2. Jesus, on the Law,
John 7.14-24
In the first section of
this installment we had discussed the first 13 verses of John 7,
where we found that although the Jews sought to kill Him, Jesus still
chose to go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. This next
section actually shows Jesus at the temple, in spite of His enemies.
Only twice before have we seen Him at the temple in Jerusalem...back
in ch. 2, when He had cleansed the place of the buying and selling
that went on there during the Passover celebrations, and then in ch.
5, when He had healed the man who could not walk, during another of
the Jewish feasts; but here in ch. 7, we find the Lord teaching
there.
Now Holy Spirit doesn't
tell what it was He taught, but it must have been pretty weighty,
because we read in v. 15 that, even His enemies were amazed! So He
must have been teaching truths from the Old Testament that even these
religious scholars had never considered before. Maybe some of them
were even finding their consciences pricked! At the vey least, their
curiosity was aroused. Remember, those Jewish teachers were taught
just as most of us are, and just like many of us, most of them
were concerned with the various theologies of men, rather than the
recorded truths of God. To them, education had become their altar,
and it's probably for that very reason that the God had chosen not to
speak through them any longer.
Now we need to realize
that, in the Jewish culture, the function of a teacher is to teach
the Laws of Moses. In fact, in Jesus' time, there was no other
curriculum; "elementary school", as we call it, consisted
of teaching the young boys (girls didn't need an education) to read
and memorize the Law. Further education consisted of learning all
the traditions that had been passed down from Moses, concerning the
Law and its interpretation. So it's no wonder that the Jews
questioned His authority, as recorded in v. 15 of our passage. But
it only served to open the door for Jesus to openly and publicly
state, exactly where His authority originated. After all, Who better
to teach the Word of God, than the Son of God?! So where did His
authority come from? Well directly from heaven, of course! It was
not taught Him by the Rabbi; whe're told that He had Himself taught
the temple priests, as a young boy during a trip to Jerusalem, years
before; nor had He picked His own brain, as many teachers do, and
have done through the ages. He would have us understand that we have
today, the whole truth of scripture, making up the whole doctrine of
Christ and of God, and Holy Spirit as our Teacher and our Guide. As
that very word teaches, when we begin to separate one truth from
another, we invariably end up with "the doctrines of men"
(see Collosians 2.22), or "the doctrines of demons" (1
Timothy 4.1) rather than the word of the Creator and Sustainer of
life!
Probably some would
ask..."how can we know the difference between the three?"
Well Jesus has anticipated that question, and as He states there in
v. 17, the one condition for a proper understanding of the word
of God is a proper desire to do the will of God; that's
precisely the manner in which Jesus taught, and believe me, He
counted it a privilege to do the Father's will, and we should too. I
dare sya that there are some churches today who care nothing for the
will of God, because they have taught their own doctrine, rathar than
those of God and of Christ.
You know, this truth plays
a very practical purpose in the life of the Christian. When we
desire to walk in the light of the word, in all truth, He will shed
even more light as we study it, so there is no need at all to be
scripturally confused. We can sharpen our spiritual senses,
including the gift of bible interpretation, simply by believing, and
being, after the manner of our Lord, doing the will of God! In fact,
as Jesus clearly points out in v. 18, if we are guilty of using the
"I/me" method of bible interpretation, no one worthy of
glory will ever be in evidence. You see, self-promotion was
precisely the way of the Jews; they were in the habit of framing
their own doctrine in order to celebrate their own glory, while Jesus
was altogether from, and for, the Father. While the Jews centered on
their own, Jesus centered on God; and what a difference in terms of
their claims on "the righteousness of God" (v. 18).
Jesus was no imposter,
because His sole purpose up to the time of His death was to direct
people to Father God. The leaders of the Jews sought the praise of
men, and they have many following in their footsteps; and they are
known by their much-speaking...their "behold me" or,
"behold the church" rather than, "behold the Lamb of
God!" It's all about Him! And then, as though that
condemnation hadn't been enough, Jesus really turned the tables in v.
19. The Jews had been saying that He was untaught, but here, He
accuses them of being unfaithful, or disobedient to one of the most
obvious of the Ten Commandments..."Thou shalt not kill!"
Jesus had only done good by healing a man on the Sabbath, but they
were plotting murder! He had just stated there was no
unrighteousness in Himself, but their lives were filled with sin, and
sinful thoughts; and how were they going to respond to that? Well
just like any other unrighteous person...go on the offensive (v. 20).
Isn't that often the way
it is, even in the church today? When one is faced with an issue, we
are offended, rather than repentant. You see, those Jews misread an
opportunity...to confess their sinful condition and repent and
receive the gift of eternal life, but instead, they were offended.
So they spoke a word that could only have come from the depths of a
sin-filled heart, inspired by Satan himself..."Thou has a
devil!" Let me tell you; don't ever think you're alone when you
may have been reviled for your faith, because Jesus was there way
ahead of you! and He wasn't a bit fizzed by their mockery, and
neither should you be!
As we see in the next few
verses (21-23), He paid no attention to their accusations whatsover,
because they had no teeth, and this is the example He set for us.
Why get all excited over the minors when we have the majors to focus
on? Jesus had practised healing on the Sabbath, and they considered
Him a sinner; the Jews practised surgery (circumcision) on the
Sabbath, for no other reason that to leave their mark of acceptance
on a man, only, as Jesus states, because of the traditions of
their fathers. In keeping the Laws of Moses, they had broken the
Laws of God! There is no comparison between a work of legalism and a
work of mercy...not in God's eye.
Finally, in v. 24, we can
see that Jesus was only looking to get a fair hearing...according to
the whole counsel of God, but the Jews were too judgemental for that.
They didn't realize that they would, one day, be judged by the same
measure they used to judge others! You know, that is exactly where
most of us still fail today, in either one of two directions; some of
us are prone to be fooled by the outward appearance of a person, or
by their seemingly "good works", but all that glitters is
not gold. On the other hand, some of us are way too harsh or too
critical of people. We shouldn't make a person an offender because
of a word, for instance. As the scripture states, " ...in many
things we offend, all." We cannot overlook our own infirmities
in our relations within the Body of Christ, or in the home or the
community, either one. It's best to leave the judging up to God, the
Righteous Judge!
No comments:
Post a Comment