3/26/11
John 7:10-8:59
Jesus at the Festival of Booths
John 7:10 But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, “He is a good man,” others were saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.” 13 Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.
14 About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. 15 The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?” 16 Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. 17 Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. 18 Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.
19 “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Is This the Christ?
25 Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? 27 Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” 28 Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” 30 Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Officers Are Sent to Arrest Jesus
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will search 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 will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
Rivers of Living Water
37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Division among the People
40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? 42 Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” 43 So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
The Unbelief of Those in Authority
45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” 46 The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” 47 Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? 48 Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 51 “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” 52 They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”
The Woman Caught in Adultery
53 Then each of them went home,
John 8:1 while 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 began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
Jesus the Light of the World
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” 13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; 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 witnesses is valid. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” 19 Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
Jesus Foretells His Death
21 Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘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 you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” 25 They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? 26 I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. 29 And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
True Disciples
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. 38 I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.”
Jesus and Abraham
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, 40 but now you are trying 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 indeed doing what your father does.” They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. 44 You are from your father the devil, and you choose 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 according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.”
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 Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ 55 though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would 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 ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” 57 Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell 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.
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by Bill Federer
March 26, 1831, Richard Allen died. Born of slave parents in Philadelphia, he was sold with his family to a plantation in Dover, Delaware. With the permission of his master, he began attending the Methodist meetings and learned to read and write. Richard Allen was converted at age 16 and is said to have worked harder to prove that Christianity did not make slaves worse servants. When Richard Allen’s master converted to Methodism, he arranged for Richard, who was now 26, to purchase his freedom. Richard Allen then founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which grew to 10,000 members during his lifetime.
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by D.H. Stern
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.
“Scoffer” is what you call a proud, insolent person
who acts with overweening conceit.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
by Oswald Chambers
Vision by personal purity
Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God. --- Matthew 5:8. Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
Purity is not innocence, it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual sympathy with God. We have to grow in purity. The life with God may be right and the inner purity remain unsullied, and yet every now and again the bloom on the outside may be sullied. God does not shield us from this possibility, because in this way we realize the necessity of maintaining the vision by personal purity. If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired in the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember that vision depends on character—the pure in heart see God.
God makes us pure by His sovereign grace, but we have something to look after, this bodily life by which we come in contact with other people and with other points of view; it is these that are apt to sully. Not only must the inner sanctuary be kept right with God, but the outer courts as well are to be brought into perfect accord with the purity God gives us by His grace. The spiritual understanding is blurred immediately the outer court is sullied. If we are going to retain personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean there are some things we must scorn to do or to think, some legitimate things we must scorn to touch.
A practical way of keeping personal purity unsullied in relation to other people is to say to yourself—That man, that woman, perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend, that relative, perfect in Christ Jesus!
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Pension
Love songs in old age
have an edge to them
like dry leaves. The tree
we planted shakes in the wind.
of time. Our thoughts are birds
that sit in the boughs
and remember; we call
them down to the remains
of poetry. We sit
opposite one another
at table, parrying
our sharp looks with our blunt smiles
Thomas, R. S.
Pesaḥim 65b, 68b
Abaye and Rava bring two different perspectives on the problems we face in life. Abaye presages the modern idiom “God will provide.” In a difficult situation, we assume that there will be divine intervention. When the biblical figure Mordecai was confronted by the possible destruction of the Jews of Shushan by Haman, he turned to Esther for help. When she seemed unwilling to assist him, Mordecai sent her the message that she, too, would be destroyed by the wicked Haman, and that if she did not help, “relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter” (Esther 4:14). Mordecai asks for Esther’s help; lacking that, he foresees assistance from some “other quarter.” As Ivan Turgenev wrote: “Whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle.”
Rava offers a different approach. Facing a potential problem, Rava proposes that we act. We do not wait for or expect God’s help. If the doors must be closed and overcrowding might be a problem, then it is our responsibility to do something. Rava might say: “The meaning of ‘God will provide’ is that God provides us with the motivation and the means to get us out of difficult situations.”
We see different approaches as we deal with health and medical issues in our lives. Some take a passive approach to medical crises: “A cure will be found. Help will be provided.” Mary Baker Eddy founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, home of the Christian Scientists, based on a philosophy that when humans wake to the reality of God as wholly good and all-powerful, healing will follow. Many would see this as a passive approach to medicine. “God will heal.”
Most of us, however, assume a more aggressive, active role in health maintenance and the healing of disease. “We will find a cure.” “I’ll do whatever I can to make myself healthy again.” We see ourselves as agents of God, not waiting for God to send healing, but actively going out and providing it ourselves. In so doing, we are not committing a sacrilege but performing a service, making of ourselves instruments of divine will.
