An in Tents time

The Feast of Booths

John 7 picks up a few months after we have left Jesus in Capernum speaking with His disciples. It begins as Jesus’ brother are preparing to Go and celebrate one of the most exiting and joyful feasts of the Jewish calendar.

The Feast of Booths.

The feast of booths was a celebration of way that God provided for his people. It was set after the fall harvest and so it was a time of thanksgiving for the plenty of the harvest.

It was also a time of remembrance..A time where the people would remember the way that God provided for them in the past. particularly in the past when he took care of the in the wilderness during their 40 years of wandering..

That is why they called it the Feast of Booths.. because the jews would every where build tents or booths and live in them during the week long festivities. This was a tangible way that they could relive god’s care for their ancestors. It was also a reminder that they were waiting for God to finish what he had begun.. that in a very real way the people of Isreal were still slaves of a foriegn nation and that god’s promises to return them to freedom and to send them a king of the line of David had not yet happened.

So they waited for God in tents and remembered Gods promises which he had fulfilled. His provision which came with the harvest. and looked forward to the coming messiah and the renewed Kingdom of God.

Now our story today begins with jesus speaking with his brothers.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him.

Like many family members do today. Jesus’ brothers where convinced that they knew what Jesus should do.. and in this case they thought that jesus wanted to be famous.. So of course he should go to where the crowds were to get as many new followers as possible.

They were not measuring things by God’s values or understand God’s plan.. So of course they didn’t yet believe that Jesus was the messiah. That would only come much later for them.

But that emphasis Not even his brothers believed in Him.. Does highlight the nature of this chapter. Jesus had come to a hard place in his ministry. People who were wowed by his miracles were confused by his teachings.. People who loved some of his teaching couldn’t handle the offensive claim that he made that he was the son of God.

Here was the problem.. God was with Isreal in a way that was more powerful, more beautiful and more personal than he was during those 40 years in the wilderness when he was a cloud of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. But it the same way that they refused to trust god to lead them into the promise land. They were now in danger again of not recognizing the Word of the lord literally living in their midst.

ANd that is the way the rest of the chapter works out..

You see Jesus in the right time.. About half way through the 7 day feast does go to jerusalem.. He goes straight to the temple.. he avoids the fanfare,, the crowds and he sits in the temple and teaches.

Which of course caused a lot of shock and confusion…

English Standard Version Chapter 7

15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”

They wanted to know how could speak with such power and persuasion.. When jesus spoke he sounded like a skilled orator. And like a trained Rabbi who had been through the exhaustive and lengthly schooling process. Like the one that Paul went through.. but yet he didn’t sound like any of the teachers that they knew.. They all relied on the words of their masters.. and the words of their masters masters.. Quoting other Rabbi’s tor prove their points as they interpreted scripture..

A bit like one of the pastors who sermons are constantly full of quotes from other pastors.. The puritans, Luther, Calvin, spourgeon. They quote these teachers to back up their arguments.

But jesus didn’t need to do that.. He wove scripture together through out his teaching. he spoke and he spoke with the authority of one who knew what those words meant. because the same spirit that inspired those writers dwelled in him and guided him as he taught.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

Unlike these other teachers jesus wasn’t there to make a name for himself he was there as a servant sent to serve his Father.

But then he turned the argument around and challenged the listeners… specifically the pharisee's who were planning a response to his last visit to jerusalem.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

His point is though he teaches and lives in obedience to the law.. Teachers of the law claim that by healing on the sabbath he breaks the law..

So he is saying that by thier own argument they are doubly breaking the law.. By planning to kill him.. ( that first bit. and when they break the Sabbath to circumcise some one on the Sabbath. He is pinning them to with their own argument.. And they cannot avoid the hypocracy that thier made made laws have revealled about them.

When we add laws to God’s Laws we find ourselves in the same place. God’s law is a perfectly balanced sword.. it cuts us to the marrow and reveals our need for Grace. Our laws.. they blind us to our need by making us think that we can accomplish righteousness on our own.

And two groups start to form around Jesus.

Those who respect his teachings are are beginning to wonder if he is the messiah. and those who are opposed to him.. and are already plotting to kill him.

After that offensive challenge to them, the pharisees actually send out Guards to capture jesus and to judge him in the temple court.

