John 7:11-24
1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9After saying this, he remained in Galilee. 10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 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.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. 14About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 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. 18 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. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 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? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Human beings love stories about individuals who are wholly consumed and recklessly obsessed with singular ideas.
For example, in 2004 Denzel Washington starred in a movie called “Man on Fire.” It’s about a former Marine named John Creasy who has been hired to offer private security for a wealthy family in Mexico. His job is to protect a little girl named Pita. Kidnappers take Pita, almost killing Creasy in the process. When he comes to and realizes what has happened, he goes on a single-minded, no-holds-barred, one-man mission to get her back. In fact, the movie is simply an ode to a man who has been gripped by a single idea: get Pita back. So the movie is entitled, “Man on Fire,” for Creasy was on fire with this one idea and nothing was going to get in the way of it.
People love stories of people gripped by single ideas. That’s probably why “Man on Fire” made over 100 million dollars worldwide.
This is also the reason why many people were really gripped by Liam Neeson’s 2008 movie, “Taken.” It’s similar to “Man on Fire” in many ways. In “Taken,” Neeson’s daughter is kidnapped and he is immediately gripped by a single idea: get his daughter back. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that Neeson’s character allows nothing to get in his way. He flies overseas, whoops countless bad guys, overcomes amazing obstacles, and does not stop until he gets her back.
A man gripped by a single idea, a man on fire with one thought, is a dangerous and fascinating thing.
Many years ago Soren Kierkegaard tied this idea into the purity of heart. Kierkegaard said, “Purity of heart is to will the one thing.”
That’s true isn’t it?
How quickly fame flies away.
In the beginning of our last chapter, we found Jesus at the height of what we might call “fame.” He has performed a dazzling miracle by feeding thousands of people out of just a little bit of bread and fish. In the aftermath, the number of people following Jesus increases dramatically. Even so, by the end of last chapter, the majority of His followers have left Him and He even presses His own twelve disciples to think long and hard about whether or not they might want to leave Him too. Bolstered by Peter’s strong declaration of faith, the twelve stay with Him. But here, in the beginning of chapter 7, we find a truly pitiful scene indeed. Jesus is rejected by His own brothers and then is questioned by a conflicted crowd.
Yes, fame doesn’t last long, especially when one is trying to do God’s will.
I. Jesus Honored the Father’s Timing (vv.1-10)
1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand.
There are two interesting truths presented in our first two verses. First, we see that Jesus was staying Galilee and avoiding Judea because of the hostility towards Him in Judea. We must understand that this does not mean Jesus avoided Judea because He was afraid. The text dispels that notion at many different points. Instead, the issue was God’s timing. It was not time for Jesus to be killed. It was not time for the final redemptive events of the last week of Jesus’ life to take place. So Jesus avoids Judea.
Second, we see that the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, is at hand. This is very important. You will remember how, over the last number of weeks, we have seen how John is retelling the story of the Exodus in the life of Jesus. We saw this in chapter six in Jesus’ miraculous multiplication of food, in Jesus saving the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, and in Jesus’ amazing teaching that He is the Bread of Life. It is interesting, then, that chapter seven begins with the Feast of Booths, for the Feast of Booths was the Jewish celebration of God’s miraculous provision for the Jews in their wilderness wanderings in the Exodus. The feast happened after harvest. It was seven days long, followed by an eighth day of celebration. It was one of the mandatory feasts. Jewish men had to attend it. It was called the Feast of Booths because, during it, there were countless little huts, booths, built all over Jerusalem for the people to stay in and to feast in.
So this is an occasion of great religious fervor and anticipation, for the Feast of Booths was also a time when the Jews looked forward to God saving Israel and miraculously providing for them again.
There is obvious irony here, isn’t there? This feast that commemorated God’s miraculous provision for Israel and God’s promised salvation of Israel was happening at just that time when Jesus was revealing that He was both of these things: the reason for Israel’s survival and the hope of Israel.
On the occasion of this feast, Jesus’ brothers taunt Him:
3So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him.
One cannot help but grieve here. It is a painful and awkward scene. In chapter six we saw an increasing measure of opposition to Jesus. His opponents multiply in their numbers. Now Jesus receives opposition from His own family, from His own brothers.
