The Gospel According to John Chapter 7
Originally posted Friday, April 11, 2008
General Comment: The setting
for this and following chapters is the feast of Tabernacles which was held six
months after Passover. The name is derived from the Hebrew Sukkot - huts,
booths or tents. The original festival was celebrated by the Israelites in
the open fields or vineyards at the close of the harvest.
Crude structures made of branches were used for shelter
(booths). At some point the time of celebration of the harvest became a
remembrance of the forty years in which the Israelites lived in tents as they
wandered in the wilderness. The date is fixed on the 15th of Tishri
(September/October) and lasts seven days with a day of rest on the eighth.
John Chapter 7:1-9 The Unbelief of Jesus' Brothers
This is John's first
mention of Jesus' brothers, James, Joses, Jude and Simon. Of the four we know
that James and Jude will play important roles in the early church with
James assuming authority over the Palestinian Church centered in
Jerusalem. At this point we read that the brothers are not believers.
With Tabernacles approaching they urge Jesus to "go up" to the
festival so that his disciples can see the works he is doing. It makes no
sense to stay in Galilee, they say, if you want to be widely known.
Although John does not ascribe any particular motive to their urging,
culturally if Jesus were to do so his fame could be
vicariously experienced by the family thereby bringing it honor. Jesus
does not trust himself to his brothers any more than he did to others whose
belief is only attached to whatever miracles Jesus can perform.
Jesus draws a sharp
distinction between himself and his brothers. It is not yet his time (hour) but
it is always theirs. The response is framed within an understanding of two
worlds: the one of God and the one not of God. It is always the brothers' time because
they are outside of God's world. They are part of the world that hates Jesus.
It hates him because he speaks against its works as evil while
his brothers do not. Jesus tells them to "go up" to the festival
but he is not "going up," for his time (hour) has not been fulfilled.
John has used the phrase "going up" with two meanings. The brothers
misunderstand and hear it literally as indicating Jesus will
not make the trip to Jerusalem. Jesus means it spiritually: he is not
going to ascend (go up) to God at this festival.
(A number of later
manuscripts of John read, "I am not going up to this feast "yet," by which they attempt to
avoid leaving any impression that Jesus was acting deceitfully since in
the following passage he does go to the festival).
We may think the
dialog is unduly critical of Jesus' brothers. As we have seen in the other
Gospels, Jesus and the writers on his behalf often use hyperbole as a means
of drawing sharp distinctions between two sides of an issue. The placing of the
brothers in a world apart from God - a world where evil deeds are done,
emphasizes the stark difference between the two worlds while drawing
attention to the importance and sense of urgency of being in
the God's world, i.e., the one in which God has begun to reign through
Jesus' ministry.
John Chapter 7:10-24 Jesus at the Festival of Booths
Jesus eventually
traveled to Jerusalem for Tabernacles, but he avoided
public attention by staying away from the Temple precincts for several
days. The crowds that were already gathering had begun to murmur among
themselves wondering if Jesus were coming and where he might be. They were of
two minds - some saying he was a good man and others that he was a
deceiver of the people. The discussion was guarded out of concern that the
Pharisees who opposed Jesus might hear them.
After
the festival had begun, on about the fourth day, Jesus came up
to the city and entered the Temple precincts. As was his custom
he began to teach. It was not too long before the Pharisees, and
a number of Scribes as well as the crowds gathered around to
listen. Some were astonished at how well he could quote from the
Scriptures, especially the prophets. His interpretations were as lucid as those
of the Scribes. Others, those who opposed him, wondered aloud about
the source of Jesus' learning. As far as they knew he had not been the
follower of any master they knew. Where did this teaching come from?
Jesus interrupted
their contemptuous remarks to present his credentials. "I do not teach on
my own. I teach what has been given to me by the one who sent me. If it were
from me I would just be trying to draw attention to myself. My
teaching is from God and if you were of a mind to do God's will you
would know perfectly well this teaching is from God and it is true. What I
teach is for God's glory not my own. The problem is in you, not in me. Even
though you pretend to love the law Moses gave you, here you are despising my
teaching. I see in your hearts you want to kill me, to be rid of me." Part
of the crowd shouted out, "You are insane. Who wants to kill you?"
