August 9, 2015     John 7:15 – 31

Download discussion questions:  John 7_15-31 teaching and signs

Jesus’ teaching astonishes and puzzles the Jews, the religious leaders who are keeping a careful eye on Him.  Learned teaching takes preparation, and He had none.  Jesus uses the opportunity to point back to His mission from the Father, the One who sent Him (at least four times just in this passage).  Once again we (looking back from our twenty-first century perspective) hear hints of the Trinity, the Father sending the Son.

He also takes the opportunity to point out the necessity of receptivity on the part of the hearers:  “anyone willing to do His will” is the prerequisite for understanding the significance of the words Jesus is saying.  One of the members of our discussion group called this “purposeful listening,” a genuine desire to understand and act on Jesus’ words.  Skeptics or critics looking for ways to dismiss His teaching should not be surprised when they fail to see that He is speaking God’s message.  His passion for God’s glory rather than His own reputation is further evidence of His credibility and authenticity.  The religious establishment can only attribute His powerful impact to formal education.  He has much deeper roots – a mission to glorify God.

Jesus brings Moses into the conversation again (as He had done in John 3:14, 5:45-46, and 6:32).  Moses was the hero of the nation of Israel, the one who “gave you the Law” (v. 19).  By implication, Moses was also “sent” by God to deliver His message.  Jesus continues to suggest parallels with Moses (such as bread from heaven, and the fact that Moses wrote about Him) and to challenge the Jews to accept Him as they accepted Moses (“If you believed Moses, you would believe Me” John 5:46).  He challenges the depth of their belief in Moses in that “none of you carries out the Law” (v. 19).  The irony in that statement is profound.  Their accusation against Jesus is that He was the lawbreaker for healing on the Sabbath.  The Jews were the careful keepers of the commandments.  But Jesus points out the contradiction in their understanding of the Law, particularly the Sabbath rules.  Performing a circumcision on the Sabbath was allowed.  Why not the healing of “an entire man” as an equally valid expression of the meaning of Sabbath – a time for rest and restoration?  The phrase “entire” man generated considerable discussion in our group.  Jesus healed the man and enabled him to walk (John 5:9-10) but perhaps the healing went deeper than just his legs.  This may be an example where we tend to read “deeper meanings” into a passage.  Whether Jesus intended that implication is open to discussion.  Other translations suggest the meaning was a complete healing (CEV[1]), or a healing of the man’s whole body (NIV, ESV[2]).

The passage shows the continuing (even growing) confusion and ambivalence of the crowd’s attitude toward Jesus.  One moment they accuse Him of “having a demon” (v. 20), a few minutes later they are considering the likelihood that He is God’s anointed Messiah, the Christ (v. 26, 31).  They are shocked when He suggests that some want to kill Him.  Not long after, the crowd wonders why He has not been arrested by the authorities who are indeed plotting just such lethal action.  The large following that ate the multiplied bread and fish but later abandoned Him because of His “hard sayings” (John 6:66) has become a confused, even volatile mob.  We will see John continue to develop this part of the story leading to their complete rejection of Jesus.

Jesus saw (even from His human perspective) the shifting sentiments of the crowd. While He understood that “His hour had not yet come” (v. 30), He knew it was coming.  In response to the accusations and confusion and speculations among the crowd, He “cried out” in His teaching.  Some translations use “proclaimed” or even “shouted” (not surprising in the middle of a noisy crowd).  Our group considered why He “cried out,” and the consensus was that He had a sense of urgency.  Not panic, not alarm or anxiety (that we often associate with urgency, like going to “Urgent Care”) but rather the intensity and passion to carry out the mission He was sent on.  He was deeply and continuously aware of the mission.  As mentioned in previous entries, there are over forty references to Jesus being “sent” by God in John’s Gospel.  Jesus was not on a casual mission, or, as one group member commented, He was not “just passing through.”

It did not occur to me until I was writing this – I wonder if the person who made the comment was thinking of the once-familiar song, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through….”?  Certainly as the song writer intended we are not to “make ourselves at home” with the things of this world.  But neither should we be just passing through without a sense of God’s mission for us individually and corporately.  (Who could imagine a missionary going to a third-world country with the mindset, “I’m just passing through”?)  This world was definitely not Jesus’ home, but we can say with equal emphasis that He was not “just passing through.”  His passion for His Father’s mission shows clearly in the intensity and intentionality He exhibits in every circumstance.  Perhaps we need to be more influenced by the One who “cried out in the temple” than by those who suggest we are just a-passin’ through.  May our lives reflect His fervor for His Father’s mission.

[1] Contemporary English Version.

[2] English Standard Version.