Mary and Joseph would have had other children after Jesus’ miraculous conception and birth. We know that many will come to believe in Him as Savior and Lord. But not yet. At this point, they not only don’t believe, they positively bristle at what is happening in their brother’s life. In their defense, it was certainly an awkward situation for the brothers to be in. There can be no doubt about that. How, after all, would any of us react to the suggestion that our brother was the unique Son of God? Even so, it is painful to see their rejection of their own brother in this way, and it is tragic that they do reject Him at this point.
They reject Him and they seem to taunt Him as well. “Hey, if you’re really so special, you need to go act on the big stage big brother. Go down to Judea, to the feast, and show the crowds what you’re really all about. Enough of these tricks in the countryside. It’s time to go big time!” You can image their sarcastic tones and knowing winks as they say this.
Jesus’ brothers, in essence, are tempting Him to go ahead and set the big events of His passion in motion. Jesus does not give in to their temptation:
6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee. 10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.
Jesus plainly announces his absolute resolve to walk in the Father’s will and to reject all other competing timetables. His words clearly reveal the presence of two differing and conflicting timetables: God’s and the world’s.
Jesus’ brothers are thinking in the world’s terms. The world knows nothing of delayed fame. The world wants what it wants right now, immediately. So it is only fitting that Jesus’ brothers tempt Him, like Satan, to don a crown right here and right now. Their immersion in the world’s way of viewing time means that they themselves do not stand in conflict with the world. This is why Jesus says, “My time has not yet come, but your times is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.”
It is a fascinating and disturbing thought. Our conception of time, of our own plans, of the execution of our own agendas, runs counter to the divine conception of the same. We see this clearly in this exchange.
A man or woman on fire is a man or woman wholly committed to God’s plan and God’s timing for his or her life. Jesus refused to deviate from the script. He refused to take time into His own hands. He knew that His course was charted by the Father and He determined to honor that plan. This meant that Jesus’ timing often seemed nonsensical to those watching Him. Why, after all, would He not jump at the opportunity for greater fame during this Feast of Booths? In the world’s understanding of things, what better time could there be? And why, later, when His name was known by seemingly everyone, would He knowingly and willingly go up to Jerusalem to die? That made no sense at all to His disciples.
To be committed to God’s timing means standing resolutely on the conviction that God’s timing is superior to our own. Perhaps some of you have experienced this. Perhaps you have turned down a job because you knew it wasn’t God’s timing even though your family and friend’s could not understand it. Perhaps you delayed marriage simply because it wasn’t in God’s will for you at that particular time. Whatever it is (and it might be a thousand different things) it can be confusing to those watching when a believer commits to God’s timing. However, to the believer, there is no other option.
Like Jesus, we must decide whose plan and whose script we’re going to follow. We must determine to walk in His timing.
II. Jesus Taught the Father’s Will (vv.11-17)
A person wholly resigned to a singular conviction will necessarily be joyfully resigned to the timing of God. He will also be resigned to the will of God. Jesus was singularly resigned to the timing and will of God, as He revealed when questioned by the crowd.
11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 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.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. 14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”
You will recognize the Jews’ question as essentially the same question they have asked many times over in many different ways before: “Who is this Jesus, really? How can He know the things He seems to know? How can He do the things He seems to do?” Their question is bolstered by two realities: (1) their mistaken assumption that they know the truth about Jesus (that He is merely a carpenter’s son) and (2) the fact that their carnal minds cannot grasp the truths of God. So they marvel at and stumble over the divine truths Jesus teaches as well as the fact that He, Jesus, is teaching them.
Jesus’ response to their questioning further demonstrated His unity with the Father and His singular conviction to walk only in the will of the Father.
16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 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.
In saying this, Jesus not only revealed the other-worldly origin of His teaching, but also the importance of walking in God’s will. “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.”
Desiring to walk in God’s will is therefore the doorway to perceiving, knowing, grasping, and understanding the origin and nature of divine truth. This is because only a will that has been redeemed desires to do God’s will in the first place. So when a man is saved, he desires the will of God and, in doing so, his mind and heart are opened and receptive to divine truth. Above all else, the redeemed mind is able to know Christ further: to know His origins, His identity, His nature, and to love Him.
Jesus walked in the will of God. His will was God’s will. Whoever saw Jesus saw the Father for Jesus walked only in the will of the Father.
