Jesus Teaches At The Feast
JESUS TEACHES AT THE FEAST
JOHN 7:14-24
What blind spots do we have in our own religious traditions?
The Gospel shows that the festivals were the most significant occasions, and the temple the most significant place, for Jesus to present his challenge to Judaism (2:13-22; 5:1; 10:22-39; 12:12-36). So about the middle of this feast he went into the temple and taught. His ability to engage in rabbinic argument was a considerable source of surprise, for he was without formal education in that discipline. What should have impressed them was not the style of his discourses but their content. Intellectually they had to acknowledge his skill, spiritually they were blind to his authority. Jesus’ authority should have been accepted as God’s authority because his motive was clearly God’s glory. They could not accept it unless they were willing to obey God’s will. In this controversy Christ appears as the one person completely sure of himself, his origin and his mission. Notice the practical test which he offers (7:17f.)—honest investigation, with the will directed to seek God’s truth (cf. Philip’s “Come and see,” 1:46).
The question of authority can be pinned down more specifically—those who claimed to accept the authority of the Mosaic Law did not even keep it themselves. They made a great issue of his breaking the Sabbath by his healing of the cripple while they themselves practiced circumcision on the Sabbath. Moreover their lawlessness was such that they wished to kill him. No wonder that he has to impress upon them the need for just, rather than superficial, judgments! It is so much easier to be superficial.
Notes 7:14: the Lord whom they sought (7:11) came suddenly into his temple (Malachi 3:1). 7:15: the same charge of lack of rabbinic education is made against Peter and John (Acts 4:13). 7:18: “seeks his own glory” (cf. 5:30,41-44). 7:20: “the people” they may be different from “the Jews” and may have been ignorant of plots against him. 7:23: if a ritual operation may legally be performed on one part of a man’s body on the Sabbath, how much more may a man’s whole body be healed. There must be some conflict of laws, and it should be clear to all but petty legalists which was the more important. 7:22: Moses gave the law about circumcision (Leviticus 12:3), but the practice originated in Israel with the patriarchs (Genesis 17:10).