Category Archives: John

Wednesday with John – Clay

Posted on June 8, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo′am” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” 10 They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Silo′am and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
Jesus and His disciples spot a blind man, begging. Interesting that “in passing” turns into interaction that tells us so much more than the story of a man blind from birth.  The next interesting thing is the natural response of the disciples; why?  Why is he blind?  Is it punishment for sin?  Whose sin?  Jesus uses the most basic example of God’s creative power to give sight to a man who has lived in darkness since birth and show us the basic creative power of God can still work miracles.

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world…It was not that this man sinned, or his parents.”  The reality is this man’s blindness is only a symptom of the effects of that long ago “original” sin. Jesus is going to remove that symptom using what seems like the same material of mankind’s creation. “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”…so “the works of God might be made manifest in him.”

What does it say about people?
The nature of sin’s hangover is right there in the disciples question to Jesus: “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus gave this blind man physical evidence of the miracle to come, on his own body.  “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Silo′am and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.”    

Is there truth here for me?
Jesus urges His disciples, “work the works of him who sent me, while it is day” …even if you don’t “see” the final outcome.  This blind man’s first contact with Jesus is an odd anointing of clay and spit followed by being sent away to wash in the same pool of water used every day during the Feast of Tabernacles, the “living water” that represents the “pouring out of the Spirit” in relation to the coming of Messiah.  The reality of the first “light” of faith for this blind man is that he goes.  He goes even though he can’t see the one who is preparing him to be healed nor understand the method that is being used…and then He sees Jesus!

a Genesis 2:7

Leave a comment

Posted in Genesis, John, Matthew, New Testament, Old Testament, Wednesday

Tagged , ,

Sunday with John – I Am

Posted on June 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 8:48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

What is the general theme of the passage?
The Jews called Jesus a Samaritan!  It was a racial slur that suggested he was the halfbreed product of one who’s father is unknown.  Can you believe it?  God uses their own mouths, filled with ignorant speech and evil intent to publicly identify His own truth against them.  By their own words they admit out loud the exact truth Jesus is trying to tell them; they do NOT know His father!  

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus identifies God as His Father.  God seeks Jesus’s glory.  The key to never seeing death is believing  Jesus Word, “before Abraham was, I am.”

What does it say about people?
These Jews did have faith.  They were sons of their father Abraham but their faith was based on the wrong father/son relationship.

Is there truth here for me?
Those Jews heard Jesus’s words wrong.  They heard verse 51 as “if anyone keeps my word, he will never die.”  What Jesus actually said was “I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” Over and over the book of John has confirmed the truth of eternal life for those who follow Christ.  It was an idea from a commentary that became this pinprick of light that let me “see” how different those two phrases really are. I was just like those Jews, not exactly Godless but not Godly either, but there was a “day” I saw the mystery of Jesus’s Word fulfilled.  I will never “see” death” because in that one moment with Jesus I crossed death’s invisible barrier.  My body surely will die just as Abraham’s and the prophets did but I will never “see” death because I saw Jesus instead “and was glad” my life in Him will continue unbroken forever.

Leave a comment

Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Sunday

Tagged , ,

Wednesday with John + Beyond History

Posted on June 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 8:39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
Jesus confronts the attempt of these men to justify themselves using the evidence of their heritage with their father Abraham.  But their hearts reveal evidence of guilt and what they “cannot bear” to hear is revealed in their odd response to Jesus; “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus has hit a nerve.  What their heart’s perceive and their minds cannot bear to consider is their illegitimacy. They “are not of God.”

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus confronts their legitimacy:
“If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did…”
“If God were your Father, you would love me…”
“Whoever is of God hears the words of God.”

What does it say about people?
People reach for their familiar and measurable history with God to legitimize themselves when they are confronted with sin.

Is there truth here for me?
These people had a legitimate, measurable history with God the Father. The truth Jesus is confronting them with is their miraculous history with God hadn’t stopped with Abraham…but they had!   That was the sin that made them feel illegitimate and their own hearts knew it!   Miraculous history with God is not a stopping point, it’s just one point of grace on an eternal timeline.      

