SERMON: "Figuring Out About Jesus" (John 7:10–18)
Figuring
Out About Jesus (John 7:10–18)
Series: “John:
Life in Christ’s Name” Text:
John
7:10–18
By: Shaun
Marksbury Date:
June
25, 2023
Venue: Living
Water Baptist Church Occasion:
AM Service
I.
Introduction
We’ve been talking a lot about people close to the faith who
either disbelieve or who walk away from the faith. This is a hard topic because we can see
people who apparently have lived a hypocritical faith, one that was superficial
or never really there. These are those who
sat next to us, but now they break the commandments of God and feel little
remorse.
Just as difficult are those who have never examined their faith,
who never considered (or cared) that they might be hypocritical. Some sin in highhanded ways and yet try to
keep it quiet at church. Yet, as Moses
said in Numbers 32:23, you can “be sure your sin will find you out.” It may be a man with a wandering eye or who eventually
abandons his family, but when the sin first becomes apparent, it shocks everyone
in the church.
It's tougher when the lost world sees the wicked behavior first,
for it assumes all Christians are hypocritical, dragging the name of the Lord
through the mud. Sometimes, the church first
discovers the issue and must determine how to move forward, which is especially
trying if the offender is a pastor or church leader. Yet, some local bodies have wrongly tried to
sweep the hypocrisy under the rug to avoid embarrassment before the world. Meanwhile, the media reports an increasing
number of scandals, and the lost world relishes such gossip as a sign that the
entire church is corrupt.
Because of this, our culture has already grown distrusting
of religious leaders. Such hypocrisy among
the elite is hardly new, though — it was present in Jesus’s time. As one commentary notes:
Jesus castigated the scribes and
Pharisees as those who “do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they
broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They
love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and
respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men”
(Matt. 23:5–7), and “for appearance’s sake offer long prayers” (Luke 20:47). False
teachers are “those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh” (Gal. 6:12)
and “boast according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 11:18). Like Diotrephes, they love the place of
prominence (3 John 9). But those whose
goal is to “be honored by men.… have their reward in full” (Matt. 6:2; cf. vv.
5, 16).[1]
While our culture might note with some satisfaction that Jesus
called out hypocrisy in His day, because it has become so distrusting of spiritual
gurus with truth claims, it also questions Jesus Himself. Maybe you yourself are in a position of
questioning the truth about Jesus. How
can one know what He says is accurate? If
we are to figure out Jesus, we need to conclude two points about Him. First, we must figure out His nature (vv. 10–13). Second, we must figure out His qualifications
(vv. 14–18).
II.
First, we must figure out His nature (vv. 10–13).
But when His
brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly,
but as if, in secret. So the Jews were
seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?” There was much grumbling among the crowds
concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No,
on the contrary, He leads the people astray.”
Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.
Jesus’s brothers, who still don’t believe in Him, chose to
go to the Feast of Tabernacles without Him.
They are still religious, even though they currently reject His words. As we noted last time, they won’t reject Him
forever, but for now, they probably don’t understand why He has His own timing
and way of doing things.
Jesus is following His Father’s timetable, though. We see that He does go up, but only after
everyone else had already departed for and arrived in Jerusalem. As such He would have gone while there were
hardly any other travelers, and He may have gone through the hated Samaritan
territory. In fact, as we note the similar
language to v. 4, Jesus does exactly what His brothers
advised Him not to do! He doesn’t take
His cues from the wisdom of the lost world, but from the Holy Father.
According to v. 14, Jesus didn’t go up to the temple until somewhere
in the middle of the seven-day feast.
Since He didn’t arrive with His family or the other Galilean travelers, and
seemed to be no where to be found for days, v. 11 says “So the Jews were
seeking Him.”
Of course, they all are Jews, including Jesus. However, there are various groups of
individuals. Some believe in Jesus,
while others do not. Some Jews are from
Galilee, while others live in Jerusalem.
Some of the people do not know what to make of Him, as we see in the
next verse. Others, like the Jewish
leadership, despise Him and desire to take His life. It seems that, in this verse, the Apostle John
is talking about the hostile Jewish leaders.
They were the ones saying, “Where is He?” Incidentally, this is one way to translate the
pronoun they used, but it’s not the personal pronoun we’d always translate “He.” A literal translation would be, “Where is that
one?” Theirs is an impersonal kind
of statement, derogatory in nature.
As for the Jewish crowd in v. 12, we read that there “was
much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him.” We might also translate this as “murmuring,”
or even “whispering.” This is hushed
discussion, not open talk, as the next verse says. They are talking amongst themselves about Jesus,
perhaps also wondering where He could be.
