Confrontation
Opening Prayer
Help us to ponder the Lord’s courageous realism—facing his death and its consequences for us.
Read John 7:14–24
14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”
16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Today’s reading jolts anyone who thinks that Jesus is always gentle, meek and accommodating. His two questions (19) send out
shock waves. The religious leaders cannot help but marvel at his astonishing authority and, again, Jesus explains how his authority comes from God and that those who sincerely choose to do God’s will therefore recognize the authority of Jesus through the truths he is revealing. However, his critics fail to recognize even Moses’ authority, the anchor of their trust.
Questioning whether Moses has given them the Law, he brusquely points out their failure to perceive and obey God’s truth even in Moses’ Law. In their determination to condemn Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath, they have overlooked how their application of Moses’ Law allows circumcision on the Sabbath. They permit circumcision but attack Jesus’ healing a man! Paranoid adherence to external regulations blinds them to righteous judgments about how God’s love and mercy work. They prejudge Jesus by “outward appearance” (1 Sam. 16:7).
Jesus then asks one of the most awful questions ever: “Why are you trying to kill me?” (19). Extraordinarily, he never asks this question again. Not in the closing week leading up to Easter as Judas kisses him, when soldiers close in, the mockery of trials continue, crowds shout “Crucify” and the cross is lifted up with the hideous cackling of a bloodthirsty crowd. Not then, but here in the feasting crowd he focuses on the frightening reality that
his ministry involves life and death issues. His death is unavoidable, yet it is through his death that he wins eternal life for all who will believe. The crowds don’t get it. “You are demon-possessed… Who is trying to kill you?” (20). They are judging by appearances again! Jesus is dealing in deadly serious issues about life and death—and perhaps even murder.
Think Further
Jesus asking “Why are you trying to kill me?” reminds us of the
spiritual “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” We share in the blame too.
Apply
Jesus asking “Why are you trying to kill me?” reminds us of the spiritual “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” We share in the blame too.
Closing prayer
Lord, I believe that Your doctrine was delivered to You from the Father via the Holy Spirit. Help me to always treat it as such.
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