[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       John chapter 7, picking up in verse 10: “But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he [Jesus] also went up, not publicly but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him” (ESV).

       We left off last time at the scene, at the discussion, when Jesus’ brothers (in reality, his half-brothers), wanted him to go up to the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem to show everyone who he was. Basically, this egging him on to go over there was to perform a show for everyone to believe—that was the temptation they were lying before him, and one of which Satan was almost certainly behind. They themselves didn’t believe he was the Messiah who was to come to Israel. Thus, the mocking and making fun of him ensues. Not a good scene with his family. Likely, only his mother Mary was on his side. Anyhow, we learn that Jesus truly did desire to go to the Feast, and thus he ventures over to Jerusalem under some kind of cover. Perhaps he wore some kind of head covering? A trendy head scarf? Probably not that. Get rid of the beard, perhaps? Probably not. Anyway, the text tells us that he keeps his identity concealed. In truth, he desired to do the opposite of what his brothers had wanted him to do. The reason he was going wasn’t to do what they had said. Celebrities in our day and age will do this, as we are likely familiar with—that is, they go places privately, without making a big-to-do regarding the fact they are coming. Perhaps each of us have run into one or two in our time, in our journeying wherever. Jesus definitely was a celebrity at this moment in time, for the crowds are talking about him.

       The debate among the crowd becomes interesting as to the quality behind the man. Indeed, when it came to Jesus, the opinions on the subject were divided. Some believed he was good, and some thought he was bad. To draw a parallel situation, the scene brings to mind the current debate that will often be found among Evangelical brothers and sisters on a famous preacher of our time (you could pick any to insert here). Some believe he is good, and some think he is bad. Regardless, the debate with Jesus did have to do with his teaching—what he was teaching the people. Indeed, a lot of what Jesus was saying was revolutionary. Remember, going against the Old Testament violence picture of God and saying, really, in reality, people should display non-violence toward one another. Pretty big; pretty revolutionary. The outlawing of divorce, saying that people really shouldn’t be thinking in that direction. Tradition was being busted up, that which had been taught (again, something that Jesus loved to do), even referring to God as “Your Heavenly Father.” Quite a bit different of a picture from what the Jews were used to. A personal God. A God who clearly cares about each individuals needs. Yet, no one stood up amongst the crowd and defended him. None said he was a good guy, and we ought to listen to him. People didn’t want to be put out of the synagogue.

       Verse 14: “About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” (ESV).

       Once Jesus has proved his point, and feels he hasn’t done what his brothers tempted him to do, Jesus reveals himself to the masses. Inside the temple teaching people is where we find him. Actually, and as the understanding goes, this is what Rabbis would do back in Jesus’ time, where if they were popular or good at preaching, a venture would take place onto the Temple grounds where a sharing of what they had learned would unfold. It’s no different than Christian radio today, or perhaps YouTube or your favorite listening or streaming app or website. That’s where the teachers nowadays are. For Jesus’ time in Jerusalem, he joins in on the fun as it was back then. What struck the crowds was the fact that Jesus didn’t have any official learning. No official schooling. Like a famous teacher preaching or teaching who doesn’t have a seminary degree, who doesn’t have the official degree. Jesus hadn’t gone through the schooling that the Scribes and Pharisees went through. Everything he learned, besides his normal education, was apparently self-taught, self-taught from his own studying of the Scriptures. And, boy, did he know them well! He knew the Old Testament very well, for he would even quote from time to time.

