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John 7:45-8:1
Have you ever experienced a mis-formed or mis-set expectation? Boy I have, it’s really not that uncommon today to have a misunderstanding over expectations. That is exactly what’s happening here in chapter 7 of the book of John. Everyone’s presupposition of what the Messiah was supposed to do, or how He was supposed to do it comes into play here.
The Jewish leaders are looking for some way to kill Jesus, but it’s not time yet so Jesus hangs back from the festival. His brothers and Disciples go on ahead, Jesus follows but not publicly. And John writes about what the crowds were saying about Jesus, there was much discussion about Him.
Eventually Jesus teaches at the festival in the temple courts and we openly see the division. As He teaches, there are some who in fact believe in Him.
The Pharisees hear the crowds whispering and they send the temple guards to arrest Him but that plan doesn’t happen. More people believe Jesus is Messiah, Others are emphatic He isn’t who He says He is. And there is more division, this is where we pick it back up.
John 7:42-8:1 (NIV) Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
“You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”
Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
So – some older more accurate manuscripts leave out that last sentence. We aren’t certain if it was added kind of as an explanation but even if it isn’t exactly what happened – that’s ok. If people went home or stayed what is that to us? It doesn’t change anything about Who Jesus is.
The point here is simply this, again the crowd of people are diving into Who Jesus is. And there is definitely no central answer. But there are those who come to belief in Him – they indeed believe Jesus is the Messiah.
In their New Beacon Bible Commentary on the book of John 1-12 – A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. © 2020 Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, p.204. Laura Holmes and George Lyons write this.
“Conflict over Jesus’ identity has been present throughout John’s Gospel, but it is highlighted in John 7. The central point o this conflict is that people did not know what to think about Jesus’ identity. They sometimes knew the right words to say: He’s the Prophet/He’s the Messiah (vv 26, 31, 40-42). But even if they accepted these designations, they missed the larger picture.”
This is what I was driving at yesterday. In our society today I see so many wrapped up in their rights as citizens of the United States of America. To the point that we are forgetting we have a higher citizenship as Christians. We are no longer citizens of this world, but are indeed citizens of the Kingdom of God.
If we are going to be a disciple of Christ we need to be about spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ instead of arguing who has the right to wear a mask or not wear a mask. What if we simply were about the Father’s business? What if we put all of that effort into getting people saved and sanctified, and then discipled them to go and actually it’s the thought or idea of wherever you are going make more disciples?
We need to be about this no matter our political views. We need to be about loving God and loving others.