Faith in the Face of Rejection part 3

Introduction

Chapters 7-8 of John’s gospel happen within the backdrop of the Jewish celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths...

Throughout this section we see the growing hostility and rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders and many of the people.

As we’ve been studying this section we been considering both it’s historical and spiritual relevancy to the larger story of Christ, but we’ve also been considering the ways people still reject Jesus today, and how we as the church ought to respond to these rejections.

Exegesis of John 7:25-36

John 7:25-27

These are the residents of Jerusalem, as opposed to the crowds from earlier, who were the visiting Jerusalem for the feast.

Unlike the crowds, they were aware of the religious leader’s plans to kill Jesus. Thus, they are shocked that Jesus is speaking openly and the religious leaders aren’t doing anything about it.

Why weren’t they doing anything about it?

The crowds...

The Pax Romana...

They wonder if the reason is because the religious leaders actually are beginning to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. (Of course, this is untrue.)

Their opinion about Jesus is that He cannot be the Messiah because they knew He was from Nazareth, and when the Messiah came, no one would know where He was from. Thus, they reject Him, even if the religious leaders think He might be the Messiah.

Rejection #8: He doesn’t fit our standards for a Messiah.

They wanted a Messiah that ticked all the right boxes (political Messiah who would lead the people to overcome their Roman occupiers, reclaiming the Promised Land for Israel alone).

Today, there are many who actually look for saviors according to their wants and desires, and rarely of the spiritual variety.

They want someone or something that will take care of all their felt needs and give them a better life today.

Cults of personality…(religious and non-religious)

Government & politicians…(Obama…)

“Superman”...

John 7:28-29

When Jesus says, “You know me, and you know where I come from”, it should be read ironically.

For example, “You seriously think you know me and where I come from? Huh! You know nothing!”

They don’t know Jesus because they don’t really know the God who sent Jesus.

Let’s consider three ways they are wrong:

They believed Jesus was born of Joseph and Mary in Nazareth.

Jesus was, in fact, not the physical son of Joseph and He was born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth.

They based their belief about the Messiah coming from an unknown place off of a extra-biblical text and Jewish tradition, not on Scripture.

Micah 5:2 ESV

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

They believed that the Messiah ought to be what they expected Him to be, not that their beliefs should conform to who and what He really was.

Many people today have created a god in their mind that looks nothing like the God of the Bible. There may be a few similarities, but in reality, they know very little or nothing about the God of the Bible. In many ways, we live in a world that is very similar to Acts 17:16-34.

In this passage, Paul goes to Athens, the center of Hellenistic (or Greek) culture in the world. Just about any worldview could be found there, and the philosophers of the day would debate about them at a place called the Areopagus.

Acts 17:21 ESV

Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul preaches a powerful sermon at the Areopagus:

Acts 17:22-31

But, look at the reaction of the people:

Acts 17:32 ESV

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

The idea of a resurrected Lord was so foreign to these people that they outright mocked him while others wanted to hear more about this odd belief, yet paid little heed of it.

In our increasingly secular world today, the Bible is not only widely ignored by people, but it’s teachings are often times mocked and ridiculed by supposed “enlightened” people. For many of them, if there is a god at all, he looks like what they believe he should look like. Thus, we shouldn’t be shocked that they reject Jesus.

Here’s Hope: If you truly know Jesus, then you will also know the God who sent Jesus.

John 14:8–11 ESV

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Regardless of men’s rejections, we can know God when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and grow in our faith and knowledge of Him.

John 7:30-31

Two responses to Jesus words:

Those who wanted to shut Him up.

These are the people who lived in Jerusalem, who were offended that Jesus would suggest that they didn’t know God. They try and cease Him for the religious leaders, but failed.

How did they fail? We don’t know. But we know why they failed…because it wasn’t God’s time yet for Jesus to be arrested. That would come six months from this time.

Those who believed because of the things He was doing.

Whether they had real, saving faith, we don’t know. Often throughout the Gospels, when people believe because of the signs, it rarely was staying faith. But, it’s better than nothing.

For us, we must move past the things that Jesus can do for us, and look more to who Jesus is and how He offers us forgiveness for our sins. This far exceeds anything else we might get from Jesus.

John 7:32-36

Rejection #9: Those who ridicule Jesus.

Jesus tells them that their time to truly know Him was short. It was short because within seven months He would return to the Father.

Don’t miss the fact that the word “know” is used seven times in this passage. While they thought they knew all about the Messiah, Jesus tells them that their time to truly know about the Messiah was drawing neigh.

Of course, they missed the point, wondering if Jesus was suggesting that He would leave Israel and go to other parts of the Hellenistic world to preach to either the Jews outside of Israel, or even more unthinkable, to the Gentiles! (Ironically, His Gospel would eventually do exactly that!)

Their response to Jesus here should be understood as ridiculing Him. For them, it was unthinkable to leave Israel to reach out to Jews who were likely compromised by the Gentiles. It was even more unthinkable that He would go to the hated Gentiles. They would never do something so crass!

What they didn’t realize was, their time was drawing short, and eventually it will be too late for them to know Jesus.

Why could they not come? Because they didn’t have saving faith!

Today, many people still ridicule the church and Jesus. In fact, for the first time in American history, it’s become acceptable for people to publically mock Jesus.

Frankly, for believers, this is maddening when we see it. And many of us want to defend Jesus.

Here’s Hope: The firm foundation of Christ Jesus has been ridiculed by people for centuries, yet is just as firm today as it has always been.

We need to bear this in mind!