Jesus will not directly answer the question of who but he will tell them why.
"Months ago I
was here, by the pool of Bethsaida. It was a Sabbath day and there was a man
laying on his mat in the portico. He had been crippled for thirty
eight years. There was no one to help him get into the water. I told him to
take up his mat and walk. He was healed and returned to his family a whole man.
You objected. You said I violated the Sabbath and should die for showing mercy
to the sick (5:1-18). I did one
thing on the Sabbath to help someone and you raged against me. Yet, listen to
me now and I will teach you how wrong you are. Does not the Law say to
circumcise a man on the eighth day? And if that eighth day is a Sabbath day are
you exempted from the commandment? You are not. Well then, if
you can do such a small thing which involves but one part of the body
then certainly I can do a good thing that restores the whole
body. See to yourselves. You judge by appearances and without fairness.
John Chapter 7:25-36 Is This the Christ?
Others in the crowd
were not only astonished at his teaching they took no small delight in hearing
him get the best of those who promoted themselves as better than others. Here
was Jesus, who the officials would wish dead, teaching openly, calling their hand
and yet they were doing nothing about it. Maybe they think he is the
Messiah. But how can that be? No one knows where the Messiah will come from. We
must wait for Elijah to come and wherever the Messiah is hidden Elijah
will anoint him and make him known to us. But we know this man. We
know his family and we know he comes from Nazareth.
Jesus raised his
voice to be heard by the larger crowd. "So, you think you know
me and where I am from, do you? You know very little. There is one who has sent
me that you do not know. I know because I have come from him, and he sent
me.
Again the crowd was
divided. Some tried to arrest him but could not reach him in the crowd. Others
wondered what his words meant. Many others believed in him because of the signs
he was doing. The Pharisees had to do something to silence this man and keep
him from swaying these gullible peasants swarming around him. They called upon
the chief priests to send the Temple guard to arrest him. Even that was not
enough, for they, too, were amazed at his teaching. "In a little while I
will be going to the one who sent me. No matter how hard you search you will
not find me. Where I am going you cannot follow or find me." The
words were more than they could understand. They were looking for an earthly
answer. Jesus was giving a heavenly one.
John Chapter 7:37-39 Rivers of Living Water
We will recall from
reading the story of the Samaritan woman, the living water is the spirit which
Jesus gives and wells up to eternal life. The opening lines of this passage are
a restatement of this understanding. The usual translation of vss 37-38 is awkward and it seems
to say that the rivers of living water (spirit) are flowing out of the
believer. Such a translation requires two uses of a single word, "believe."
A better arrangement would be:
(vs. 37b) "If
anyone thirsts let him come to me; let him drink (vs. 38) who believes in me;
(vs. 38b) As the
Scripture has said, 'From within him shall flow rivers of living water.'"
Here Jesus invites
anyone who is thirsty for life to come to him and for those who
believe in him to drink of the spirit which he gives. In John the spirit
is given by Jesus after the resurrection to those who believe in
him.
John Chapter 7:40-44 Divisions among the People
As before, Jesus'
words cause division among the people. Some thought of him as the prophet; others thought he
could be the Messiah. Others questioned if Jesus, who was from Galilee, could
be the Messiah who was expected to be of David's line and born in Bethlehem.
The text gives us a partial insight into the various views of the origins and
titles of the expected deliverer of Israel.
John Chapter 7:45-52 The Unbelief of the Temple Leadership
The debate spills
over into the halls of authority. The Temple Police return empty handed. Their
only excuse seems to be that they were impressed with Jesus' words. The
Pharisees berate them for their gullibility. No one among the leadership, no
Pharisee has believed in him, only that accursed, ignorant crowd.
One defender from
the leadership speaks up. It is Nicodemus who had spoken to Jesus
one evening, and though he did not understand everything Jesus said, he had
pondered it in his mind. He reminds the others of the Law and the requirement
that no judgment can be given against another without first having a hearing to
hear that person's story. The only response they can give is to insult him as
if he too were an ignorant Galilean. Besides, they said, no where in the
Scriptures does it say the prophet will be from Galilee.
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