       Verse 16: “So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

       The ante is upped, for Jesus states that the teaching coming from his lips—the words from his mouth, are actually from the Father in Heaven, and not from himself. That’s a big point, there, a big point. Startling that had to be, for those who heard it. It’s not that he had just come up with some really good ideas and insights into the theology, but the very words he was speaking were actually proceeding from the Father. Astonishing when one really considers it. Then, Jesus makes the point that true believers in God will realize that the words he is currently speaking to them are from God. Not the words of a mere man, but the words of God, words directly from the mouth of God. A believer will be able to discern this. Besides, Jesus appeals to the fact that he’s not trying to promote himself. No attempt is being made to make himself look good, or to grow his own personal ministry, again, for his own sake, for appearance’s sake. That’s what one does who is after his own glory. A false Messiah or leader will eventually show that he is false. In fact, a fizzling out will occur and he will eventually die. In short, things won’t last. That picture is contrasted with the fact that with God, there is nothing said that isn’t correct. Yet, despite these grand words, there are still many who don’t believe he is from God, and actually, believe it or not, wish to kill him off of the planet. True worshipers of God, true followers of the Law, would realize that Jesus represents the heart of the Law.

       Jesus stated, “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory.” “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory.” To contemplate this a little further, this is probably one of the hardest things for us, as American Christians, to digest. Hard to take in in is for us. The fact persists that our society so often—for it is in our very beings—motives us and pushes us to try to seek our own glory. American individualism. Not that marketing oneself is necessarily bad—it depends on one’s heart behind it. But, it’s so easy to get caught up with the focus being on the here and now, on what is going on with the ministry, on what is going on with the church, at what is going on with the podcast, whatever it is. That seeking of one’s own personal appearance, and forgetting the fact that there are great things in play behind the scenes. That thing known as ‘eternity’ can get shoved out of the mind by too much focus on this world. And then, the action becomes seeking our own glory, and forgotten-ness unfolds as pertains to the fact that people need help—they need words of encouragement. Individuals need to hear about Jesus for the first time (believe it or not), for that first contemplation of the truth. Individuals need to be thinking about what happens ‘after’ they die instead of just simply what is happening right now, right in their current circumstances, whether good or bad. When we take the second approach, we find that we are rather seeking things which are above, as Paul would put it, seeking for glory outside of this world, seeking for God’s glory, considering the things which are eternal and not just the temporal things.

       Now looking at the crowd’s response to Jesus. Verse 20: “The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

       The crowd blasphemes the Holy Spirit. That’s unfortunately what occurs. Rather than recognizing that Jesus’ teaching is from God, they think he’s possessed with a demon. This is the side, obviously, that doesn’t think he’s good. Jesus had gained the public knowledge, and perhaps he originally perceived it, that there were some Jews who wished him dead. Remember, John told us in chapter 7, verse 1: “He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him” (ESV). He was a marked man, and a lot of people didn’t like what he was saying, what he was representing, and what he was standing for. And Jesus makes the point that it all started with one work, one work, remember, at the Pool in Bethesda, where the angel of the Lord would come down and stir the water, and someone would be healed? That’s were it all started because after Jesus had healed the paralytic, he had told him “Get up, take up your bed, and walk” (John 5:8, ESV). That take up your bed part. That was a the problem. A man had been instructed to violate the Sabbath. It would have been bad practice for the man to have just left his bed there, left it there and littered the property. Notice that Jesus compares this action with something that Moses commanded. What is being said is that Moses did the same thing. He told you one thing, and yet allowed you to do something else. Why? Because the heart is right. He would say on another occasion, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” (Luke 14:5, ESV; see also 13:15). It’s the heart that counts.

       This is what we often, even in our day, as twenty-first century Christians, do not understand. We really don’t understand this. As a distant and distrustful God is painted, one who is judgmental toward our actions, sending us conflicting messages, hard to get along with, idealistic toward us, having impossible rules, and not making himself clear. It’s these types of characteristics that we often attribute to God. It’s the Old Testament view of God carried over into the Church age. However, what is the reality of the situation? What is God really like? The truth is, God comes close to us when we come close to him, he actually trusts us, and entrusts us with certain things, he makes himself clear in a fair way, he is consistent toward us, he is easy to get along with, he presents realistic behaviors for us to follow, he is actually for us, on our side, and, dare it be said, he may even compromise on something to make us happy. That’s the real picture of God. That’s what Jesus is trying to convey to the crowds. God is all about the heart—loving those who love him, and looking at the heart. He’s not some rigorous, external force to be feared and avoided whenever possible. We judge by appearances, but we need to take the time to judge with right judgment. We will be a lot happier when we do.

