Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Our passage this morning is set in the Jewish holiday of the Feast of Dedication.

This feast is what we now know as Hanukah.

In the year 167 BC the Syrian king Anticohus Epiphanes was returning from his conquest in Egypt and entered Jerusalem and having pillaged the city, proceeded to pollute the temple with sacrifices to false God’s, burning the scriptures of the Jews and putting to death anyone who dared to confront him.

This led to a revolt led by Judas Maccabaeus which eventually resulted in the Jews regaining control of the city and the temple.

Therefore, it is winter and the Jews have gathered for this celebration.

Summer and Autumn have since passed and nothing remain but cold deadness.

The leaves which were once green and beautiful have fallen and died.

I remember as a child watching my grandfather’s garden grow in the spring and summer.

It was beautiful with flowers and vegetables.

However, when winter came what was once filled with beauty and color was now brought to dark deadness and decay.

The cold of winter is an appropriate backdrop for the conversation that is about to take place.

Indeed, when winter comes we anticipate spring.

But, to stay in winter will surely bring death.

What we will find this morning, though the season will surely change from winter to spring there is no indication that the warmth will be enough to thaw their cold hearts.

They have gathered to celebrate the consecration of the Temple, yet the refuse to believe the one who has been consecrated by God to redeem those who believe in him.

It is interesting, here we find the true and eternal temple of God being rejected.

“Christ in fact perfectly accomplished what the Maccabees wrought in a figure, and dedicated a new and abiding temple”

“Christ in fact perfectly accomplished what the Maccabees wrought in a figure, and dedicated a new and abiding temple”

The Q n’ A

So, here we find Jesus walking alone through Solomon’s portico when he is approached by a group of Pharisees.

It is said that these Jews “gathered around” or “surrounded” Jesus.

This word is only used four other times in scripture and two of those four are referring to armies encircling their enemies.

In other words, while this may seem like an innocent question, it is certainly not.

There are two ways that we can understand this question.

One, is that they are asking Jesus in hopes that he will be the long awaited messiah and the other is that they are wanting to trap him in his own words.

In other words, they are seeking an opportunity to accuse him of blasphemy.

D. A. Carson notes,

There are two ways that we can understand this question.

One, is that they are asking Jesus in hopes that he will be the long awaited messiah and the other is that they are wanting to trap him in his own words.

In other words, they are seeking an opportunity to accuse him of blasphemy.

D. A. Carson notes,

This suggests that the Jews are not seeking for clarity in order to worship him without restraint; rather they want to obtain from him an unambiguous statement that would provide an adequate basis for their attack.

In reality they are saying, “If you are greater than Solomon and Maccabeus tell us no with confidence!

Why wont you speak plainly to us?”

This week I read one commentator who said, “Shall the victory that we celebrate today be carried some day for thee?”

Their words are incredibly antagonistic.

They are tired of figures of speech and parables.

Remember last week when Jesus told of the door and the gate keeper?

How did they respond?

“But.

they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

They Just wanted plain truth, clearly spoken, without any question of who Jesus is.

They needed an irrefutable confession.

We could read this verse more clearly to say, “If you are the Christ, tell us that we will understand well.”

Furthermore, their tone is almost as if to say, “

Chapter 2: Jesus turns water into wine

Chapter 3: John the baptist declares Jesus to be the Messiah.

Chapter 4: Jesus heals the officials son without being any where near him.

Chapter 5: Jesus heals a man who had been paralyzed for 30 years.

Chapter 6: Jesus miraculously feeds an estimated 12,000 people.

Chapter 7: Jesus applies the Messianic passage of to himself.

Chapter 8: Jesus applies the Messianic passage of to himself.

Chapter 9: Jesus heals a man born blind.

Chapter 10: Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

The truth is, Jesus never withheld who he was.

The reason that these people could not see Jesus for who he was is because they lacked the facts, it is because they lacked faith.

It was not because of intellectual ignorance.

It was because of spiritual ignorance.