John 7.14-27

14 Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15 The people were surprised when they heard him. “How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained?” they asked.

16 So Jesus told them, “My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me. 17 Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. 18 Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies. 19 Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys it! In fact, you are trying to kill me.”

20 The crowd replied, “You’re demon possessed! Who’s trying to kill you?”

21 Jesus replied, “I did one miracle on the Sabbath, and you were amazed. 22 But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses’ law of circumcision. Actually, this tradition of circumcision began with the patriarchs, long before the law of Moses. 23 For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the Sabbath? 24 Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”

25 Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem started to ask each other, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 But here he is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to him. Could our leaders possibly trust that he is the Messiah? 27 But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from.”

Comments

There is an important dynamic going on here. Jesus showed up and launched right into teaching. The religious leaders question his education/credentials, instead of dealing directly with the content of his teaching, which seems to have impressed them on some level. Then Jesus gave a response to them that did not directly respond to what they were asking. He claimed that his teaching was not original but was faithful to Scripture, unlike their plot to kill him. Then they accused him of being demon possessed.

Then Jesus made his claim to Scripture more explicit, explaining how following its precepts often involves choosing to follow one part at the expense of conflicting part. He demonstrated the prevalence of this choosy approach to Scripture: circumcising on the Sabbath sets aside the Sabbath law (even though it is part of the big ten!) in favor of a more important one: circumcision. In the same way, Jesus set aside the Sabbath restriction to heal the man in ch. 5. Jesus’ point is that we routinely choose which parts of Scripture to follow and we should therefore choose to follow the ones that promote love and compassion toward God and each other.

Jesus makes us recognize that choosing is involved in following Scripture and thus we must give attention to choosing well. He also indicates a failure to appreciate the dynamic of how we receive and apply Scripture leads to misunderstanding Scripture. The religious leaders were so sure of their interpretations, rigid ones that did not show compassion. Jesus calls them into question, showing them their own approach to Scripture was built on the same dynamic of how we receive and apply Scripture, despite their claims to certainty.

This is a lot like the discussions going on now about the nature and role of Scripture. Jesus explained the type of interpretation everyone actually uses, and their only responses were to question his credentials, call him demon possessed, and reassert their exclusive claim to Scripture. Just as Jesus’ method regarding timing/fame met with criticism yesterday, his method of interpreting Scripture does as well. The world is hostile to his waiting and hostile to his use of Scripture. Sadly some Christians are as well.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

John 7.1-13

7 After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” 5 For even his brothers didn’t trust him.

6 Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. 8 You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.

10 But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11 The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him.12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.” 13 But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.

Comments

When we started reading John, I told you that one of the main themes is the world’s hostility to God. We have seen glimpses of this already, but over chapters 7 and 8, we are going to see this fully expressed. Jesus is opposed by a variety of people, ranging from those very close to him (his own brothers today) to authorities distant from him. John uses these conflicts to more clearly define both the nature of the world’s hostility and the nature of God’s loving response, as Jesus refuses to be defined by the world or its hostility.

We see this played out in today’s reading and we also see a good example of why we are using “trust” instead of “believe in” to translate the Greek word pisteuo. If we read, “For even his brothers didn’t believe in him,” that suggests they were skeptical about his claims and/or his miracles. But this is clearly wrong since they advise him to take his show on the road to the big city so everyone can see his miracles and buy into his claim. What his brothers fail to do is to trust that Jesus knows what he is doing, that he is taking the proper approach to using his powers and fulfilling his role as Messiah.

Jesus’ power is not the issue here. Jesus’ way is the problem. The brothers give good, common sense advice. They point Jesus down the road of success. Their way would make him famous. But common sense is not Jesus sense. Success strategies are not the cross strategy. The world is fine with power, with miracles, even with believing in things. All those can be made to fit within what we call success. But waiting, timing, self-sacrifice, and trust don’t fit at all. Jesus refused to settle for establishing a cult of personality because those never overcome the world’s hostility, they capitulate to it, exploit it for personal gain, and thus only re-entrench it. The world’s hostility – our hostility, yes we all share in it – is only overcome by love that gives itself away freely. This is what we are called to trust – and by trust I mean participate in. 

There is a lesson here for the (especially American) church. I hope we don’t miss it.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.