At The Festival
Oct 23, 2011 John 7:1-24
Intro:
Our journey the last little while through the Gospel of John has had, at its core, a desire to discover the Biblical Jesus. To see Jesus as He really comes to us in Scripture, not just as we imagine Him or like Him to be. I came across this on a website I use sometimes for sermon prep, sermoncentral.com:
In a posting just this last June, Kevin DeYoung, in his Restless and Reformed blog, describes what people say about Jesus today.
There's Republican Jesus—who is against tax increases and activist judges, for family values and owning firearms.
There's Democrat Jesus—who is against Wall Street and Wal-Mart, for reducing our carbon footprint and printing money.
There's Therapist Jesus—who helps us cope with life’s problems, heals our past, tells us how valuable we are and not to be so hard on ourselves.
There's Starbucks Jesus—who drinks fair trade coffee, loves spiritual conversations, drives a hybrid, and goes to film festivals.
There's Open-minded Jesus—who loves everyone all the time no matter what (except for people who are not as open-minded as you).
There's Touchdown Jesus—who helps athletes run faster and jump higher than non-Christians and determines the outcomes of Super Bowls.
There's Martyr Jesus—a good man who died a cruel death so we can feel sorry for him.
There's Gentle Jesus—who was meek and mild, with high cheek bones, flowing hair, and walks around barefoot, wearing a sash (while looking very German).
There's Hippie Jesus—who teaches everyone to give peace a chance, imagines a world without religion, and helps us remember that all you need is love.
There's Yuppie Jesus—who encourages us to reach our full potential, reach for the stars, and buy a boat.
There's Spirituality Jesus—who hates religion, churches, pastors, priests, and doctrine, and would rather have people out in nature, finding the god within while listening to ambiguously spiritual music.
There's Platitude Jesus—good for Christmas specials, greeting cards, and bad sermons, inspiring people to believe in themselves.
There's Revolutionary Jesus—who teaches us to rebel against the status quo, stick it to the man, and blame things on the system.
There's Guru Jesus—a wise, inspirational teacher who believes in you and helps you find your center.
There's Boyfriend Jesus—who wraps his arms around us as we sing about his intoxicating love in our secret place.
There's Good Example Jesus—who shows you how to help people, change the planet, and become a better you.
And then, DeYoung says, there’s Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Not just another prophet. Not just another Rabbi. Not just another wonder-worker. He was the one they had been waiting for: the Son of David and Abraham’s chosen seed; the one to deliver us from captivity; the goal of the Mosaic law; Yahweh in the flesh; the one to establish God’s reign and rule; the one to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, freedom to the prisoners and proclaim Good News to the poor; the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world...
This Christ is not a reflection of the current mood or the projection of our own desires. He is our Lord and God. He is the Father’s Son, Savior of the world, and substitute for our sins – more loving, more holy, and more wonderfully terrifying than we ever thought possible.
(Kevin DeYoung, Who Do You Say That I Am? from his DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed blog, posted 6-10-09. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, Take A Risk, 11/5/2009). Copied from sermon central.
Context:
Last week we looked at the story of Jesus healing a man in Jerusalem who had been sick for 38 years, but because He healed him on the Sabbath, Jesus landed Himself in a mess of trouble with the Jewish leaders by commanding this healed man to break the law (by carrying his mat on the Sabbath). That had been at a previous festival, and after the healing and some subsequent follow-up conversation, Jesus returns to Galilee. In Chapter 6, He feeds the 5000 and then proceeds to challenge the crowds about their true motives for following Him, which results in John’s report that many of his disciples turned away and deserted him (Jn 6:66). So a once-booming, popular ministry seems to be losing ground.
Time comes for the next major Jewish festival, and we pick up the story in John 7.
John 7:1-24 (NLT):
1 After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world! 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
6 Jesus replied, Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. 8 You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come. 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.
10 But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11 The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. 12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, He’s a good man, but others said, He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people. 13 But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.
14 Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15 The people were surprised when they heard him. How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained? they asked.
16 So Jesus told them, My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me. 17 Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. 18 Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies. 19 Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys it! In fact, you are trying to kill me.
20 The crowd replied, You’re demon possessed! Who’s trying to kill you?
21 Jesus replied, I did one miracle on the Sabbath, and you were amazed. 22 But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses’ law of circumcision. (Actually, this tradition of circumcision began with the patriarchs, long before the law of Moses.) 23 For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the Sabbath? 24 Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.
