John 7 - Preacher's Commentary

Conflict at the Feast: Whose Descendants?

John 7:1–8:59

7:1-9

His Time, Not His Brothers’

“After these things.” It may now be September or October, about six months after the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus has “walked in Galilee,” a beautiful way to describe His ministry.

I have recently taken part in an unforgettable service celebrating the life of my eighty-seven-year-old uncle, Bengt Anderson, a vibrant, pioneering missionary among the Naga hill people of northeast India for twenty-eight years. All through the joyful worship service of singing, sharing, and preaching, I was remembering the incredible journey Ruth and I were able to make some years ago representing Bengt in a four-day anniversary celebration among the Sema-Nagas, one of the tribes among whom he had evangelized and taught. Seventy-five years earlier, the gospel had come to these people, and fifteen thousand of the twenty-eight thousand believers came to sing and dance, hear the Word, and to remember how they had been set free in Christ.

Here we met Kijung Luba Ao, a trusted, beloved leader among these people, now well into his seventies. He was so eager to share his profound debt to “Papa Anderson,” who had introduced him to Christ and baptized him. Kijung told us, “Everything I am I owe to Anderson, who taught me the Bible and the meaning of the Jesus way as we walked from village to village. He showed me how to drive a nail and said that if I agreed to be at a place at 7:00, then I must be there at 7:00.” That “walking discipling” between these two men had taken place over fifty years earlier. But how fruitful it was, for Kijung has trained innumerable pastors among the hill people, passing on what he learned from Anderson.

This was Jesus’ style of ministry—teaching, sharing, and modeling as He walked from place to place with His small band—the most valid, lasting kind of discipling. His ministry for these months had been in Galilee because in Judea His opposition, the Jews, were determined to kill Him. But now the Feast of the Tabernacles was at hand and Jesus was eager to attend. He rejoiced in all these national celebrations. Dr. Edgar Goodspeed, a New Testament scholar of an earlier generation, has called this feast “the Jewish camping festival,” which marked the ingathering of harvest and was a time of thanksgiving for God’s mighty works during the years of His people’s wandering in the wilderness.

Jesus’ brothers put pressure on Him to go to Jerusalem at this time so that the great holiday audience could see His works. If He was to get a movement going, why limit Himself to out-of-the-way places in Galilee? This is a subtle temptation for Jesus, particularly because it comes from His own brothers who are not believers. “Show Yourself to the world,” they told Him. It is possible that if He accepted their challenge they might submit to His guidance. This is simply a continuation of the wilderness temptation, “the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down’” (Matt. 4:5–6). Dazzle them and You will win a following. But we have seen that miracles do not bring belief.

Jesus has another time schedule, a moment of opportunity, which is yet to come. When He says He is not yet “going up” to this feast, it is really a play on words, for it will be at the Passover, which will come in a few months, that He will be lifted up. This will be His time!

With His brothers it is different. They do not face the hatred of the Jews as does Jesus. They will not precipitate any special crisis, for they live casually and easily with the fleshly moods and understandings of the world.

7:10-13

Going Up to the Feast: Confusion—A Good Man or a Deceiver?

But then Jesus does go up to the feast. Not with the train of worshipers that traveled together, but alone.

And here there is confusion about this strange wonder-worker. Who is He? This is the central issue. The people murmur and wonder, “Is He a good man or a deceiver?” Theirs is the quiet gossip of the back streets, for they fear their leaders who are intent on destroying Him.

Halfway through this eight-day feast, Jesus walks into the center of everything and begins to teach (v. 14). Here is a free man who takes the initiative, as truth always does. There is no need to hide in the shadows. His words have life and authority. No wonder the Jews are amazed. To them, Jesus is an uneducated fellow who has never studied under the scholars. His claim to interpret the truth is to them a blasphemous impertinence.

7:14-24

His Open Teaching: Doctrine from God

The source of Jesus’ teaching cannot be compared with any rabbi, however wise he may be. And His doctrine does not originate within Himself. It is God Himself, the One who sent Him, whose truth He is opening to them. Therefore, He does not speak for Himself, because He is not seeking His own glory. He speaks this truth out of a life of obedience to His Father’s will. His words are righteous, God’s speech lived out among men. So there is an integrity and authenticity about what He says.

