After His brothers had gone up to the festival, then He also went up, not openly but secretly. The Jews were looking for Him at the festival and saying, “Where is He? ” And there was a lot of discussion about Him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He’s deceiving the people.” Still, nobody was talking publicly about Him because they feared the Jews.
- So God comes down to visit us and this is what happens in the social community! We humans are really messed up!
- Since there were crowds at this festival, I wonder how many people were really in to this festival and I wonder how many people were bored to death at this festival (and the many other gatherings the Jews had).
When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple complex and began to teach. Then the Jews were amazed and said, “How does He know the Scriptures, since He hasn’t been trained? ”
- If there were a bunch of people bored to death at this festival, I am sure when Jesus started speaking, they were no longer bored. “Religion” can be so boring but Jesus was not boring. I don’t think God ever intended corporate worship of Him to be boring. Reverence for God does not equal boring.
- It’s so easy for religious groups to think we have a monopoly on truth when truth belongs to God alone. They obviously thought they and their systems were the only way to God at the time. In essence, they were asking how can Jesus know the Scriptures when we haven’t trained Him to know the Scriptures. I believe this showed they were both arrogant and ignorant.
Jesus answered them, “My teaching isn’t Mine but is from the One who sent Me. If anyone wants to do His will, he will understand whether the teaching is from God or if I am speaking on My own. The one who speaks for himself seeks his own glory. But He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law! Why do you want to kill Me? ” “You have a demon! ” the crowd responded. “Who wants to kill You? ” “I did one work, and you are all amazed,” Jesus answered. “Consider this: Moses has given you circumcision — not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers — and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won’t be broken, are you angry at Me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.””, John 7:10-24 HCSB
- In other words, neither healing a man nor picking up one’s mat was illegal on the Sabbath. These commands were from men and not from God.