John 7:14-36 (NRSV)

About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. The Jews were astonished at it, saying, ‘How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?’  Then Jesus answered them, ‘My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.  Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.  Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.

‘Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?’ The crowd answered, ‘You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?’ Jesus answered them, ‘I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.’

Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.’  Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, ‘You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him.  I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.’  Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.  Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, ‘When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?’

The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him.  Jesus then said, ‘I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.  You will search 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 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 search for me and you will not find me” and, “Where I am, you cannot come”?’



Frustration! I hear frustration in Jesus’ voice, in his teaching, and in his message. It's easy to get frustrated when you feel that your message is falling on deaf ears. This passage is a continuation from yesterday’s “undercover Jesus” trying to get a new prospective on things and assess the situation by being in disguise at the festival. It is possibly his frustration with the situation that pushes him to the point of getting up and teaching in the middle of the festival.

In his teaching, Jesus has very challenging words for the folks that are critical of his message. He points out that others have been quick to jump to conclusions about who he is and what he has come to do.  Some people gathered at the festival think that Jesus may be the messiah, and they are trying to figure out who he is.  The Pharisees and scribes feel challenged.  The status-quo is being upset by Jesus' prophetic teaching, and they are getting nervous, needing to put an end to Jesus’ popularity and make a spectacle of him.  They need to squelch his influence before he gets too politically powerful and becomes able to overthrow them. The scripture says that they tried to arrest him, but it wasn’t Jesus’ time.

My first thought is how often we get twisted into thinking something about someone else based on another’s testimony.  The leaders want the people to think that Jesus’ teaching is bad because it is against what they are teaching.  They want others to think that Jesus is a threat to their well being, so they create trumped up accusations of blasphemy and heresy.  In this context, I feel that we are called to make up our own mind.  We need to decide for ourselves who this prophetic teacher, Jesus really is.  He is revealed to us as very human and gets as aggravated and frustrated as we do (especially when people don’t listen to us) - yet his teaching is unlike any that has ever been before him or any that has come since. 

John 7:1-13 (NRSV)

Jesus went about in Galilee.  He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him.  Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret.  If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’  (For not even his brothers believed in him.)  Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil.  Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.’  After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret.  The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he?’  And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds.  While some were saying, ‘He is a good man’, others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd.’  Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

Jesus didn’t go to the festival with his brothers, but went in secret afterwards.  It is very easy to get frustrated with the way John deals with “the Jews” and their seemingly devious schemes to kill Jesus.  Much caution should be taken with the text in reference to “the Jews.”  We quickly forget that Jesus himself is a faithful Jew.  So, it’s not ALL Jews - just some.  I think there needs to be a distinction made between the folks that wanted to kill Jesus (who Just happened to be Jews), and the ones who were his faithful disciples (who are also Jews), lest we be guilty of lumping groups together and making assumptions based on their race or creed. 

There are folks at the festival of Booths that are asking about Jesus, and there is some complaining about his teaching.  They are all arguing over his validity as a teacher.  His real supporters are quiet because fear has the best of them.  For some reason, Jesus has chosen to be an observer.  He stands back and “in secret” looks over the sticky situation from the outside.  Maybe he is testing the waters… maybe he wants to learn how he is being received among the crowds and how his followers will react.  Whatever the case, he decides to go "in secret" after he told his brothers that he wasn’t going.

As a leader, I cannot begin to tell you how many times that I have tried to assess a situation this way - trying to quietly get a glimpse of things from another prospective or from “behind the scenes.”  It proves to be very helpful when trying to figure out strategies and how to effectively achieve goals.  What I think of immediately is the TV show Undercover Boss.  The show makes entertainment out of corporate CEOs working for their own companies in disguise, sometimes to be completely surprised or shocked by the people who work for them (good and bad).  I’m not suggesting that Jesus went undercover to spy on his followers, but what if he did? 

I often think that if Jesus were to return today and be among us “in disguise,” what would he find?  Would we be proud to show him all of the wonderful things we are doing to build up his kingdom on earth, or would we be ashamed because we weren’t bold enough to proclaim his message?  Maybe Jesus would be a homeless person or someone who you see at the soup kitchen.  Maybe he would be the one on the other end of the phone that just needs to talk, but your busy schedule is pulling you in the other direction. 

I feel that the text today is calling us to be aware…  be aware of who we are and how we are received…  be aware of how we act toward one another and how we respond to each others needs.  We are called to be self aware and look behind the scenes and from another prospective to possibly see things as Jesus would.