A Tour Through John, Lesson 15

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.7:1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. 2 Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; 4 for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 (For not even his brothers believed in him.)"The Jews" (the leaders, the authorities) want to kill Jesus.Jesus is avoiding the southern part of Israel (Judea), staying instead in the upper reaches (Galilee). His reputation has made his presence in the capital not only controversial but also dangerous.And yet one of the three annual mandatory trips to Jerusalem (in Judea) is near: the Feast of Tabernacles (v.2).The Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) (v.2) was the most popular gathering at the Temple, according to 1st century Jewish historian Josephus (Jos. Ant. 8.100). Skēnopēgía comes from skēnē, tying in to 1:14: The Word eskēnōsen among us.Jesus' (four) brothers presume to advise him on how to be a successful Messiah (vv.3-4).Their advice is essentially the same as that of the Tempter (Matthew 4:5-7)!They neither understood his mission nor believed in him (v.5).And yet in the future, his brothers would play key roles in church leadership!The question is hanging: Will Jesus go back to Jerusalem, or not?6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil. 8 Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.As always throughout the gospel of John, Jesus is keenly aware of his divine timetable.The world accepts his family, since they are not (yet) on the side of truth. The hatred of a world opposed to the truth is a common theme in John. See the extended passage beginning in 15:18.Jesus rejects their immediate advice (v.9), and its bad timing (v.6ff). Jesus followed the Father's timing throughout his ministry.10 But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. 11The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.” 13 Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.Later Jesus does go up to the Feast of Tabernacles (v.10), but cautiously and clandestinely.Public opinion is divided over who he is (vv.11-13). This makes for a potentially unstable situation.He makes his move halfway through the festival (v.14). According to Leviticus 23:34, the observance lasted seven days.14 About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. 15 The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?” 16Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. 17 Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. 18 Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him. 19 “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?”Jesus times his visit to Jerusalem for the middle of the Feast to Tabernacles.Once he begins to teach, people are amazed (v.15).Jesus always impressed the crowd with his content and delivery.Their amazement is because he had not been educated in their system, by a prominent rabbi.Moreover, he did not teach in the scribal manner ("Rabbi so-and-so taught, whereas Rabbi such-and-such believed...).That is, he did not appeal to the authority of rabbinical tradition.Christ was fully trained, and in time so would his apostles be. (In this regard, many totally misread Acts 4:13.)Jesus defends his message (v.16ff).His message is from God.Anyone receptive to the will of God will see that this is the case (v.17).He is not self-seeking (v.18).Their attacks on his righteous words show they are not true Jews (v.19).20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”As expected, this doesn't go down too well (v.20). The crowd reacts with extreme, black and white thinking.Rather than think through what Jesus is saying, some prefer to write him off as demon-possessed. The label, it would seem, is meant to absolve them of their responsibility to think objectively and fairly about Jesus' claims.Jesus reasons with them about the Sabbath, probably referring to the healing in chapter 5 (v.21ff). Jesus is saying, in effect, that their theology is inconsistent. He encourages them to judge correctly, not superficially (v.24).Here is the thinking in Jesus' response.The rabbis taught that the Sabbath could be contravened for the purpose of circumcision, a rite that affected only one part of the body.Jesus had healed the whole body (chapter 5).A fortiori, this infraction of the Sabbath tradition was certainly justified."Righteous judgment" (v.24), dikaia krisis, can be rendered upright, righteous, good, just, right, proper, fair, honest, innocent.There are multiple types of judging in the Bible. See my article "Judge Not!"25 Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? 27 Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” 28 Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him.It is publicly known that there is a bounty on Jesus' head (v.25). That he has not yet been arrested is interpreted by some to mean that they are uncertain as to whether he is a false Messiah or a true one (v.26).In verse 28, "in the temple" (en to[i] hieō[i]) is rendered various ways in the translations: "in the temple courts" (NIV), "in the temple area" (NAB), "in the temple complex" (HCSB), "in the temple" (NASB, NRSV, NKJV, NJB). The last rendering is the most literal.Yet since Jesus would have been teaching in the outer courts, and not in the sanctuary, there is justification for the periphrastic expansion.Thus we see that "the temple" is the structure itself or the entire temple complex. Context determines the exact meaning.Jesus is fully aware of God and his mission and obedience.He is equally aware that his opponents are not God's children. Silly statements like "Everyone is God's son or daughter, and they will all be okay at the end" must be rejected. This is worldly, channel-2-type thinking.Some comment that the origins of the true Messiah will be unknown, whereas Jesus' origins are known.Of course they are wrong in this assessment.Isaiah and Micah indicate that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and minister in Galilee.29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” 30 Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?"Jesus admits that they know his earthly origin (v.28), yet insists that he has come from God (v.29).Crowd reaction is divided.They try to seize him (v.30), but the time is too early.And yet some believe that he is indeed the Messiah, based on his miracles (v.31).