       Verse 25: “Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?” (ESV).

       Some kind of warrant for Jesus’ arrest had been issued, or at least, some kind of public warning of him. Sort of humorously, that didn’t stop him from stepping forward and sharing his message. We are presented with a demonstration of bold proclamation in the face of persecution. For whatever the reason, the Jewish leaders do not have Jesus arrested at this moment. Probably because it would have occurred in front of the crowds (for we can bring to mind how they will arrest him later on). Besides, there was also an element where God protected him from being arrested since apparently there was still time for people to repent, to change their minds. Obviously, the crowd is conflicted regarding him. The two thoughts running through their heads are that 1) he is a good speaker, and 2) the problem that they believe they know where he is from (in essence, that his earthly father was Joseph). It can be noted in Micah 5:2 that it states, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (ESV). The crowd knew that the Christ was supposed to proceed from the Father. Jesus sarcastically points out that they don’t really know him, and that they really don’t know the Father. Nevertheless, John points out that as a result of his ad lib speech there in the Temple that many people decided to believe in him, that he was who he said he was. And this, of course, was a result of the signs that he was doing, for they felt that as many as he was doing, no one would be able to exceeded them.

       Verse 32: “The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?” (ESV).

       Due to the mutters, the “muttering” as John calls it, the chief priests and Pharisees see an opportunity. They see an opportunity on the part of those who don’t like what Jesus is saying versus those who do. They think that they can capitalize on the moment where the crowd isn’t entirely on Jesus’ side. The leaders heard the noise of the crowd when Jesus was speaking on the Temple grounds, and they then decided the time had come to silence him. They want him to finally be put to stop, to get rid of the competition. Thus, the guards are sent. It would appear, by the way the text is structured, that when these guards show up, they stop to listen to what Jesus is saying. For, apparently, in seeing them, he makes a final appeal. He warns the crowds that the time is short—that he’s not going to be around forever. No doubt Jesus understood that he wouldn’t be able to keep his ministry up for much longer. Eventually, the Jewish leaders were going to get him. And the crowd, still thinking in an earthly sense, doesn’t understand that he is meaning he’s going to die and leave the earth. They don’t get that. They think he’s going to travel somewhere, and take up a new gig doing something else. They thought that since they wouldn’t be able to follow him, he must be going among the Greek people.

       Verse 37: “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (ESV).

       The understanding is, is that on the final day of this Feast of Booths, that a procession would go through the Temple, wherein the high priest would carry a cup of water that was taken from the Pool of Siloam (this is the same pool Jesus will refer to later, in John chapter 9, when he heals the blind man), he would carry it to the Temple. Anyway, it’s this ritual, this occurrence, that Jesus chooses to make his last plea on this occasion, and he draws from the imagery of the event to make his point. He points out that it’s not this ceremonial ritual that ties to the Jewish Law that his the life, but rather it’s in coming to him instead. The cup that will really quench one’s thirst is himself, the One which will really satisfy. The text states that this relates, or points to, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit that is going to occur not too long in the future. When Christ returns to Heaven, the disciples will still have God with them at all times through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This wouldn’t take place until after Jesus died, rose, and then ascended back to Heaven. But any of these Jews can have life—can have real life—life that will be fulfilling from that moment and forevermore into the future. That’s Jesus’ point. Not to stick with the old system, the old rituals, but rather to come to him and receive true, fulfilling life. In doing that, the person themselves will have goodness flow from their heart, in their loving of God and loving of others.

       Now for the crowds response: “When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him” (ESV).

