10 However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the Feast the Jews were watching for him and asking, “Where is that man?”
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 Jews.
Jesus Teaches at the Feast
14 Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having studied?”
16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. 17 If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor 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?”
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 astonished. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”
Is Jesus the Christ?
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”
28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?”
According to MacArthur, in this passage Jesus gives at least five reasons why people should believe He is the Christ.
Christ's knowledge did not originate and rely on the teachings and authority of others (like they would teach at any great rabbinical center or under any great rabbi). Rather, Jesus' source was God the Father Himself (v15, 16). Jesus' knowledge was supernatural. He knew the mind of both God and man.
Jesus also gives us a test, in v17, to determine that He is God. When anyone truly desires to know the truth and is honestly willing to do God's will, whatever the cost, God will give him the capacity to understand His truth. But God does not grant His truth to unbelief or to an unwillingness to obey it. He has no time for hypocrites.
Jesus is also completely selfless. He does not care about His own glory, but He cares about the glory of God the Father (v18). False teachers or messiahs are only in it for money or ego - their own glory. But not Jesus. He's the one who stoops down and washes the dirty feet of disciples. HE's the one who came not to be ministered unto but to...what?...minister and to give His life a ransom for many. He's the one who humbles Himself in love. He's the one who lies down flat on a cross while they nail Him there. That's the true Messiah. He's the one who makes no money, has no home, takes nothing, just gives, gives, gives, gives. False messiahs don't do that. He's the one who gives all the glory to God and takes none for Himself.
And, as His disciples, we should follow His example.
The impact Jesus made also testifies to the truth. If He had been a phony, He wouldn't have made much of an impact. But Jesus caused so much hatred, they wanted to kill him (v19) and Jesus called them on their hypocrisy, as Mosaic law-abiding Jewish leaders who harboured murder in their hearts.
His deeds also speak of who He is. He performed miracles, such as when He healed a man on the Sabbath. And so Jesus uses an analogy (v21-23) - God, through Moses, commanded circumcision on the 8th day, and they did it, even if that landed on the Sabbath, in order to keep God's law. And He challenges them - if it's ok to ceremonially cleans one member of the body on the Sabbath, why are you angry at me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath?
Is Jesus who He claimed to be? His knowledge, His test, His selflessness, His impact and His deeds say a resounding YES.
I also wanted to quickly share some thoughts from John Piper. (emphasis mine)
I have to will God-exaltation over self-exaltation. And this is not what I will by nature. I am like the brothers of Jesus and like the Jewish crowds. I want him to do his miracles in a way that endorses my own love for self-exaltation. I want him to endorse my Sabbath-keeping, my law-keeping, in a way that confirms my self-exaltation....
And if he doesn't endorse me in my willing of my own self-exaltation, then I may support him as a miracle-worker, or want to kill him as a Sabbath-breaker, but I won't know him, I won't believe on him. My only hope for knowing is to have my will changed to agree with God's will—and verse 18 describes the deepest change that needs to happen. I need to love the glory of God more than my own glory. I need to will God-exaltation more than self-exaltation.
That is the change in my will that has to happen before I can know Jesus. Because if that doesn't change, then I will always hate Jesus (as verse 7 says), or I will admire him for all the wrong reasons. But I will not know him. There will be a deep, deep blockage. And that blockage is not intellectual, but volitional. By nature, my will is controlled by a love for self-exaltation, not God-exaltation. My glory, not God's glory, is what I most deeply want. As long as that is true, I will not be able to see Jesus for who he really is...
human beings exist for the glory of God, and should have wills that love to live for the glory of God. And you have made the law itself a servant of your self-exaltation, not a means of God-exaltation.
And my whole life, Jesus is saying, contradicts that way of willing. That is why you can't know me. You can't know me until your will is to do God's will—to do what the law most deeply demands, namely, to treasure (to love!) the glory of God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and your paralyzed neighbor as yourself.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: John 7:32-53
1 comment:
Great post! Lots to think about there.
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