Leave a comment

Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Wednesday

Tagged , , ,

Sunday with John – An Experiment in Defining Freedom

Posted on May 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Definitions:
Abide1: accept or act in accordance without fading or being lost
Disciple2: a personal follower
Truth3: the body of real things, events and facts
Free4: the power or right to act, speak or think without hindrance
Offspring5: genetic heritage of physical union
Enslaved6: lost the choice or ability to act freely
Truly, Truly7: to the fullest degree
Practice8: the application of something to acquire or maintain proficiency in it
Sin9: wrong choices and wrong actions that make God your enemy
Slave10: the legal property of another and forced to obey them

If you can 1accept or act in accordance with Jesus’s Word without fading or being lost you are 2a personal follower of His life.  Jesus’s life is 3the body of real things, events and facts that give you 4the power or right to act, speak or think without hindrance.  5Your genetic heritage will not protect you If you have 6lost the choice or ability to act freely. 7Jesus tells you to the fullest degree that if what you 8apply and use to acquire proficiency are 9wrong choices and wrong actions that make God your enemy, you have become 10the legal property of another and forced to obey what you have heard from the wrong father.  Please hear these words of freedom Jesus has seen firsthand with His Father and let them find their place in you: “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Leave a comment

Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Sunday

Tagged , , ,

Wednesday with John – Expectant

Posted on May 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. 21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
This is a passage of contrasts: light/darkness, timing/location, testimony/witness, law/authority, and life/death.  Jesus purpose is to be the Light that reveals those contrasts are what make the difference between life and death. Jesus can rightly say “I judge no one” only because the Pharisees have already passed sentence on themselves.  Their human flaw was being willing to die by their own law rather than accept Jesus as the one God has sent to offer them life.

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus spoke openly of the truth that His obedience to His Father would explain all those contrasts.  He purposely has chosen this time and this specific place; “I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

What does it say about people?
The choice is simple.  If you let the Law be your judge, don’t blame Jesus if you feel judged.   An expectant heart will…

Is there truth here for me?
This passage is part of the continuing record of the  Feast of Tabernacles.  This week is filled with expectant hope that this very week may usher in the reality of the Messianic Kingdom. There is something interesting about Jesus’s choice to speak in the “treasury.”  The treasury was the same place he’d confronted the money changers previously. Neither the timing or that location was an accident.  It was still the place where people would come to deposit their offerings.  It was also one of the most public places in the Temple. Jesus would have access to a lot of people who had come with those expectant hearts.  It would also give Him the protection of crowd cover to speak truth in a place where there was an expectation of ceremonial respect.  It reminded me of Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Leave a comment

Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Wednesday

Tagged , , , ,

Sunday with John – Purity

Posted on May 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 7:53 – 8:1-11
7:53 [[They went each to his own house,
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5  Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]
[[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]

What is the general theme of the passage?
One guilty woman, a crowd of male accusers and Jesus — all facing the reality and consequence of sin!  Jesus must distill the broad brush of the situation into something personal for both the guilty woman and her accusers.  The woman caught in the act of adultery must see that disgrace and guilt are not what Jesus has in mind for her even though she is far from innocent.  Jesus with so few words and such an underwhelming physical display of His presence has reminded the accusers they are not innocent either.  Both the guilty woman and the guilty accusers must recognize the consequence of sin is lost innocence and once lost, innocence can never be recovered.  Whatever Jesus wrote on the ground, twice, has convinced the accusers of that. They go away with only their guilty memories never acknowledging what Jesus wants them to see. While the law cannot restore their innocence, the experience of the law through His grace offers something more lasting for those accused by their own sin…a pathway to purity, “go, and from now on sin no more.”

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground… once more he bent down and wrote… Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.  