       The focus is drawn back, in sort of a flashback way at this moment, to the scene where the religious leaders had sent people to question John the Baptist on who he was. Remember that? Back there, in John chapter 1, the Jews were considering who John was, and trying to figure that out. The question had to do with whether he was “the Prophet.” Recall, the Jews believed that an important prophet was to come who would be like Moses. This would occur as a separate person from the Christ. Thus, some in the crowd, even up and to this time, thought that Jesus must be this fellow, this guy who was to come. Of course, John also notes that there were obviously some who believed that Jesus was who he said he was. However, notice, and this is rather humorous, that the crowd gets it wrong where Jesus was even born. They thought he was born in Galilee. We obviously know he was born in Bethlehem, which is in Judea, which is way south of Galilee. So in all of their group discussion, they don’t even get their facts straight. Funny how that is. Now, the disciples were likely from the Galilee area, so maybe that’s why the assumption goes there. Yet, even so, in this crowd, among the people, there were some who wanted to go so far as have him be arrested. They didn’t like him, and wanted him off the scene.

       Verse 45: “The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?” (ESV).

       The officers who came to arrest Jesus, and who had instead stopped and listened to him, these officers were not Roman officials. On the other hand, these folks were Temple guards. Thus, they were Jews themselves, and knew what he was talking about. It can be supposed, and this probably should have been mentioned earlier, but we can suppose that Jesus was saying more than is recorded here. A recording of the highlights, or the summarized version, and not the entirety of what he was saying, is what we likely have. It wouldn’t make sense that they would be convinced by these shorter sentences. That’s not the way things go. It’s a shame that we don’t what the whole monologue of what Jesus said. The religious leaders, in order to try to get the guards to change their minds, attempt to appeal that because they themselves, because the religious authorities have believed in him, that that should be a good indication that Jesus is bad. Always bad it is, actually, when people are in a situation like this, were there are domineering rulers who try to lead individuals from fear instead of letting them make up their minds for themselves. Look at the pride involved too, wherein these leaders act like they know more, and they are superior, and since in their awesomeness they haven’t believed, no one else should either. We see this today even sometimes with in the church.

       Verse 50: “Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee” (ESV).

       We can bring to mind who Nicodemus was, for we saw him back in chapter 3, remember, when he came to Jesus by night to ask him a question. Actually, Nicodemus only appears in John’s Gospel. Anyway, John told us back there, that he was a “Pharisee,” and also “a ruler of the Jews” (see John 3:1, ESV). Apparently since that conversation that night, Nicodemus had been questioning within himself whether Jesus really was the Christ. That can be assumed because, back in John 3, Jesus had stated that he didn’t believe. A listening to Jesus occurred, he heard him out, but he hadn’t been converted yet. No knowledge is present as to what moment he will be converted, though, we do know by the time Jesus is crucified, by that time it’s probably safe to say that the believes. Recall, he helps bury the body of Jesus with a man name Joseph. So, we could say that Nicodemus is a seeker. He is seeking and trying to find out what the truth is. And that’s why he basically defends Jesus at this point, but only goes so far with that defense.

       The ulterior motive, that fact, is what Nicodemus points to as he goes straight to the heart of the matter. As Americans, with our Jeffersonian mindsets, we feel everyone should be treated fairly, and we expect to be treated fairly ourselves. This is the appeal of Nicodemus. It’s an appeal to fairness. In effect, he’s saying, “How can you judge a man whom you don’t have all the facts on and one of whom you haven’t heard out?” But we know that’s not what the other Pharisees want to do. Their minds have already been made up concerning him, and they have another agenda, and that agenda includes eliminating Jesus from the picture. A threat to their own power, their own following, is what is perceived. And interestingly, it’s as if these Pharisees had already known that what the crowd believed as pertains to Jesus being from Galilee was incorrect. They had to know what the crowd was believing was false information, and they didn’t correct it. They went along with the incorrect information because it supported their cause. All of us have probably experienced situations in our own journeys where we can think of someone not correcting bad information as it helps their cause. We even see it in the political realm, where politicians use this tactic to try to get what they want. Of course, just like nothing is really new now, it was that way back then.

- Daniel Litton