Jesus’ values vs. the world’s values:
The story begins with Jesus’ conversation with his brothers. It appears they were Jesus’ biological brothers, from the line in verse 5 about them not believing in him. And they’ve got a great idea… in a taunting, egging-on, kind of way. Go become famous!... if you’ve got such great power, and can feed people from nothing and can make the lame walk and all that great stuff, get down there to Jerusalem and show yourself to the world!
Now we know they don’t believe and they are just taunting him, and so we expect Jesus to refuse. But let’s step back for a moment. Isn’t there some merit in their suggestion? Is it not true that there are hungry people that Jesus could feed, and sick people He could heal? And is it also not a good idea that more and more people hear about Jesus and His message; shouldn’t Jesus go become famous?
What we bump quickly up against is the very clear clash of values. And as much as our world is often so different from the world of Jesus’ day, I see a really big similarity here. It is the bigger is better value. The success value. The fame value. And it is a fundamental, deep rooted one in our culture. If something is to be judged as going well, as being successful, and making progress, it must be growing; increasing; the line on the chart must be going higher and to the right. If Jesus really is so great and powerful, He should go to Jerusalem and show (Himself) to the world.
But is that a value of the Kingdom of God? Is it one that we see in the life of Jesus? Is it one we should live by?
Here is the heart of it: if we live by that value, our measure of ourselves (and our worth or success or value) will be determined by the reaction of other people to us. RATHER THAN by God. And thus our decisions and actions will be based on how we think they will be received by others around us, instead of by God. Do you see the danger in it? Even if we claim to be following God, called by God, living for God, if we believe in this value of our world that bigger is better, our actions and decisions will be controlled by people rather than by God.
What People Are Saying…
Jesus does go to the festival, and we see in vs. 10-13 that the pressure is still on. The Jewish leaders were looking, and the crowds were grumbling. Nothing out in the open… just murmurs and under-the-breath comments. Some positive, some negative. But note vs. 13: But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders. Here is another thing I’m not too sure has changed all that much…
A survey was given to those attending training sessions for a Billy Graham crusade in Detroit. One question asked, What is your greatest hindrance to witnessing? Nine percent said they were too busy to remember to do it. Twenty-eight percent felt the lack of real information to share. None said they didn’t really care. Twelve percent said their own lives were not speaking as they should. But by far the largest group were the 51 percent whose biggest problem was the fear of how the other person would react! Don’t let that be true of you – care far more about what God wants and thinks than what others might think!
Look Deeper…
The last thing I want to draw out of the passage comes at the end of Jesus’ teaching to the crowds. There is lots of good stuff there, it is a fascinating conversation to study in detail. It hinges back on the healing Jesus performed on the Sabbath, and Jesus presents a brilliant argument based on the Jewish practice of circumcision, which was permitted on the Sabbath. Essentially, Jesus says if it is ok to do a minor medical procedure on one small part of the body on the Sabbath, surely it is ok to heal a whole man.
But the last line bears careful note. Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly (vs. 24). See, the people were just blindly following rules – focused on obedience to outward things. Jesus calls us to more than that. Look beneath the surface. Dig. Ask questions. Don’t make assumptions. Before coming to a conclusion, about a person or a motive or the way something appears, look beneath the surface. Find out what is really going on. I can’t begin to tell you the number of conversations I have had with people over the years, where they were upset or bothered by something, and it turns out that what was bothering them was simply not the case once we look beneath the surface. Don’t get mad because a man was healed on the Sabbath, look a little deeper and see that a man was healed!
Don’t assume that person is upset at you because they walked past you without saying hi. Maybe they just really need to use the washroom. I wish that was not a true story…
Don’t assume that someone doesn’t need a friendly welcome just because they are standing in the corner with their arms crossed. They maybe need it most.
Don’t assume that a friend didn’t call because they don’t care. Don’t assume that your friend or family member or relative will reject you if you talk about something God is doing in your life. Don’t look at the surface and think you know what is really going on. Look beneath the surface.
Conclusion:
After all, aren’t we glad God looks beneath the surface when He looks at us? That He loves us enough to dig down deep, changing us from the inside? That He doesn’t make assumptions about us? So, then, let’s be like Jesus. Let’s care more about obedience than some notion of worldly success. Let’s have no fear of what others might or might not think about us speaking favorably about Jesus in public. And let’s look beneath the surface. I’m quite sure we’ll find it is worth it.