This fact explained the conflict between Jesus and the Jews. There is no greater way to be in conflict with the world than to walk in the will of God. This is because the will of the world is diametrically opposed to the will of God. Some of you know the painful reality of this. It is, of course, never painful in an ultimate sense to walk in the will of God, but one does pay a price for doing so, no? Some of you have no doubt been the objects of questioning, of derision, and of laughter because you turned from a plan that made sense to the will of the world and embraced instead the will of God.
The two wills are not synonymous. To walk in the will of God is to conflict with the will of the world…and vice versa. It takes courage to walk in the will of God, but, when a person has bowed to Christ, no other option makes any sense at all. One may pay a price, including his own life, to walk in the will of God. Even so, this is what it is to be possessed by a singular idea, one all-consuming notion: to walk in the timing and will of God.
III. Jesus Desired the Father’s Glory (vv.18-24)
Above all else, a man on fire, a man possessed by a single and singular idea, is a man who desires the Father’s glory. Above all else, Jesus sought the glory of the Father.
18 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.
His desire for the Father’s glory validated His teaching, for “the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.” In other words, had Jesus simply been seeking His own fame, His own reputation, and His own advancement, His teachings could have been questioned as self-serving and therefore false. But this is not what Jesus sought. Instead, He sought the glory of God. He sought it so radically that He was willing to give everything for it. The extent to which Jesus was willing to go and the extent to which He did go proved the validity of His own person and teaching, for nobody will give themselves to a horrible death merely for a reputation.
19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 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? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Jesus is speaking of the amazing miracle of the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. The Jews stumbled over this miracle. Furthermore, they committed hypocrisy in condemning it as a violation of the Sabbath. For the Jews would circumcise on the Sabbath when necessary and did not consider this a violation of the Law. In fact, they occasionally had to circumcise on the Sabbath in order not to violate the Law. If, then, the Jews were obeying the Law in the act of Sabbath circumcision, how much more was Christ in healing a man’s entire body?
But the hypocrisy of the Jews was not their greatest condemnation. Rather, their failure to see that the miraculous work of Jesus was for the glory of God was their greatest condemnation. They could not conceive of that which was most important to Jesus: the glory of the Father. There is also the implicit suggestion that the meticulous and bewildering lengths to which the Jews would go to keep the Law had become, for some of them, a means for their own self-glorification. Some of the proud Pharisees seemed to revel in their obedience to the Law. In doing so, they exalted themselves and violated the very heart of the Law. In contrast to this, Jesus did what He did because He understood both the particulars and the heart or essence of the Law: the glory of God.
All that Jesus did, He did for the glory of the Father. Jesus never sought to serve Himself, never sought His own advancement, and never sought His own glory. He was not like the religious celebrities of the day who condemned Him. They sought their own glory. Not so, Jesus. Jesus sought only God’s glory.
This was the single idea that consumed, drove, compelled, and defined Him: the glory of God.
What a marvel a glory-driven life is! What a world-transforming and gloriously-dangerous thing a glory-driven life is! This was seen ultimately and definitively in the life of Jesus. He was a man on fire with the glory of God, and He strove to get the people to see and understand this.
It is as if Jesus is saying, “Can you not see and will you not see that I am not doing what I am doing in order to exalt my name? I am doing what I am doing to exalt the name of my Father. I left my glory to come and be born out back, behind the Holiday Inn, so that God might get the glory. I am living as a simple, lowly man so that God might get the glory. I anger you by calling you to repentance so that God may get the glory even in you. I preach the Kingdom so that God may receive greater glory. I heal the sick to the glory of God and you call Me a blasphemer! Soon, I will be delivered into the hands of men, stripped of what little earthly dignity I yet retain, and be crucified naked before the world. But I do that too for God’s glory. I will be spat upon for His glory, beaten and buffeted for His glory, mocked, taunted, abused and pummeled for the glory of My Father. My closest friends will abandon me, but I will endure it for His glory. My mother will watch her son die in agony, but deep down she will know that I have done it for the glory of the Father. But then, the glory of God which drives me and to which I have given all that I am will shatter death’s chains and I will rise again, emanating and blazing with glory! It’s not about Me and My name. I give my life for the glory of the One who sent Me, and I am calling you now to do the same!”
I want to call upon the church to embrace a glory-driven life. I want to call upon any of you who do not know Jesus to come to Him today. Come to the Father through the Son. There is indeed no other way. Come as you are. Come in repentance and faith and trust. Let us all come to the glory-driven Christ and embrace Him today.