Today, it remains unclear as to how doors in the Temple courtyard were to be closed. It seems unambiguous, however, that the doors to good health and full healing must be opened through conscious activity on our part.
How precious is a mitzvah in its proper time.
Text / Mishnah (6:1): These are the things of the Passover [offering] that override [the laws of] Shabbat: The slaughtering, the sprinkling of the blood, the cleansing of the entrails and the burning of the fat, but the roasting and the rinsing of the entrails do not override [the laws of] Shabbat.
Gemara: It was taught: Rabbi Shimon said: “Come and see how precious is a mitzvah in its proper time, for the burning of the fat and the limbs and the fat-pieces is acceptable all night long, yet we do not wait until dark.”
Context / Let the Israelite people offer the passover sacrifice at its set time: you shall offer it on the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, at its set time; you shall offer it in accordance with all its rules and rites. (Numbers 9:2–3)
When the Temple was in existence in Jerusalem, the festival of Pesaḥ was celebrated by the sacrifice of a paschal lamb. The Mishnah here deals with the question of how that sacrifice was to be performed if Passover began on a Saturday evening. The problem was that so many things had to be done on the day before the holiday to prepare for the festival; yet the day before Passover was Shabbat, when many activities and labors were prohibited. How was this conflict to be dealt with?
The slaughtering of the lamb and the ritual of sprinkling its blood on the altar were to take place, according to the Torah, on the fourteenth of Nisan (the day prior to Passover; in this particular case, the fourteenth is Shabbat). Because the Torah specified the fourteenth, the sacrifice could not be advanced a day to Friday (the thirteenth of Nisan) or delayed a day to Sunday (the fifteenth, the first day of the festival). Once the sacrifice was offered, the cleansing of the entrails had to be done on the same day; postponement until after Shabbat would have resulted in the purification of the animal’s carcass. Consequently, these activities were all done on Saturday, the mitzvah to do them taking precedence over the normal Shabbat prohibitions. Finally, the Rabbis raise the question: What about burning of the animal’s body on the altar—can it be delayed until after dark (when Shabbat is over) or should it take place, along with the other activities, on Saturday? Technically, this part of the sacrifice could have waited until Saturday night: The burning of the fat of a sacrifice could take place anytime during the night following its offering. The Rabbis, however, choose to have it done on Shabbat, following the principle: “How precious is a mitzvah in its proper time.” Just as the slaughter of the lamb overrides Shabbat, so too, the burning of the fat will also override Shabbat and take place during Saturday, the fourteenth of Nisan.
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.Ultra Orthodox Jews
My statement of Faith
To better understand ultra-Orthodox, their values, culture and society, as well as their history and institutions, prior to the beginning of the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana (New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (Festival of Booths).
Embedding videos only means I consider the messgae interesting or thought provoking.
My personal statement of faith
#1, I confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
#2, I have not been given a plumb line to judge others. Rather, I have been told to remove the beam from my own eye.
#3 I have come to realize we are not defined by what we know or think we know, but rather, we are defined by how we respond to what we do not know. I choose to embrace the mystery of Romans 1:20.
by Diana Wallis
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. --- John 17:11
Look on dying Jesus, see how his care and love to his people flamed out when the time of his departure was at hand. As we remember our relations every day and lay up prayers for them in the time of our health, so it becomes us to imitate Christ in our earnestness with God for them when we die. Though we die, our prayers do not die with us; they outlive us, and those we leave behind may reap the benefit of them when we are turned to dust.
I must profess that I have a high value for this mercy and bless the Lord who gave me a tender father who often poured out his soul to God for me. This stock of prayers and blessings left by him before the Lord I esteem above the fairest inheritance on earth. It is no small mercy to have thousands of prayers lying before the Lord, filed up in heaven for us. Surely our love should not grow cold when our breath does. Oh, that we would remember this duty in our lives and, if God give opportunity, fully discharge it when we die, considering, as Christ did, we will be no more in this world, but they are, in the midst of a defiled world—it is the last office of love that we will ever do for them.
Here we may see what high esteem and value Christ has of believers; this was the treasure that he could not quit, he could not die till he had secured it in a safe hand. “I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name.”
