Week 34 Day 5

July 22, 2022

Jesus Teaches at the Temple Amidst Tension

Scripture: John 7:10-31(NIV)

However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?” Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders. Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 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.” 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?”

Devotional

The confusion over the identity of Jesus was reaching a fevered pitch. Here is what people were saying about Him:

“He is a good man” (v. 12a)
“He deceives the people” (v. 12b)
“How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” (v. 15)
“You are demon-possessed… Who is trying to kill you?” (v. 20)
“Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?” (v. 25)
“Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah?” (v. 26)
“But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” (v. 27)
“Many in the crowd believed in him” (v. 31)
“Surely this man is the Prophet” (v. 40)
“He is the Messiah” (v. 41)

Even Jesus Himself couldn’t get a consensus about His identity. No wonder it is so hard to convince the world today. Most people today believe something about Jesus, but their opinions vary. Some think He was a good man, some a prophet, some the Son of God. But most do not dedicate their lives to “know, love, and obey” Him with complete abandon.

It seems that for some Jesus is the ultimate “Get out of Hell free” card. In nearly four decades of officiating funerals, every time I have been told that the deceased is “in a better place,” regardless of what they believed or how they lived. Perhaps some see Jesus kind of like a genie to be kept hidden throughout life, and expected to deliver a miracle in a crisis and eternity upon death.