John 7

With Chapter 7 we now enter into the final year of Jesus’ ministry. The feast of the tabernacles or feast of the booth’s was a time in which Jews would once again travel to Jerusalem. When there they would build for themselves makeshift structures to live in for the week. They did this as a sign of remembrance when Israel was in the wilderness. Once again we have God reminding His people of what He had done. We talked about this in our previous sermon series, but for today’s purposes, I want to ask you this question, how often do you testify to you family what God has done in your life? This is yet another command God has given His people not just regarding the Exodus, but His Word. Deuteronomy 11:18-20 “18 “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 “You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates...”

John 7:1–5 NASB95

1 After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. 3 Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. 4 “For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him.

These verse are frustratingly unclear. Working backwards, Jesus’ brothers do not believe He is the Messiah. At best He might be a prophet because of the signs and wonders He performs. They do not believe, so verse 3-4, then why are they encouraging Jesus to go to Jerusalem to gain a larger following? There is not indication in the text that they just wanted to get rid of Jesus. That this idea on their part stemmed from disrespect. But I also cannot read this and not see some kind of negative intention. They do not believe in Jesus as Messiah, so why care about His following. There is one explanation, which I still find unsatisfying, is that in this culture honor and honor to one’s family was paramount. Jesus gaining a following might bring greater honor to the family at large. I find this still unsatisfying because without knowing their true intentions behind this statement all of this is speculation. But what we know for sure is John 7:6-9

John 7:6–9 NASB95

6 So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. 7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. 8 “Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.” 9 Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.

We know the reason why Jesus did not go to Jerusalem for public ministry, according to John 5:18 there is already a plot afoot to kill Jesus. Had Jesus gone and performed signs and gained a larger crowd, though perhaps the leaders hands would be tied for fear of the people, but it would set in motion something that was not time for. We see even this same tension in Galilee John 7:10-13

John 7:10–13 NASB95

10 But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret. 11 So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?” 12 There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.” 13 Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

Jesus and His family go up to Jerusalem. This adds a ;little more context to Jesus’ brother earlier. They were all going to go, and they wanted Jesus to do it publically. But Jesus does not do that. The text tells us, that Jesus went up in secret. So what does this, in secret mean? First, Jesus did not travel with the caravan of people including His family. He also did not travel with His entourage. He traveled alone. This might seem insignificant. Jesus would be easily spotted right? John tells us verse 11 the Jews were asking, “Where is he?” How would they have been looking for Jesus? They would be looking for a crowd first. There is a video on YouTube which challenges the person watching to count how many times a ball is passed. Though the ball is passed between two people at a time they are all moving and passing the ball to a different person each time. So you watch and count each pass. At the end they ask you a question, did you see the gorilla? They playback the video and behold in the middle of the passing a person walks out in a gorilla costume and dances. How could that be so easily missed? When your focus is on one thing things can slip by. The Jews are looking for Jesus accompanied by many people. Looking for a crowd while Jesus travels alone is a surefire way for Jesus to get in without any trouble. John 7:14-18

John 7:14–18 NASB95

14 But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. 15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” 16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 18 “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

In my study of this passage I found an interesting side note made by a commentator. Many times when a Scribe would be teaching they could not teach very long without then citing other people. IN the same way, when we would write a paper we would need to cite sources. Many times they did this while speaking. One defining feature of Jesus which would have stood out was that Jesus did not do this. Instead Jesus would say, “I say to you.” Their question in verse 14 stemmed from their knowing Jesus did not learn under any famous Rabbi and Jesus did not attend any Rabbinic school, yet, Jesus is speaking with great command and understand of the Scriptures. Another interesting element of Jesus’ teaching, He did practice a degree of this citing His source, as He says, “These Words are not my own.” Jesus is clearly alluding to the Father who sent Him.

John 7:19–24 NASB95

19 “Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. 22 “For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23 “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? 24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

There is so much for us to have to address here and it means we have to talk about circumcision. I can just tell you what Jesus is doing but it wont be clear. Let me do that now, to show you. What Jesus is doing here is a Rabbinic way of teaching what is greater. When there appeared to be two laws that bumped up against one another what they would do is hold them up next to one another and whichever one was more important, which ever held more weight would win out and there would be no sin being committed. We do this as well. I am called to love and protect my family. Someone breaks into my house, I arm up and take them out. You have the taking of life up against the protecting of life. We have to weight which takes the priority, which holds the most weight. That is what Jesus is doing here, He says a child is to be circumcised on the 8th day and when that landed on the Sabbath you still did it. But you are not work on the Sabbath. You have two commands up against one another and they deemed circumcision as greater than the Sabbath. In the same way Jesus is saying, my healing of a man does the same. His being made whole take precedence over the sabbath.

If you are here thinking, that makes sense, what else do we need to address? Circumcision. We can understand what Jesus is doing but we do not understand why. Why has Jesus called upon this example? Why would circumcision bear more weight than the sabbath? One note we must make as well is how John points out Jesus calling out of their obedience though it appears they don’t notice. Moses did not give them circumcision. This was the mark of covenant brought in from the father. Abraham, when God made His covenant with him is where circumcision began. There is a lot we can cover with this and we honestly don’t have the time, I may touch on it when I do my series on Biblical manhood later this year. In short, the Bible is unapologetically patriarchal. God makes is covenant with Abraham and the sign of this covenant is put only upon the men. Only the men are to have this conventional marking. But the marking itself is what we are after today, because why would circumcision take precedent over the sabbath? In short, the mark of the covenant holds more weight than the laws under that covenant. Circumcision is a physical sign, a warning to the man that to break the covenant with God would mean you would be cut off. There is a literal cutting off which warns of the result of the breaking of the covenant. This makes circumcision greater than the sabbath. That’s why Jesus uses it as an example to show that His healing of a man, not the cutting off or removal of anything, but making this man whole is greater than the sabbath.

John 7:25–31 NASB95

25 So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? 26 “Look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? 27 “However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from.” 28 Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29 “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” 30 So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?”

We see a slew of skepticism here but I love that John records it. These verses show out wilful ignorance to the truth if we are committed to believing in ignorance. Is there any attestation on Scripture that we would not know where the Messiah was from? Scripture is quite clear, Micah 5:2 “2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” The Bible is clear that we know where the Messiah is coming. These people have allowed themselves to be led astray by a false teaching which is now at odds with Jesus now. 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” Jesus lays out something so important for us today, the problem is not who we know, but who we don’t. They profess to know Jesus. He is from Nazareth and his family lives in Capernaum, and he is a carpenter. They think they know Jesus, and in that they are blinded to who they don’t know, the One who sent Him. Many profess to know Jesus, Matthew 7:22 makes that clear. Many profess to know Jesus, and they do all this stuff in the name of the one they profess to know, but they do not know the Father. To not know the Father, is to not know Jesus. Depart from me, I never knew you.