TUNNELS OR TRUST?
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Opening Prayer
Lord God, continue to speak to me with the truth of your Word and remind me of who I am in Christ.
Read JOHN 7:14–24
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jesus Teaches at the Festival
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.
Reflect
‘You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you … I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.’1
John is the original vox pop reporter, albeit without a camera! As we weave our way through this chapter, and indeed most chapters, he invites us to see and hear what is happening around Jesus. Sense the movement and buzz as the crowds in Jerusalem, pilgrims, and locals, voice their questions and opinions about Jesus. Let the snippets of conversation and debate, in the streets and temple courts, resonate with you. As John picks out talking heads, I wonder if you recognize the confusion, censure, fear, faith, envy, outrage, and wistfulness reflected in those you witness.
Some marvel at the wisdom of Jesus’ extraordinary teaching. Others are scandalized by it and by the audacity of his behavior. Jesus’ education includes no formal rabbinic learning. He does not cite other religious teachers. Who taught him? What are his credentials? Engaging with the general melee, Jesus takes time with the questioners: ‘The one who sent me is my authority. I speak his truth. I aim to honor him, not to put myself forward.’ To those claiming faithfulness to the law, he dares to suggest that tunnel vision has caused them to miss its crucial life-giving purpose. He gives an example. They override their strict application of ‘no work on the Sabbath’ so that boys can be circumcised on the eighth day. However, when Jesus brings physical, social, and spiritual wholeness to a disabled man on the Sabbath, they are fixated on his breaking the law by carrying his mat.2
How are views, then and now, so divided over Jesus? Jesus suggests that the answer lies in a heart attitude, which trumps any clever argument (v. 17). Those genuinely open to God eventually grasp the truth about Jesus. Have you not marveled at seekers believing ‘in order to understand’?3
Apply
As you meet individuals wrestling with questions, doubts, or objections, how might you model a faith that is focused on Jesus, rather than one bound by rigid beliefs and practices?
Closing prayer
Jesus, keep me faithful to what you said and taught in the Bible, in my lifestyle, as well as in the things I say. Help me, that my testimony is clear and winsome, a light for those struggling with darkness.
1 Ps 63:1, 2 2 John 5:9, 10 3 Augustine of Hippo, 354–430.
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