Their speculation quickly turned to that of His nature, of
course. We read that some were saying,
“He is a good man.” He is a good thing
that came from Nazareth (answering the question of John 1:46). The rich young ruler seems to also recognize
this when he calls Him “good teacher” (Mark 10:17). This word doesn’t just mean righteous; He is
pure. If you believe Jesus is good, then
you should believe Him!
However, maybe you think more like the others in the crowd. They were saying, “No, on the contrary, He
leads the people astray.” Yet, even those
with a negative view toward Jesus were quiet about their opinions; v. 13 says, “Yet
no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.” They wanted to wait for the official
declaration from their religious leaders, and they were afraid of contradicting
such a word from on high.
Unfortunately, the Jewish leaders would also officially reject
Jesus, leading the people to a unified belief that Jesus was a deceiver. The Jewish leaders of that day summed up Jesus’s
identity before Pilate as “that deceiver” (Matt. 27:63). An apologist who lived in the second century,
Justin Martyr, writing perhaps just a century after these events, noted, “But
though they saw such works, they asserted it was magical art. For they dared to call Him a magician, and a
deceiver of the people. Yet He wrought
such works, and persuaded those who were [destined to] believe on Him.”[2] This is so recorded in the Jewish rabbinic
writings; one study notes, “On the basis of this accusation, later Jewish
tradition condemned Jesus of sorcery and leading Israel astray (in the Babylonian
Talmud Sanhedrin 43a; Sotah 47a).”[3]
Sadly, many Jewish people still believe this about Him. Ironically, they are deceived by this antichrist
rabbinic teaching. This isn’t negative
commentary toward Jewish people, for some have come to faith, and many Gentiles
reject Christ. We are awaiting a time
when God opens the eyes of all the Jewish people to Christ, which will come in
His kingdom (cf. Rom. 11:25–27). Eventually,
everyone will realize the truth about Him — the question is whether that
knowledge comes too late!
Maybe you’re not there yet.
Verse twelve gives us the only two possibilities of Jesus Christ, though:
He is good, or He is a deceiver. It is
possible that He could also be insane, or demon-possessed (as they suggest in
v. 20) but that would only answer His motivation behind His deception. He is either good, meaning ultimately that He
is who He said He is, or He is a troubler of the people.
Many people who don’t believe in Jesus are willing to
acknowledge that He is good. Yet, that
doesn’t make sense when you think about it.
They mean His teaching is good and honorable and should be followed, but
is He good when He claimed divinity for Himself? How about when He claimed that there is no
other way to God but through Him? As C.
S. Lewis wrote,
You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God:
or else a madman or something worse. You
can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him for a demon; or
you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising
nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[4]
Let us decide about His true nature, then. Today, people may shame you for believing in
Jesus, mocking you for accepting “myth” or “hateful rhetoric” and try to cancel
you. Don’t allow the opinions of mere human
beings keep you from the truth about Jesus.
If you believe He’s good, then believe Him.
Perhaps, though, there is more you want to consider first. Can you trust His words? That’s were we turn next.
III.
Second, we must figure out His qualifications
(vv. 14–18)
But when it was
now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How
has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching
is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If
anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is
of God or whether I speak from Myself. He
who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of
the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
As we noted earlier, Jesus surprised everyone by appearing
in the middle of the feast. If He had
followed His unbelieving brothers’ advice, He may have had excited the crowds by
His presence. It may have been like with
the feeding of the 5,000, where half the people are again ready to crown Him king. However, the other half doesn’t believe, and
the Jewish Sanhedrin is seeking His life.
Not only would that be a volatile situation, it would be jumping ahead
of the Father’s schedule to provide salvation for the world. So, Jesus instead comes to instruct the
people at a surprising juncture in the week-long feast.
He entered one of the outer areas of the temple which served
as a usual spot to address the multitudes.
The rabbis and others would teach from the temple, so He’s not taking a privilege
that isn’t afforded to others (and it is His Father’s house, after all). Still, He also knew the leaders did not
appreciate His teaching. He wouldn’t
have asked permission, then, and simply begins teaching, wisely knowing that
they would not arrest Him in front of the crowd. As we’ll note in the next verse, it’s good
teaching, as well. One of the aspects of
Christ we see is that He seizes upon opportunities to do good, not allowing the
wrong and negative opinions of others stop Him.
The next verse says that the Jews (that is, the leaders) “were
astonished” or “marveling” (as the Legacy Standard Bible has it). Jewish children would learn some basic
reading and memorize Scripture, but not many went on to higher education. Yet, Jesus’s teaching was on par with the most
educated of the day. There were two
large rabbinic schools in Jesus’s time (Hillel and Shammai), but Jesus wasn’t a
member of either and still supplies stunning commentary. The Jewish leaders can’t deny that Jesus’s
teaching surprises them, but they turn that astonishment into an opportunity to
scorn Him publicly.