What does it say about people?
Here are a couple ideas to consider about what Jesus might have written before those men.  Maybe Jesus wrote the scripturesa that spoke about adultery and guilt. “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel” and “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” Were there guilty men there? Or maybe it was the names of the two required eyewitnesses needed to bring this charge.  The standard for bringing such a rare charge was extremely detailed; the witnesses must see the actual sexual act with their own eyes.  Were those men there? Jesus clearly identified “something” the accusers recognized with their own eyes in those words or marks He made on the ground …and “they went away one by one.”
a Deuteronomy 22:22 and Leviticus 20:10 ESV

Is there truth here for me?
Jesus was left alone with the woman, not to reveal her obvious guilt, but to offer her His guiltless righteousness to replace the condemnation of her lost innocence.  “Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh…” Ro 8:1-3 NASB

Leave a comment

Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Romans, Sunday

Tagged , , ,

Wednesday with John – Truth Confirmed

Posted on May 18, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 7:45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”  ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
Pharisee [separated ones] was not a title these pietistic men had chosen for themselves.  It was a somewhat disparaging name others outside their ranks had chosen for them.  The Pharisees motivation lay in their belief that what Moses had written could be adapted by reason and conscience to include unwritten oral law of current Jewish tradition. That’s what separated them.  It was one thing to debate those points with the Sadducees or the crowd BUT this man, Jesus, claimed He was speaking God’s own words!  They didn’t like the words He spoke AND even worse they saw there was power behind them. That was all the proof they needed that Jesus must be stopped!  Nothing reveals the Pharisee’s misuse of reason and conscience more clearly than calling the crowd they were dedicated to teach, “accursed.” 

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus spoke to confirm God’s own heart was to save people, not to give Pharisees a debate forum based on reason and conscience.

What does it say about people?
God uses even flawed reason and conscience.  He gave mankind those gifts and is still in charge of them!  The Pharisees unknowingly were speaking God’s own truth when they asked “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?” OR said “No one ever spoke like this man!”…”search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Is there truth here for me?
Truth has become like soap bubbles in the wind.  It catches our eye with it’s prism-like brilliance for a moment and then bursts and disappears. “Make up your own mind” is easier and takes less time than struggling to figure out how to deal with God’s list of moral truth, or Moses’ explanation of the ceremonial working out of that list, or our own mistrust that man is even capable of establishing judicial truth.  But beyond man’s reason and conscience there is God’s truth confirmed that even a Pharisee can reveal: No one ever spoke like Jesus…search and see…the truth of God is God Himself…revealed in Jesus!

Leave a comment

Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Wednesday

Tagged , , ,

Sunday with John – Access

Posted on May 15, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 7
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him[Jesus]. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. 40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.  ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
Every day of this Festival there was a ritual water drawing that reminded people how important God’s provision of access to good water had been to their history with Him and that His provision for the survival of their ordinary daily lives still depended on that access.  The “hope” of this week was that God might choose this water offering as a means of access to the Messianic age.  The Festival water was drawn each day from the Pool of Siloam, known as the “well of salvation,” and poured into a bowl that drained onto the altar.a  “On the last and greatest day of the Festival Jesus compared Himself to that water…“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.”  That made Jesus a problem the Pharisees couldn’t ignore. Some remembered Isaiah’s promise when like water poured “…on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants [44:3]…and they were talking!  Some saw beyond the ritual of that poured water flowing through that bowl onto the altar of God for exactly what it was; Jesus was the bowl that promised access to the future Spirit of God.

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus’s time of physical accessibility to them is short.  God has sent Him and He is returning to that certain and exclusive place.  That place is a destination even thirsty and curious people will not be able to find without Jesus.

What does it say about people?
What thirsty people need is a willingness to accept the water…and drink! 