But those to whom He speaks are strangers to the truth of the law which they extol and seek to teach. In fact, they are breaking the very law they profess to obey. Their disobedience is revealed in their obsessive desire to kill this One who is Truth incarnate.

When Jesus unmasks their evil intent, the Jews accuse Him of being insane, full of fanciful fears because He has the spirit of a demon.

But Jesus is not imagining things. He is well aware that His “one work” (v. 21), the healing of the crippled man on the Sabbath some months before, has aroused their fierce opposition. It was then they first began seeking to kill Him. He had freely done His Father’s will on the day they are attempting to fence in, making it so holy they have perverted its meaning.

So Jesus now deals with them on their own ground. Did not the law of Moses, which they claimed to obey so absolutely, allow the act of circumcision to be performed on the Sabbath? And this was only a partial healing, a sign of belonging for God’s people. How then could they condemn the total healing of a man on the Sabbath? They cannot understand that a new order has broken in. By this act of healing on the Sabbath Jesus has declared the superiority of His ministry over the law of Moses and the old order. “The covenant between God and Israel is now supplanted with the coming of Jesus.”¹

They can no longer judge in this new age by the old rigid rules. They must have new eyes of faith to see where and how God is at work in all kinds of surprising ways and places. Only then will their judgment become righteous.

7:25-36

Seeking, but Not Finding Him

Jesus’ strong declaration in verses 28–29 causes some of the people in Jerusalem to wonder if this might be the Messiah, the Chosen One. They think this not so much because of the content of His teaching, but because the rulers make no effort to restrain Him. On the other hand, they argue among themselves. “We know that this man comes from Nazareth and Galilee, and the Messiah is to have hidden, unknown origins.” They assume that takes care of the matter. How easily we rationalize our ignorance and prejudices when we are afraid to face the real issues.

These people know about Jesus’ geographic origins, but they cannot grasp the real Source of His mission. They are too blinded and earthbound. It is His Father who has sent Him. Jesus is not running around “doing His own thing.” Here again in verses 28–29 Jesus speaks of His deep, intimate relationship with His Father, whom He knows as His antagonists do not!

Even though His enemies now seek to lay their hands on Him, they cannot, for His time has not yet come. No group, however violent and strong, can change God’s plan, neither His time nor His method. It is the sovereign God who is making the moves, not the enemies of Jesus. It is the same today. Otherwise, none of us could sleep in peace in this mad, confused world.

Yet many of the people did believe in Him (v. 31). What they have seen and heard has convinced them that Jesus is the Messiah. But when the Pharisees hear this underground murmuring about Him, they make their move and join with the chief priests in sending officers to take Him. It seems that evil always organizes and becomes institutionalized.

But it is Jesus who knows His own time and sets the pace. And the time is not now, but in a little while at the Passover in a few months, not at the Feast of the Tabernacles. That will be the time of His sacrifice and His victorious return to the bosom of the Father who sent Him. Then the Pharisees will not be able to come to the place where He is because the door has been closed. “Their terrible seeking comes when the day of grace is past.”² It is the believing disciples who alone can follow Jesus to the Father.

The attempt of the Jews to work out some kind of explanation of Jesus’ going where they cannot come is a caricature. Does this strange man, who so angers them, plan to lose Himself among the Gentiles in their dispersion, spreading His heretical message? Where else could He go and not be found? Of course none of these Jews would contaminate themselves by going among these unclean heathen. But how prophetic is their explanation. Little do they realize that the presence of the resurrected Christ will come to be known and accepted throughout the whole Gentile world.

7:37-39

Rivers of Living Water

It is on the “last,” “great” day of celebration that Jesus issues a dramatic invitation. Every morning during the feast there has been a procession to the fountain of Gihon which supplied the water for the pool of Siloam. Here the priest has filled his golden pitcher with water as the choir sang, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Is. 12:3). Then the crowd has made its way to the temple carrying branches and twigs in the right hand, reminding them of the huts they constructed in the wilderness, and a lemon or citron in the left hand, a sign of harvest. They proceeded to the altar waving the branches singing, “Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity” (Ps. 118:25). Then the priest went up to the altar at the time of the sacrifice and poured the water into a silver funnel through which it flowed to the ground.

