John 7.14—36
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Recap
Recap
Big picture:
What is the book of John known for?
John 3.16
Emphasizes Jerusalem
7s
7 names of Jesus in chapter 1
7 Signs
7 “I am” statements
Irony/misunderstanding
What’s special about John?
Non-synoptic (different)
High Christology
Dualism
Why is John writing?
John 20:31 “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
Context
Context
John has really simple structure, basically 2 books:
Book of signs (1.19—12)
Book of glory (13—20)
Outline of journey to Jerusalem
John starts with big claim
Word was God
Dwelt (Tabernacled) among us
Calls his disciples and begins performing miracles
Challenges institutions
Wedding (first sign)
Temple
Rabbi
Sacred well
Challenges sacred days/feasts
Sabbath—my father works, so do I (healing on the Sabbath)
[March] Passover—I am the bread of life (provided bread)
[September] Tabernacles—Retold the wilderness wandering
Water from the rock—Come to me and drink
pillar of cloud and fire—I am the light of the world
[December] Hanukkah—God redeemed the temple: I and the father are one
Raises Lazarus and rides into Jerusalem
Feast of Tabernacles
Feast of Tabernacles
~Feast of booths Some even say it was the origin of Thanksgiving. There are messianic Jews who even think Jesus was born during this time
What was it?
7-day camping party
8th day special party (party in a party)
Reminder of how God provided for them when they were living in tents
Water pouring (God providing water from the rock)
Lamp-lighting (God led them in a pillar of fire at night)
Palm branch waving (celebrating God’s deliverance)
Teaching/nerding out over Bible
Specifically Ecclesiastes
Reminder of how God was going to provide a future awesome
Zechariah 14:16 “Then all who survive of the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the festival of booths.”
Isaiah 2:2–3 “In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Micah 4:1–2 “In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Where does it come from?
Context
Israel was in the winderness…
Jeremiah 2:6 “They did not say, “Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?””
Deuteronomy 16:14–15 “Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns. Seven days you shall keep the festival to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose; for the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate.”
Leviticus 23:40 “On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.”
Emphasis:
Leviticus 23:39 “Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the Lord, lasting seven days; a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day.”
Leviticus 23:42–43 “You shall live in booths for seven days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
The party starts
The party starts
The party ha been going on a couple days and Jesus finally arrives
About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?”
What was Jesus doing this whole time?
We don’t know
Why didn’t He come at the beginning?
His brothers expected Him to go loudly and to confront the leaders, Jesus wasn’t about that
Basically: come show off what you can do!
Last time everyone got mad at Him for healing
Why were they surprised?
Jesus (this random dude) was a good teacher
Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.
Who sent Him?
Isn’t every Rabbi’s teaching from God?
Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Those who speak on their own seek their own glory;
Sharing what we came up with vs. sharing something someone told us
but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.
Sharing someone else’s story, you don’t have reason to exaggerate, let alone lie!
Religious teachers got defensive here
“Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?”
The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?”
Translation: “You’re actually cooked, Jesus”
This is John’s irony from before
They are literally saying God’s teaching is demonic guidance (calling light dark)
Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath.
If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath?
Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
They had previously started plotting to kill Him for healing on the Sabbath, so Jesus defends His authority to heal as rooted in God’s work on the Sabbath.
He then calls them to repentance (“judge with right judgement”)
And then we get this awesome line:
Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him!
Even the people around the area knew they were planning to kill Him!
A bunch of super smart people like Alex O’Conner will say things like “Jesus never claims to be God,” and passages like this are super important for that conversation. Why?
Why were they planning to kill Jesus?
Not because He was a good teacher.
Not because He spoke against them.
His claim was clearly interpreted as Him saying He was God (blasphemy).
How does this section tie into what John is trying to do?
Jesus was authentic: He never taught on His own authority, He constantly spoke to uphold God
Who is the Christ?
Who is the Christ?
If these people are planning to kill Him, and He’s just out here talking, why aren’t they killing Him?!
People were asking the same question
Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?
What’s the issue with that?
Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”
Common tradition from extra-Biblical resources (the messiah will remain a mystery and won’t be revealed until the moment he’s making a big splash)
Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Partly correct: you don’t know where I really come from. I was sent from God!
The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
Where will He go?
To glory
What does He mean by “you’ll search and you won’t find me” (this isn’t answered in the text)
He’s offering Himself to them now, but that isn’t always an option.
The door will shut
Double-meaning here:
Physically: seek to arrest Him, and won’t be able to find Him
Spiritually: search for God and for eternal life but be unable to find it because they won’t turn to God
He uses present tense and future tense here interestingly.
“I will be with you for a little while longer, and then you will not be able to find me.
What’s the point?
What’s the point?
Big point of this section (why did John put this in here?)
Jesus is solid
Jesus is solid
He isn’t talking for Himself, He’s talking for His father, God
Jesus is available
Jesus is available
During this party about God’s providing in dangerous areas, Jesus is offering Himself for a time
Jesus is offering Himself
Jesus is offering Himself
This is all during a party to remember how God provided for Israel when they were in the wilderness. They got out of Egypt and were in a scary and dangerous place, but God provided
A way to see through the darkness. (fire) And…
A way to survive when they couldn’t on their own power (water)
The big point of this is that Jesus is the Messiah. We know what that means, but Jesus is about to teach that in the section y’all will study next week
