeled as a fictional novel, he asserted may times that most of what it said was true – leading people to believe that yes, indeed, the Bible “covered up” th fact that Jesus had a wife and child. Or tune in to the Discovery Channel or the History Channel – especially right before next Christmas or Easter – and you’ll see any number of shows explaining that the miracles of the Bible aren’t really miracles at all and that so much of Scripture – things like Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection – can be explained by the “experts” in very human and very non-Scriptural ways.
Well, now listen again to the final verses of today’s Gospel lesson, where Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
The image of the shepherd – the good shepherd – is one of the most powerful and comforting found anywhere in Scripture. And quite frankly, it’s an image that can be hard to relate to today. Today we think of a being a shepherd as just a job. A job is what you do when you go to work and you put in your hours and then you go home and try to forget about your job until it’s time to go back to work again.
But that’s not how it is for a shepherd – especially a shepherd who lived back in Jesus’ day. Being a shepherd wasn’t just your job – it was your life. You lived with your sheep. You lived for your sheep. You spent your days with your sheep and you spent your nights with your sheep. You’ve heard me speak before about how helpless and defenseless sheep are, and no one knew that better than the shepherd. If a sheep got lost, the shepherd had to bring it back to the flock. If a sheep got into trouble, the shepherd had to get the sheep out of trouble. If a sheep was attacked by a wild animal, then the shepherd was the only one who could and would save that sheep from certain death. Without the constant care and supervision of a shepherd, sheep will die. But with the devoted, loving, never-ending care of the shepherd, the sheep will live.
When a group like the Jesus Seminar claims to authoritatively prove that our faith is based on nothing but a lot of lies, exaggerations and delusions, they are trying to snatch you and me away from Jesus. When Dan Brown writes that Jesus had a wife and a child, he’s leading you to believe that if the Bible isn’t truthful on this matter, then perhaps the Bible isn’t truthful on other matters, either. They and so many others are trying to destroy the faith that has been freely given to us by our Good Shepherd, who lovingly and graciously sent His Holy Spirit to bring us to faith. They are trying to rob us of the eternal life that we have in Christ Jesus, who most assuredly is the Son of God who suffered and died for our sins – and most certainly was raised from the dead.
But Jesus our Good Shepherd isn’t going to let that happen. Jesus our Good Shepherd found us and he’s going to keep us. Ignore the voices of the Jesus Seminar and listen to no other voice than that of Jesus. In St. Paul’s second letter to his friend Timothy, he writes: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” And we heard Paul say in the reading from just a few minutes ago, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”
The truth is found here and only here – in the Holy Bible. People like the members of the Jesus Seminar either deny or ignore that the Bible – every single word of the Bible – is the inspired first-hand accounts those who witnessed God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in action. They deny and ignore that Jesus not only fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament writers, but that he accurately and truly prophesied what was going to happen to Him, including His death and resurrection, and what would happen following His resurrection into heaven. They deny and ignore the fact that countless eyewitnesses saw Jesus perform His miracles – saw Him walk on water, change water into wine, feed thousands of people with only a few loaves of bread and a few small fish, heal the sick of very real and very unhealable illnesses and bring the dead back to life. They say that Jesus never claimed to be the Christ – and yet, in our Gospel lesson Jesus confirms that yes, indeed, He and God the Father are one. They say He wasn’t raised from the dead – in spite of the fact that many witnesses repeatedly saw the risen Jesus in the 40 days that followed His resurrection.
And how do we know this? Well, we most certainly do have the testimony of witnesses. But more importantly, we know it because it is a matter of faith. In Hebrews 11:1 we read: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” And as St. John writes in chapter five of his first epistle: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
Listen one final time to the final verses of today’s Gospel lesson: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” No matter how many lies you may hear from people and groups like the Jesus Seminar, the “historical Jesus” and the “Jesus of faith” are one and the same. Jesus our truly good shepherd is watching over us, is protecting His flock from the lies, is guarding us from the attacks. He will never let us be snatched from His hand. He gives us eternal life and no one – not the Jesus Seminar nor even Satan himself – can ever take that away from us.
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