On the seventh day, the crowd circumambulated the altar seven times to celebrate God’s gift of water when Moses struck the rock in the wilderness at Meribah. It was at this moment in the midst of the celebration that Jesus stood and cried, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (v. 37). The symbolism of this dramatic invitation ran deeper than the outpoured water at this festival. It was rooted in that moment and place when Moses faced that vast thirsty crowd at Sinai crying out for water, and almost in desperation, he struck the rock “and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank” (Num. 20:11).

But the crowd Jesus faces—those curious, wondering seekers as well as those angry ecclesiastics—have far deeper, more urgent needs than their ancestors in the wilderness. For their thirsts are spiritual and eternal. One cannot help but be aware of the restless, parched multitudes all about us. They desperately seek to quench their thirst in a constant round of parties or in one sexual escapade after another or in feverishly struggling to keep up with the crowd, and at the end, always being left more hopeless and disillusioned. And often the church, so busy with its little institutional business, has no living water to share.

Jesus’ offer of water to these is strong and clear. Here are two imperatives that are really one—“come” and “drink.” He is the Rock from which eternal water flows giving life to all who will step forward.

In speaking of Himself as water, Jesus has used a striking Messianic symbol. As the rock was struck in the wilderness, so He will be struck and broken open and life will flow forth to be shared with all who will come and drink (John 19:34). And “he who believes”—a phrase used forty-one times in this Gospel—will himself become a rock out of whose deepest self will flow healing, life-giving water. He will be so filled that there will be a spontaneous overflowing, an outgoing sharing of life, with all those nearby.

I have seen this happen beautifully in the life of Jerry Johnson, a husky, tall state highway patrolman in our church. In the days of his old life it must have been a terror to be arrested by him. He was so full of conflict and confusion that the air would become heavy with his “purple language,” particularly if the victim were black, because, as Jerry has said, “I used to hate blacks.” Then he heard Jesus’ strong invitation and came and drank of that “living water.” And a quiet, but noticeable, change began to come over his life. I heard him say shortly after his baptism, “I can’t explain it, but when I had to stop a black man for speeding the other day I actually had a great love for him.” That living water, which he had drunk, was now flowing out of his heart. Now he and his gracious wife, Becky, have literally turned their home into a place of hospitality and healing for needy children and young people. Our congregation is constantly amazed at who the Johnsons have living with them.

It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that releases and sets free that Stream of living water. Godet³ has made the interesting suggestion that the disciples quenched their thirst on Jesus until Pentecost, but after that event, they became a blessing to others in a new style of outgoing life. It was then a tide of living water flowed out of their life together, manifesting itself in a bold witness and wondrous works.

But the Spirit could only be given after Jesus had been lifted up in glory. It was through the suffering and death of the Cross that His glory broke forth. It was almost as if when His side was pierced He released the Spirit that was in Him to be shared with those who believed.

7:40-52

Rejection, but a Cautious Defense

Again the crowd struggles with Jesus’ identity. On the basis of Jesus’ tremendous claims some are convinced He is a prophet, like Elijah. Others say He is the Christ, the Chosen One. But others say, “This cannot be the Messiah because He is to come from David’s city, Bethlehem, and this man has come from Galilee.” So there is a divided house as there always is when Christ comes.

But in their ignorance about the origin of Jesus, these wondering people unknowingly speak the truth. John is a master of so arranging his material that mistakes or ignorance become a subtle means of underlining the truth. It is ironic that these people, who are so tenacious about tracking Jesus down, are not even familiar with His place of birth.

When the temple police who have been sent by the Sanhedrin to take Jesus return empty-handed, they are accused of being duped by His clever talk. These religious leaders are in effect saying, “Look at us. This man is not leading us astray with His wild claims. But this crowd is so ignorant of the law that it is damned.” What a paradox that these interpreters of the law, who are so certain of their own wisdom and expertise, are the ones who have misled the people.

It is here that Nicodemus, quietly and unexpectedly, speaks a word of cautious defense. He is raising the question of justice and legality by simply asking, “Are we living up to the law which we profess to believe? Do we judge a man before he has had a chance to defend himself?” How suggestive that John identifies Nicodemus both as the one who came to Jesus by night and also as one of the Pharisees. One senses the tension within Nicodemus as he tries to live in both these worlds with some integrity. He is entering into new life with Jesus while at the same time trying to be faithful within the system of which he has been a part since early manhood. We cannot criticize Nicodemus too easily because his defense was not stronger. He has at least spoken up in the face of the disdain and arrogance of his colleagues.

7:53

(See notes in next chapter.)