As in chapter 6, in chapter 7 John shares the words of Jesus, words with which He claims to be the Messiah, sent from God with a message of truth. These words would eventually lead to His death… But no one would have cared much about His words had they not rung with truth and supernatural authority.
The Pharisees took Jesus’ words so seriously that they felt there was no way to dismiss the message – apart from “killing the Messenger”, so we too should pay close attention to what Jesus said about Himself, God, and what is right.
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(John 7:1-41 can be read online at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%207&version=NIV.)
1) (Vv. 1-5) John begins his account by recalling that even Jesus’ brothers did not believe Jesus was sent from God with a message of truth:
“1After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill Him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to Him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that Your disciples there may see the works You do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.’ 5 For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.”
– John tells us that Jesus was reluctant to go to the region of Judea and the capitol, Jerusalem, where the religious authorities desired to kill Him.
But, while this would be a perfectly natural response, I think we should clarify that Jesus, Creator of all reality, does not “respond” to anything! It was simply not His purpose to go to Jerusalem and to be put to death – at that particular time.
–… And perhaps, the key to this rather curious exchange is that He is having this discussion with His brothers.
– It was His brothers’ suggestion that He go up to Judea and display His miraculous works – it was their reasoning that if Jesus wished to be publicly known, He should go to large public gatherings.
– It could be that Jesus did not wish to affirm the egocentric motives His brothers seem to be ascribing to Him– or affirm their methodology.
– Jesus was not after fame, and He does not use human methods to do His work. Perhaps, by acting contrary to the human expectations of His unbelieving brothers, He was showing them that they did not correctly understand Him.
2) (Vv. 6-9) Jesus then responds by making some unusual statements about “His time”, which contrasted with the way His brothers lived their lives:
“6 Therefore Jesus told them, ’My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate You, but it hates Me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because My time has not yet fully come.’ 9 After He had said this, He stayed in Galilee.”
– Jesus is saying that sequence and timing is crucial to what He does. I think this is important because it indicates a pre-existing purpose and plan…
– In contrast, not only were Jesus’ brothers without a “blueprint” to follow, but because there was no real purpose to their lives, their aimless activity would generate no opposition.
– Nothing Jesus brothers would do during their festival observance at Jerusalem would offend or upset anyone…
– But this was not the case with Jesus! Jesus would testify that these people’s hearts were far from God, and their worship was a farce – a message which was sure to arouse defensive self-righteousness and hostility!
– Perhaps we too should consider whether the world around us is altogether good – and whether we dare to stand against what is not… This message is as needed today as it was in Jesus time, and is likely to elicit the same response!
3) (Vv. 10-13) Although Jesus was not at the festival to begin with, people were certainly thinking about Him and speculating about just Who He was:
“10 However, after His brothers had left for the festival, He went also, not publicly, but in secret.11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, ‘Where is He?’
12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about Him. Some said, ‘He is a good man.’
Others replied, ‘No, He deceives the people.’ 13 But no one would say anything publicly about Him for fear of the leaders.”
– The Jewish leaders were well aware that Jesus had opposed them and exposed their unrighteous attitudes. They were keeping an eye out for Him, hoping to apprehend and even kill Him.
– The common people were divided: some defended His teaching and healing as good… But others, noting that He criticized the religious establishment, defined this as “deceiving the people”.
–… It seems that then, even as today, some people believe institutions are good in and of themselves.
– But the Holy Spirit of truth makes greater demands of us than that! We must examine whether our institutions are acting according to the righteous and holy character of God, and whether they are treating God’s children as God would want them treated.
– Institutions do not get a “moral free ride” simply because they are not personal entities! If wrong is being done under their auspices, it needs to be addressed!
– We see however, that in Jesus’ day, as in ours, that most people do not live to fulfill God’s blueprint for righteousness, but simply accept the status quo and go with the flow. The people of Jerusalem were fearful of defending Jesus or His ideas from the hostile authorities.
4) (Vv. 14-19) When Jesus finally arrived at the festival and began teaching, the Pharisees questioned where He had gotten His “authority” to teach. Of course, the point of this question was not whether Jesus was teaching truth, but whether they needed to obey!
“14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having been taught?’
16 Jesus answered, ‘My teaching is not My own. It comes from the One Who sent Me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but He who seeks the glory of the One Who sent Him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about Him. 19 Has not Moses given You the law? Yet not one of You keeps the law. Why are You trying to kill Me?’”
– In v. 15, I think we can detect some grudging respect: the Pharisees had to admit that what Jesus said made sense… And obviously, He had not learned these principles from them!
– No human religious institution was teaching what Jesus taught! What we suspect, however, is that these Pharisees were looking for an institution which they could discredit!
–… But Jesus pulls no punches: He states that anyone who sincerely desires to do God’s will – what is good and right – will recognize that His teaching complies with God’s righteous character.
– The same litmus test applies today: anyone who honestly desires what is good and right will find that everything Jesus said and did was good and morally perfect.
– We have every reason to be suspicious of a teacher who is seeking his own agenda… but how can we point to anything Jesus did – and most certainly that final act of self-denial – and claim that this was somehow to His personal advantage!
– Indeed, there is nothing false about Jesus!
– But a great deal was false about these Pharisees! They claimed to hold the law of Moses as their greatest authority, but none of them kept it.
– Jesus was fully aware that these “righteous” Pharisees were hoping to murder Him!
5) (Vv. 20-24) The Pharisees objected indignantly… But Jesus reminds them – and the crowd – of the controversy which had turned them against Him: He had dared to heal a man on the Sabbath:
“20 ’You are demon-possessed,’ the crowd answered. ‘Who is trying to kill You?’
21 Jesus said to them, ’I did one miracle, and You are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave You circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), You circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are You angry with Me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.’”
– The Pharisees were not pleased that Jesus could heal… But who could deny that relieving suffering is a good thing?
– And who could deny it is a miraculous thing?
–… Yet these Pharisees had found a loophole: Jesus had done these things on the Sabbath.
– Of course, this gave the appearance disregarding the Sabbath laws — but Jesus admonishes them for judging so inconsistently. If the Sabbath laws could be suspended to allow for circumcising infants, why could they not be suspended to allow for healing the entire body?
– How was God’s righteousness demonstrated more by complying to a ritual than by relieving the suffering of a person whom He loved?
– Jesus, God in human form, wanted this world to know that He loves each person dearly and He has much more compassion for our suffering than interest in our religious rituals!
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Jesus based everything He did on the blueprint of God’s truth, goodness, justice, and love. We should do the same. As God’s children, we should not tolerate what is not true, not consistent, not kind, or not just.
The fact that some of what violates the character of God is done in the name of institutions and establishments means nothing: if it is not right, we should not ignore it.
Choosing to do the will of God will most likely not serve our own self-interest! Like Jesus, we will face opposition in a way that the complacent do not… But how can we claim to love God or follow Jesus if we do not care about the things He cares about and do the things He would want for us to do?
Until next post,
Peace
“Illum oportet crescere – He must increase”
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adaffodil 