Surely believers are dear to Jesus Christ—and good reason, for he has paid dear for them. Let his last farewell speak for him, how he prized them. What is much on our hearts when we die is dear to us indeed. How dear should Jesus Christ be to us! Were we first and last upon his heart? Did he mind us, did he pray for us, did he so wrestle with God about us when the sorrows of death surrounded him? How much are we committed not only to love him and esteem him while we live, but to be in pangs of love for him when we feel the pangs of death upon us! The very last whisper of our departing souls should be this, Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. --- John Flavel
(27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.Light and Darkness: John 7
Jesus said it in a dispute recorded in John 7:24. “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”
In a sense, this is the theme of this important section of John’s Gospel, which focuses on “light.”
Light and darkness are constant themes in John’s New Testament writings. Those who live in darkness are confused, unable to see reality. Lost in a world of illusion they make judgments based on mere appearances, and are simply unable to grasp what is important and true.
Light, on the other hand, cuts through this darkness to unveil the right and the true. And Jesus is the Cornerstone of the kingdom of light; we begin to “see” when we acknowledge Him as the eternal Son of God.
But “light” also has a moral dimension. And it is this moral dimension that Jesus affirmed as He not only presented Himself to Israel as God, but also claimed the right to establish a grace morality which is far higher than the legalistic morality of the Jews, for it alone truly reflects the morality of God.
The Jews. This designation is used often in the Gospel of John. John used it in a technical sense. He did not mean Israel, or the Jewish people as a whole. When John said “the Jews” he, unlike other Gospel writers, meant the religious leaders of the people who chose to oppose Jesus, and who represented a distortion of historic Old Testament faith.
Commentary
I hadn’t been a Christian very long when I saw a stranger smoking a cigarette in the hall of our little church. I was shocked. I remember the pastor’s son’s reaction: “We don’t smoke in church,” Bruce announced in a chilly voice.
I also remember one of the men of that church, a police detective, who cupped his hand around his cigarette, trying to hide it, when he met some of our youth group on the street. I remember my own condemning attitude when one of the girls in our group said she hoped Jesus wouldn’t return until she’d had time to enjoy life.
There were so many things that made me and other Christians I knew uncomfortable. There were so many things we considered wrong, in addition to the serious sins the Bible identified. And we felt compelled to judge all the ways in which another person seemed to miss our mark. Of course, if his ways were different enough, we’d have nothing to do with him.
To us, morality was summed up in doing “right” … and in cutting ourselves off from any relationship with those who did not do as we did.
We never realized that our attitude might distort true morality. We failed to see the light that Jesus brought into the world.
A World of Misunderstanding: John 7
We saw earlier that light and darkness are moral terms to John. They represent good and bad, righteousness and evil, as well as truth and falsity. Christ, the eternal Word (John 1) is the One through whom righteousness has always been communicated. Christ planted a moral awareness deep in every person, and revealed the nature of goodness back in the Old Testament. But John tells us that man’s understanding and interpretation of light is faulty. Thus Paul can insist that the Law is “holy, righteous, and good,” and still be convinced that Law had been an agent of death, stimulating sin rather than quieting it (Rom. 7:7–12).
We can see the distorted perception of the people of Jesus’ day by looking at a series of incidents reported in John 7. Jewish thinking about morality was similar to my own in my early days of faith. Against the background of such attitudes, we will be able to see how Jesus displayed the glory of God, as He revealed a new morality, the morality of grace.
Hatred, uncertainty, and fear (John 7:1–13). Jesus’ teachings and miracles had become widely known. His uncompromising presentation of Himself as God, and His offer of life to those who believed in Him, stirred up a number of reactions. Each reaction tells us something about the moral climate in Israel.
First, there was hatred (John 7:7). The leaders of the people were charged with teaching God’s Word to Israel. But they were so unlike God that they actually hated the Son of God who revealed Him. They in fact responded to Jesus with murderous rage.
Second, there was ridicule (John 7:3–5). Jesus’ own brothers (in jealousy?) rejected the evidence of His works, and taunted Him.
Third, there was conflict. People argued with themselves and with each other. This Jesus. Is He a good Man, or a heretic? (John 7:12–13)
Fourth, there was fear. Even those who were convinced that Jesus was a Prophet and a good Man feared to take a stand. They knew they would be attacked, and probably persecuted by their religious leaders (referred to here and in other Johannine passages as “the Jews”).
Looking at these reactions, we’re forced to ask a question. What kind of results had Israel’s interpretation of the divine Law produced? Had God’s people become a community of love, caring, and closeness? Not at all! The people of God were angry, antagonistic, bitter, and fearful! There must be something wrong with an approach to faith that produces such a lifestyle! There must be a higher and better approach to morality and faith than this!
(323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.