We read that they say, “How has this man become learned,
having never been educated?” Note that,
while the crowd had been quietly murmuring about Jesus (vv. 11–12), these Jewish
leaders are speaking out loud. They are
not asking a question so much as they are making a point. As one commentator notes,
Their question is a general
exclamation addressed not to Jesus but to the multitude. It charges Jesus with incompetency, with utter
lack of proper qualifications for being a great religious teacher. The purpose of the rulers is to discredit
Jesus before his audience. The force of
their question is: ‘This fellow does not know what he is talking about because
he has never studied in any of our Jewish schools.’ ”[5]
This means that even people back then were academic snobs! They saw Jesus as challenging their hard-earned
authority, and He did so, apparently, without any qualifications. However, in v. 16, Jesus says that He isn’t a
self-educated pretender. He says, “My
teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”
Had He made up His teaching, they might have a point, but His qualifications
are higher than any other — they come straight from the Father! (Kids, His knowledge is supernatural. Unfortunately, if you don’t receive divine revelation,
you have to stay in school!)
Now, I’d be tempted to say this is really an issue of reason
— if you believe in God, you should believe in Jesus. Yet, Jesus says the issue is really a moral one:
He says, “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching,
whether it is of God or whether I
speak from Myself.” There is a
connection between obedience and those who know the true qualifications of Jesus’s
teaching.
Consider what the Bible says elsewhere. Psalm 25:9 says, “He leads the humble in justice,
and He teaches the humble His way;” v. 14 goes on to say, “The secret of the
Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant.” Proverbs 3:32 says, “For the devious are an
abomination to the Lord; but He is intimate with the upright.” Finally, Daniel 12:10 says, “… and none of
the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.” Insight or knowledge of the Lord is tied to a
willingness to obey Him.
It isn’t human reason alone which produces salvation, then. Education, as important as it is, isn’t the ultimate
answer. There must be an inward desire
or wish to do the will of God. Jesus
identifies that there is a lack of willingness at the core of those rejecting
Him, meaning that human beings are morally responsible for rejecting God. They that refuse to do the Father’s will
(i.e., believe in Jesus) have no hope in understanding the truth about Jesus or
His words. The atheists, agnostics, and
apostates today cannot claim a mere intellectual decision to reject Christ —
they reject the truth about Jesus ultimately because they desire to avoid
God’s will. Those willing to do God’s
will, however, will find understanding through the illumination of the Holy
Spirit.
If that is you, then you’ll understand that Jesus isn’t
speaking of His own authority. In v. 18,
we read, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking
the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness
in Him.” Interestingly, Jesus uses the
same impersonal pronouns to refer to Himself in the third person, just like
they had. We could translate this, “The
one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the
glory of the one who sent Him, this one is true, and there is not
unrighteousness in Him.” It’s like they
were pointing at Him in accusation, and He turned it back on them, also
pointing at Himself!
How did He turn it back on them? Well, they are the ones seeking their own
glory. They are the ones complaining
that Jesus didn’t have an education like theirs and should therefore be rejected. They might be religious, but they aren’t
seeking God’s glory or will. He,
however, is basing His claims in God the Father, thus seeking to glorify the
Father.
IV.
Conclusion
If you want to see hypocrisy in a religious leader, see who
he’s seeking to glorify. Is he
constantly trying to exalt himself? For
instance, at last year’s Southern Baptist Convention, a pastor who was facing
questions for his departing from the Bible stood behind a microphone for six
minutes, rattling off numbers to demonstrate how much he and his church
does. Thankfully, most people saw
through such grandstanding, though he fooled a lot of people for decades.
However, the question isn’t whether fake Christian leaders
exist — there are hypocritical people everywhere. The question is what you will do with the
claims of Jesus Christ. Do you believe
He has a good nature? Then believe
Him.
If you’re struggling with His credentials, though, consider
this. Do you want Him to be true? Do you internally desire to do your own will
more than God’s, and that’s why you’re doubting Jesus’s words? It’s best that you discover that about
yourself now and own up to it. Don’t be
like the selfish, unbelieving Jewish leaders here who twisted their religion to
keep the true Messiah out of it — repent of your sinful desires and pray to
know and desire the Father’s will, and you’ll find your struggles against
Christ will cease.
[1] John F. MacArthur Jr., John 1–11, MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Press,
2006), 293.
[2] Justin Martyr, “Dialogue of Justin, Philosopher and
Martyr, with Trypho, A Jew,” The Apostolic
Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, electronic edition, 1885, 1, 233.
[3] John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael
S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R.
Grigoni, and David Bomar, Faithlife Study
Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Jn 7:12.
[4] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 41, cited in James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith: A Comprehensive & Readable
Theology, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 276.
[5] R. C. H. Lenski, The
Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing
House, 1961), 541.