And it all comes to a head on the last day of the feast… On that day.. There was a great procession to Altar of the Temple and the people would sing the psalms 113-118 which begin

Praise, O servants of the LORD,

praise the name of the LORD!

2  Blessed be the name of the LORD

from this time forth and forevermore!

3  From the rising of the sun to its setting,

the name of the LORD is to be praised!

the priests would pour a massive pitcher of water onto the altar and the water would run down the steps of the temple while the people sang a psalm of praise and waved palm branches and citrons in the air..

This was a joyful anticipation of God’s promises foretold by the prophet Ezikeil In EZ 47 that one day a great stream of water would run out of the temple and from Jerusalem out into the wilderness and it would be come a great stream of water that would bring peace and hope not just to Isreal but healing to all the nations.

This was the highlight of the festival.. an pinnacle of joy and celebration.. people would say of this ceremony that you have not know joy till you have sung as the water was pour down the steps..

So at that day jesus stood in the temple and Cried out..

English Standard Version Chapter 7

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Now for us these words explain the beautiful prophecy of Ezekiel. that river is the holy spirit flowing though the church into the nations of the world.. Where Christians Go the spirit of God is made known as we point the world to Jesus. And though him the nations are healed. And it will all begin after jesus’ death and resurection on pentecost.

But for the pharisee’s this is just about as blasphemous as everything else jesus has said.. and he isn’t saying it in the wilderness or in Galilee. he is saying it on their home truff.

Do not doubt that after these words they were convinced that jesus would have to Die.

But what is interesting is not everyone is convinced.. many in the crowds seem to believe.. The very Guards who were sent to capture Jesus seem to be convinced they go back to the pharisee’s and say no one has ever spoken like this man.

And because they did not grab him and chain him many others begin to wonder if the pharisee’s think he is the messiah.

All of this is the point of the chapter.. Some like jesus’ brothers doubt that Jesus is the messiah.. Some are impressed, some are furious.. Some even believe! but in this relatively low key visit to Jerusalem Jesus if forcing the people of Isreal to relive the decision they made in the wilderness. Should they follow God and trust him to lead them into the promised land or was it better to turn away and run in fear. All of Israel is going to have to make a decision.. do they believe this teacher and miracle worker who claims to be the Son of God, the bread of life.

Or will they declare him a mad man and a blasphemer?

We have the same decision to make as well.

We have hear the word of the Lord and respond

Many that I talk to feel like they are waiting for a word from God to supply meaning in a world without meaning? If life seems like a puzzle with out meaning or a cruel accident. They you have not yet met the Word of the Lord.. Jesus has one message for those who search for these answers to such hard questions. He tells us that life is no accident.. that we in our suffering confusion and loss. are not alone. That he can transform that pain in to renewed life and he invites us meet him.. God in flesh. Revelation 3:20

English Standard Version Chapter 3

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

If you are searching for an answer, Jesus is that answer. not the right philosophy of life, not hedoism, not working hard.. not being a good person not even endless consumerism. God’s answer to your suffering is a dinner invitation.... Your creator invites you to dine with him and know him.

If you are a christian than you have already heard the voice of the lord and recognized his call. But the question that we must ask is, “is Jesus’ voice the voice that we listen for, that we hear daily, and that we trust beyond all other voices?”

When Jesus Cried out to the people of Israel calling them to come and drink . He was telling them that Pentecost was soon to be at hand.. and with Pentecost came the spirit of God poured out on all believers.

The spirit is the stream of water that pours out of the temple and transforms the nations.

And that spirit is within every believer. But we can quench the spirit.. We can refuse to listen to his voice. And then we become the most pathetic of figures.. Those who have drank from the steams of eternal life but have turned our backs on the voice of our savior and turned to sewage waters of sin. listening to the voices of the world that will never satisfy.

If that is you.. Be warned that some day that thirst that you feel will go away. Your heart will grow cold to the love of God and hard to the language of grace. And the kingdom of God will slip through your fingers . Forgotten in the cares and worries of this age..

English Standard Version Chapter 2

5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Let us then remember the love we once knew, repent of our hard hearts and return to the path of our savior.. that we might bring life into a broken world and share the love of our great and gracious master.