Day 940: How will we know it's true? - John 7 vs 14 - 24

14-15 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?” 16 -17 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. 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.

19-20 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21-23 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? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.” John 7:14-24 English Standard Version

The feast at which today's reading took place was the the Feast of Tabernacles (also called the Feast of Booths) and was one of three feasts that Jews were to observe each year by going up to Jerusalem. It began on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, and usually occurred from late September to early October. We see in vs 14-15 that others who were at the feast were amazed at the insights and authority of Jesus’ words. That could lead to a natural question which many may have asked - 'how can we know if what he is teaching is true?'. What was the answer Jesus gave to such a question? (vs 16-17)

That answer is just as relevant today for anyone wanting to discover if Jesus is all the Bible says He is. The question we must first ask ourselves is: 'Do I really want to know God's will for my life?'. In other words, the quest for who Jesus really is shouldn't be just intellectual curiosity. Jesus says that a man or woman who is truly wanting to know God, and God's will, will quickly realize that all that He taught came from God Himself. And vs 18 highlights that Jesus wasn't looking for men's applause. He wasn't like those today seeking lots of 'followers' to their social media platforms. His teaching was to point people to the Father in heaven.

Yet, despite the people's intrigue with His teachings and miracles, vs 19-20 show that there were many in Jerusalem who wanted to kill Him. The background to what Jesus said here goes back to an earlier chapter where, after He had healed a crippled man in Jerusalem on the Sabbath Day, we read that “the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I am working.' This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” (John 5:15-18)

That took place on an earlier visit to Jerusalem, but the hatred of the religious leaders had not got less. They had compiled a list of things which they considered as 'work', and had insisted that people were not allowed to 'work' on the Sabbath day. Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy in that they were ready to circumcise a male infant on the Sabbath day – but objected to someone being made perfectly whole on the Sabbath. What then would the implication of verse 24 be?

I think it echoes a warning Jesus gave about people whose teaching was not from God but from themselves. When speaking of the Scribes and Pharisees He said: “They sit in Moses’ seat, so you must be careful to do everything they tell you - but do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. Everything they do is done for people to see!” (Matthew 23:2-5) So how will we know Jesus' teaching came from God? Just look at Jesus' life. If ever there was anyone who 'walked the talk' it was surely Him - God’s will was always first.