two responses

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

John 2:23-25

Jesus shows His power and His authority early on in John’s gospel. His creative power over the natural world is shown when He turns water into wine and the guests rejoice at the wedding in Cana. His first miracle is at a public party and His disciples are drawn to believe in Him as a result. His authority is shown later at the Passover in Jerusalem where on the largest possible public platform in the city, Jesus clears the greedy money-changers out of the temple in passion for God’s holiness and the pure worship of the Lord.

Two separate lines of response to Jesus now can be traced from this point on throughout the gospel of John. First, the leaders of the religious establishment begin to confront Jesus with increasing hostility. After the cleansing of the temple they demand a “sign” from Jesus in order for Him to warrant His authority for doing what He did there. He simply prophecies of His eventual death by their hands and resurrection from the dead. In essence the gospel is His authority warrant.

The second response broadly is a growing crowd of enthusiastic followers. But it seems clear from the context that most of them are following Jesus because of the miracles (they saw the signs), and not necessarily because of His mission or His message. That is why John shows us the caution Jesus exhibited by not entrusting Himself to the crowds who merely believed the miracles more than the man or the message. Believing Jesus for the sake of His mission and trusting the gospel must by our motivating responses to Jesus in order to truly have faith in Him. It would seem that “Jesus is cool” is not enough for Jesus to find faith in us.