What we want has a massive control over what we see and believe

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You Want to Be the Center

Verse 44 gives the answer, and verse 43 shows how it works. Verse 44: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” That is, you can’t believe. Why? Because you love the glory of man, not the glory of God. You don’t want Jesus because you want human praise. You don’t want Jesus, because you want to be the center. You want to be in control. You want to be exalted. You want to be made much of. You love being somebody. Pick whichever of those fits best. They all fit me, apart from sovereign grace. This, Jesus says, is the root cause of unbelief.

And how does it work? Verse 43: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.” Why would they receive a Messiah who comes in his own name? Because if the Messiah were like that, he would be like them; he would be an endorsement of the way they are. He would make them feel okay with their love of their own name and their own self-exaltation.

A Discomforting Messiah

But Jesus comes in the name of his Father. In his humanity, he humbles himself and becomes obedient — to whom? To his Father. How humble? How obedient? Obedient unto death, even death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). They could see it coming. And they didn’t like it. If the Messiah is like this, then we will have to be like this. If God is pleased with this kind of self-denial in the Messiah, then he will look for it in us. We don’t want that. Therefore, we will not come. “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me.”