Episode 2220 - Lesson 8 Thursday Nov. 21 - From Beneath

In our study of John so far, we’ve seen that John shows how Jesus, indeed, is the promised Messiah, the great hope that the Jewish people had been longing for. And yet, many of the religious leaders, the spiritual guides of the people, were His biggest enemies instead. Why? Read John 8:12–30. What is the dynamic here between Jesus and these religious leaders? Which texts best explain why many rejected Him? Jesus says that they know neither Him nor the Father (John 8:19). They should have known both, but these men were self-deceived. They were so caught up in their own traditions and philosophies that even with Jesus right before them, doing all the things that He did and saying the things that He said—all powerful revelations of the Father—they still rejected Him. Second, Jesus says to them, “ ‘You are from beneath’ ” (John 8:23, NKJV). In other words, however religious they might be, these were not spiritual, godly men. They had a “form of godliness” (2 Tim. 3:5), but that was all. They had outward piety but inward disbelief. This was nothing new: “ ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men’ ” (Isa. 29:13, NKJV). This very concept is echoed by Jesus centuries later, when He said, “ ‘And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’ ” (Mark 7:7, NKJV). Their human teachings, their human commandments, were “of this world” (John 8:23) and, as Jesus then said, “I am not of this world” (John 8:23). It was bad enough that these men had been deceiving themselves; the tragedy was made worse because they also led others astray, even though, interestingly enough, John wrote that as a result of the exchange depicted in these verses, “many believed in Him” (John 8:30, NKJV). Thus, even despite bad leadership, many Jews were able to get beyond it and see, for themselves, who Jesus was. What lessons do you draw from Jesus’ exchange with the religious leaders? How can we be “from above” and not “from beneath”—and how can we know the difference?