Is there truth here for me?
I think Jesus could add “I am the bowl” to His identity statements.  Jesus is the “bowl” that directs the living water drawn from God’s own heart to the Holy Spirit. “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:25-27 NIV

a Water Libation Ceremony

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Ezekiel, Isaiah, John, Matthew, New Testament, Old Testament, Sunday

Tagged , , ,

Wednesday with John – More

Posted on May 11, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 7:25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?
26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”
28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.
29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”
30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?” ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
Jesus speaks openly in the Temple to identify Himself. The people know about the hostility of the authorities toward Him.  Jesus’s openness in the presence of real danger to His life has caused people to wonder whether the fact that “no one laid a hand on him” is evidence that maybe “the authorities really know that this is the Christ.” Jesus is asking them to believe He is the link God has sent them to be visible proof of a relationship between themselves and the true God.

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
Jesus’s identity is widely known because of the miraculous signs He has done.  Jesus now identifies Himself as having come from, and being sent by God to teach them there is more to “He who sent me…and him you do not know.”  Jesus is in mortal danger  because of that.

What does it say about people?
People have questions.
“Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?
Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Is there truth here for me?
It’s easy to place my confidence in what I already know.  What I know is evidence I have seen what Jesus can do!  But what I already know can become a barrier that distracts me from recognizing Jesus when He shows up in unexpected places with unfamiliar truth.  The real “sign” of  faith is not how much I know but recognizing it’s His identity that’s the “more”  Jesus wants me to see.  That’s the my own personal miraculous sign!  

Leave a comment

Posted in John, Matthew, New Testament, Wednesday

Tagged , ,

Sunday with John – The Eighth Day

Posted on May 8, 2022 | Leave a comment

John 7: 14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,[this man knows his letters] when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”  ESV

What is the general theme of the passage?
The theme of the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths was expectation and restoration.  This could be the very week the Messianic Kingdom would be established!  It was an annual feast that required Jewish men to make the pilgrimage into Jerusalem. Jesus has chosen to wait until the middle of the feast to go.  He’s chosen to emphasize it’s His singular identity with God that is His authority to speak, not the size of his entourage. He’s chosen this Feast to give the people who are most conflicted about His purposes and His power a recognizable connection to the symbols of this week of ceremony.  Jesus has chosen to reveal a hard truth to people who’ve come expecting this very week they might become part of the Messianic Kingdom by telling them; “…none of you keeps the law.”

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.  Malachi 3:1 1  

What does it say about God (or Jesus or the Holy Spirit?)
God has given Jesus the authority to speak on His behalf.  Jesus’s presence is to affirm that His identity is the purpose of this feast.  He challenges their own purposes in attending the Feast.  “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will,” and then He challenges their response “he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” Jesus has no illusions about the intent of these people “Why do you seek to kill me?” 

What does it say about people?
The nature of the human heart is to assume the best about their own behavior; “Who is seeking to kill you?” and the worst about authority that challenges it “You have a demon!”  Wisdom from a good pastor:  “we judge ourselves by our intent, and other’s by their behavior.”  But an even wiser Pastor says “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”  [This man knows his letters]…“and in him there is no falsehood!”

Is there truth here for me?
There are parts of this ceremonial Feast that sound very familiar to me:[a]
– At the appropriate time pilgrims would wave a palm branch [part of a lulav] before the Lord in a spirit of thankfulness. [Remember Palm Sunday?]
– Water drawn every day from the pool of Siloam.  [Remember where blind eyes were restored?]  A priest spoke these words as he drew that special water out “Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”  [Remember what Jesus said about water and thirst?] Then that water was mixed together with a a drink offering of wine. The mixture of the water and wine at the altar symbolized the life and joy associated with the Holy Spirit. [Remember this wine is my blood?]
– Each afternoon there was a ceremony of “light” to symbolize two realities; the Light of all Lights to fill the Temple with the presence of God, and the Great Light who would soon come and bring light to those who were spiritually dead and dwelling in darkness. [Remember I am the Light of the world?]
– The Eighth Day —“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”  John 7:37-39.                                                                                 [Remember where all these promises are made real today?]

[a] https://israelmyglory.org/article/the-feast-of-tabernacles-in-the-days-of-jesus/

Leave a comment

Posted in John, Malachi, Matthew, New Testament, Old Testament, Sunday