John 7:14-24
SS Lesson for 09/17/2023
Devotional Scriptures: John 13:30-35
He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him
(Scriptural Text from the New King James Version; cross-references from the NIV)
14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
15 And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"
16 Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.
18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
27 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true — even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
19 Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?"
20 The people answered and said, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?"
21 Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.
22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?
24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons." 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." 22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." 23 So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?
29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." 30 He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."
20 Many of them said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?" 21 But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Midway through the feast, Jesus suddenly appears in the temple, teaching publicly. This is a bold and courageous move. Jesus knows the Jews are seeking to kill Him. For the past six months, He has kept away from Judea to avoid arrest, or worse. And now, suddenly, Jesus appears in Jerusalem, boldly teaching in the temple! It is incredible. The Jews are amazed, not only at His courage but at His content (verse 15). They have to admit that He is good, really good. They unwittingly praise Him by saying, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” (verse 15). They cannot understand how One who has not been educated by them has such a keen understanding of the Scriptures. They stand in awe of the One whom they choose to reject as their Messiah. We are reminded of the words of the Jews regarding Peter and John in the Book of Acts:
13 When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus. 14 And because they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this (Acts 4:13-14).
Our Lord answers their question: His teaching is not His own. His teaching is that which He learned from His Father, the One who sent Him. If anyone truly wants to know and to do God’s will, He will recognize the words of Jesus as the words of the Father. When a person seeks to advance himself, to “feather his own nest” as we might say, he uses his words to manipulate and even to deceive others. He has ulterior motives, and these affect everything he says. Politicians and campaign rhetoric come to mind here, as an example of what Jesus is saying.
The person who is committed to honor the one who sent him is concerned only with accurately communicating what he has been sent to say. He does not use his words to gain a personal following, but rather to urge men to follow the one he serves. He has no need to deceive, and thus he speaks with integrity. His speech is righteous. Jesus speaks here of Himself and of His integrity as He speaks for the Father. Moses gave them the law, and they all failed to keep that law. Why then are they seeking to kill Jesus as a law-breaker, when they break the law themselves?
In verse 20, John records the response of those “pilgrims” in the crowd who have come to Jerusalem from some distant place. They are not aware of all that has taken place with Jesus in Jerusalem beforehand. They certainly are not aware of the plot to kill Jesus (as the residents of Jerusalem are—see verse 25). These pilgrims take Jesus to be some kind of nut, someone who is mentally disturbed, paranoid that everyone is trying to kill him. They accuse Jesus of being demon possessed. They challenge Jesus as to who is trying to kill him.
Jesus responds by calling attention to His healing of the paralytic, as recorded in chapter 5. Do these folks wish to know who wants to kill Him? He will tell them. It is the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem, as a result of His healing the paralytic—and claiming to do so as God:
16 Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish authorities began persecuting him. 17 So Jesus told them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason the Jewish authorities were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God (John 5:16-18).
Jesus has performed this miracle, and the Jewish leaders are ready to kill Him for doing so. Their actions are completely inconsistent and blatantly hypocritical. Do they accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath by healing the paralytic? The law requires that every Jewish male child should be circumcised on the eighth day (Genesis 17:12; see Luke 1:59; 2:21-24). If the eighth day happens to fall on a Sabbath, the Jews would circumcise the male child, even though “work” is forbidden on that day. Doing so, they break one law (the law of the Sabbath) so as to avoid breaking another (the law of circumcision). If they can justify themselves for making one member of the child’s body “right” before God on the Sabbath, why do the Jewish leaders condemn Jesus for making a man’s entire body well on the Sabbath? There is, indeed, a double standard. Judgment should be made on the basis of substance and not merely on appearances.
The pilgrims believe Jesus is out of His mind to think someone is trying to kill Him. The old-timers of Jerusalem know better. Almost in answer to the response of the pilgrims to Jesus, the citizens of Jerusalem respond to the teaching of our Lord in the temple very differently. “Isn’t this the one whom the Jewish leaders are seeking to kill? What is He doing here, teaching publicly in the temple? Why is He still alive? How can it be that the One marked for death has not had a hand laid on Him?” There is only one possible explanation so far as these folks are concerned: the Jewish leaders must have changed their minds about Jesus. Have these Jewish leaders really come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah? Is this why Jesus is able to appear publicly, without anyone opposing Him? But how can this be? How can Jesus possibly be the Messiah, when they know who He is and where He comes from? They believe no one will know where the Messiah is from. How then can their leaders ever conclude that Jesus is the Messiah?62
As usual, Jesus knows what they are thinking and what they are murmuring—and so He answers their objection. This He does publicly, in the midst of His teaching in the temple courts. Dramatically, Jesus cries out loudly, so that all will hear: “You both know me and know where I come from!” They know who He is. They know our Lord’s family, including the names of His brothers (Matthew 13:55). They know where He is from (Nazareth, in Galilee), though they seem not to know that He was born in Bethlehem. Jesus does not come motivated by self-interest, but rather in obedience to the will of the One who sent Him. The Father is true, yet these Jews are “false” in that they do not really know Him. Jesus is also true, and He does know the Father who sent Him, because He came from Him. Jesus is both divine and human. He has both heavenly and earthly origins.
These words are yet another clear indication from our Lord that He is claiming to be equal with God, to be God. If one refuses to accept His words, then one must reject Jesus as a blasphemer, worthy of death. The Jews try to get their hands on Jesus. If they had done so, they almost certainly would stone Him there on the spot. As it is, they are not able to lay a hand on Him. We don’t know what keeps them from achieving their goal, but God sees to it that Jesus is untouched. In spite of the zeal of those who wish to kill Jesus, there are also those who are drawn to Jesus by the very same words. They ask a most pertinent question: “Just what more does anyone expect Jesus to do, if He is the Messiah?” What else can Jesus do, beyond what He has already done? To these folks, it is not logical to reject the claims of Jesus. It flies in the face of all the evidence.
(Adapted from URL:https://bible.org/seriespage/jesus-jerusalem-feast-tabernacles-john-71-52)
The beginning of this lesson asked: Do you teach for your own glory? Or are you seeking Someone else’s glory? Answering these questions is not a matter of numbering your years of knowledge, listing your formal Christian education, or quantifying the results of your witness. Instead, it is a heart matter. When you spread the gospel, do you primarily hope to gain something for yourself? Or do you hope to glorify Christ and his heavenly Father? Our success or failure as disciples is not measured by how people react to us. Time and again, we see that Jesus’ own audiences did not like what they heard him say. They did not always judge his words correctly. The same will happen to us. As with Jesus, so with us: our success is measured in our intention to glorify the Lord. When we speak the truth and live it to the best of our ability, helped by the Holy Spirit, we succeed.