Is Jesus the Messiah? from Jesus as seen by John

The fact that we don’t really understand many of the early beliefs of Judaism leads to misunderstandings on our part. It also makes some of the passages in the Gospel of John look almost hopelessly convoluted. As an example we need look no farther than the current passage:

At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”
The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
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? 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’?”
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. 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. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”
Others said, “He is the Messiah.”
 Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. (John 7:25-44 NIV)

 

I’m sure that this brief presentation is an oversimplification but it may help lift some of the misunderstandings that we find in this passage of Scripture. First we must understand that essentially Christ and Messiah mean the same thing; the anointed one. Christ is Greek, Messiah is Hebrew. The Jews were looking for the coming of a Messiah who would be from the line of David and would restore the glorious Kingdom from the days of David and Solomon; God’s intentions for Israel would finally be realized. The scriptures declared that the Messiah would be born in the town of David; Bethlehem. But there was also a tradition that the Messiah would be hidden until he comes forth to restore the kingdom; no one would know where he came from. The words of Jesus address the questions that the Jewish people had – and since he spoke on a “spiritual” level rather than a “physical” level, the confusion just grew.

The first level of confusion came when the people of Jerusalem (they knew that the leaders were out to get Jesus) wondered why Jesus could be teaching in the temple openly. They wondered if maybe the leaders really knew that Jesus was the Messiah. But some said that this couldn’t be since they knew where Jesus came from; the Galilee region. Jesus answered by beginning to talk to the people on two levels. He stated that, of course, they knew him (on the physical level.) But he said , “I am not here on my own” (on the spiritual level). He said that he was there because he had been sent there by the Father. He concludes that since they didn’t believe in him, they really didn’t know the Father who is truth in himself. If they believed neither Father nor Son, they really didn’t know here he came from. I’m sure this was not a popular saying since most of the people really thought that they new God; who does he think he is? They were so angry that they tried to seize him – but it didn’t work because “his hour had not yet come.” Remember, his hour would be at the end; crucifixion and resurrection. Yet, there were some who believed. It was at this time that the authorities actually dispatched the “police” to arrest Jesus.

They Jesus began to speak again.  He stated that he would only be with them for a short time; three years was a short time. He would then return to the Father; of course there was a crucifixion and resurrection before this would happen. He said that they would look for him then but not find him. This happened. The authorities didn’t believe that Jesus was alive after the crucifixion, but they knew the body was missing; they couldn’t find it. Finally Jesus told them that where he was going they could come. Of course this was true on several levels; heaven was not open to mortals and even after death it was only open to those who were invited. Of course the people didn’t understand what he was talking about. “Where is he going?” They thought that he might be going to leave Israel and go to one of the Jewish centers of population in another nation; the Jewish people were scattered after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

The final episode of this passage takes place on the last day of the feast. The featured event of the day involved water. Of course this was appropriate for water was necessary for agriculture. The priests would collect water from the pool of Siloam and process around the altar and then poor out the water as a form of anointing and/or sacrifice. It was then that Jesus cried out, “Are you thirsty? Then come to me and I will give you living water.” This sounds like what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well. He tells them that this living water would stream out of the people. The Gospel tells us that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit who would not be given to us until Jesus returned to the Father. Of course this happened on the day of Pentecost. We should also be aware that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity didn’t just appear at Pentecost; he has been active throughout history. He was just not accessible to all before Pentecost.

Well, what does this convoluted passage have to say to us today.  I think that one of the most important things is that Jesus is the fulfillment of all Old Testament expectations. He is who he said he was; he was also who the people thought that he might be. He was and is the Messiah. He is also our savior because of his death and resurrection. He is also our Lord. He continues to remain with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. He is currently present with the Father in Glory, but He will come again; and will really restore all things at that time.

We don’t need to really understand all of Jesus arguments in the passage. What really blesses me is that Jesus is always willing to meet all of us where we are. He met the 1^st century Jew where he is and he meets the 21^st century man or woman where he or she is. It is really true, Jesus does love us.

Jesus Wows the Crowd

In my last posting, Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles quietly; somewhat in secret. This was after he had had an argument with his brothers who wanted him to go up publicly and make a big splash. It wasn’t until the feast was half over that Jesus did make a big splash. The half way point meant that the crowds would be at their largest; late arrivals had finally made it and those who would be leaving early probably hadn’t left yet. He went to the temple to teach. John 7:15-24 gives us the story:

The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”
Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”(John 7:15-24 -- NIV)

Evidently the teaching of Jesus really wowed the entire crowd – but it left the religious establishment with some unanswered questions. These big wigs were amazed because they thought that Jesus was some kind of country bumpkin; he hadn’t been taught by a known rabbi! He had no education and no credentials. Of course that lead them to the conclusion that Jesus had no right to be there teaching in the first place.

Jesus insisted that he did have credentials and that he had a right to be teaching there. He insisted that he wasn’t giving some teaching that he thought up; it wasn’t his teaching but it was the teaching of the one who had sent him; God. In other words he was saying that he did have a Rabbi as his teacher and that Rabbi was his Father; God himself.  Then Jesus said something quite interesting.  A person who obeys God will recognize that his (Jesus’) teaching was the truth and they would believe Jesus.  Since this was the religious establishment who prided themselves in the fact (they believed) that they were following God, Jesus’ comment was a slap in the face; he was confronting them with the fact that they weren’t obeying God. Jesus went on to say that since he was seeking to honor the Father, he was a man of truth, teaching truth. He ended by saying since this is the situation, “Why are you trying to kill me?”

Now we hear from the crowd. They couldn’t understand why Jesus would say such a thing. They began to shout, “You are demon possessed. No one is trying to kill you!” Even though the crowd wasn’t trying to blaspheme, since Jesus was ministering and teaching under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the crowd was saying that he must be ministering under the power of the demonic; after all he was making crazy accusations. Of course, what the crowd didn’t know was the Establishment did want to kill Jesus.

Then Jesus went on the offensive, meeting the “Jews” where they felt most secure. He stated that they were upset because he did one miracle (he had actually done more than one); referring to the healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. They were upset because Jesus did this healing on the Sabbath. Jesus goes on to a “rabbinic” discussion of circumcision to challenge their understanding. He said that they sought to obey Moses as to circumcision (even though circumcision predates Moses – it goes back to Abraham.) The Law of Moses requires circumcision to be performed when the child is 8 days old. In order to follow this requirement, the rite would be performed even if it was the Sabbath; thus they “broke” the Law in order to “follow” the Law. Since circumcision was known as a healing of the male member, Jesus then asks why it is ok to heal one member of the body, but not ok to heal the whole body. Then he tells them that they really don’t understand the Sabbath (or the Law) at all. They need to make their judgments from God’s point of view.

I think that we can learn several things from this interchange:

1. We need to learn to Trust and Obey – as we trust him and obey him, we will understand and truly believe
2. We must avoid falling into legalism and learn to follow the spirit of the Law much as we see in the Sermon on the Mount.
3. We must avoid being judgmental – we can only judge what God tells us to judge and we must do that as much as possible from God’s perspective
4. We must never judge someone’s heart – that is for God alone.