Tonight’s passage is a difficult one to break down and try to explain. Jesus has gone to Jerusalem and in verse 14 from last week Jesus has stepped up in public at the temple and began to preach. What we have been looking at the last two studies are the reactions to Jesus’ claims. We looked at the reaction of Jesus’ half-brothers, and last week we looked at the reaction of the Jewish crowd. Tonight we look at the reaction of all the people—the pilgrims and the local residents of Jerusalem.
The charges against Jesus ranged all the way from being demon-possessed to being a mere man. Jesus’ answer to all these charges against Him was perceptive.
The charge we see right away from these people was that Jesus was demon-possessed and insane. Let’s pick up our story by backing up one verse from last week’s study. READ vv. 19-24.
This charge was primarily by the pilgrims—those who had traveled in from other areas to observe the Feast of Tabernacles—not by the local residents of Jerusalem. The local residents will speak up in the next passage.
These pilgrims were the people who didn’t know Jesus very well. They had come from all over the world, so they didn’t know as much about Jesus, which made it easier to charge Him with being demon-possessed. To them, this man, Jesus, was acting mad or insane.
Al they saw was a man opposing:
• The religious establishment, the religious leaders.
• The religion that had proven itself for generations.
• The religion that contributed so much to society and the nation.
• The religion that was founded by the forefathers, the most godly leaders of history.
From their viewpoint, only an evil man or a man filled with an evil spirit would have opposed such a religion, so Jesus must be insane. As they stood and listened to Jesus, someone they didn’t know much about, they must have thought his mind was deranged, running wild with the imagination that people were out to get Him. Surely He must have been controlled by an evil spirit.
These pilgrims thought their religious leaders could do little if any evil. They thought their religious leaders would never harm anyone, or be unjust or immoral. They thought the religious leaders would never react against anyone or do any unholy thing. So how can this ordinary man, Jesus, say they are trying to kill Him?
Thought: Some people think religious leaders can do no wrong. (Except, ya’ll, and you know better.) But religion and religious leaders can be wrong just as any establishment or anyone else can be wrong. No one is exempt from failing or falling, coming short and sinning.
Jesus came to point out this misconception, to correct it and forgive, and to pass judgment upon those who wouldn’t repent or receive God’s forgiveness and be corrected.
Here’s another thought: A person’s choice or decision should be made for Jesus Christ and not for religion and religious leaders. Christ is the truth, not religion or its leaders. Religion and religious leaders are supposed to follow Christ just like everybody else. We’re not above that. Christ is the Lord and Master, not religion or religious leaders.
Jesus answered these pilgrims by mentioning the great work He had just done. He was speaking of His healing the crippled man by the pool of Bethsaida. This was the man that had been crippled for 38 years, and the people had marveled at the power of Jesus. (Jn. 5:1) (That study was Sept. 13, 2009).
You might remember that the problem was that Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, which was considered work, and working on the Sabbath was strictly forbidden. It was a serious offense in the minds of the Jews because they felt that it taught the people to break the law. They couldn’t allow that because they felt that their religion is what held the nation together.
The point is this. Jesus said that He wasn’t evil; He wasn’t demon-possessed or insane. Doing good proves whether a man is full of evil or full of good. His work of healing the crippled man was a good work not an evil work. His healing did as much good as the religious leaders who circumcised on the Sabbath day. Let’s break this down.
1. The religious leaders criticized Jesus for healing the crippled man on the Sabbath, and it was for this work and other so-called law-breaking deeds that they were opposing Him, even plotting to kill Him.
2. Jesus wanted all men, even the religionists, to see the truth. He wasn’t a law-breaker or an evil man. He wasn’t out to destroy men and nations. He was the Son of God who had come to save men and nations and to correct and set religion straight.
3. Jesus appealed to the people to judge rightly, that is, not by appearance. So He compared what they do to what He did.
When they circumcised a man on the Sabbath, they weren’t doing evil, but good. They were meeting man’s religious and ceremonial need. He didn’t condemn them. They were correct in circumcising on the Sabbath, because God commanded circumcision on the 8th day, and sometimes the 8th day after a child’s birth was bound to fall on the Sabbath.
So when He healed a man on the Sabbath, He wasn’t doing evil, but good. He was meeting a personal and bodily need of a man, a need much more desperate than a religious and ceremonial need.
Jesus told the people not the judge according to appearance, but to look at what He did; and to look realistically, honestly, and objectively. If they did, they would see that Jesus wasn’t full of evil but full of good and righteousness. They would see that Jesus was the Son of God.
READ vv. 25-31. Now we see the reaction of the local people. And in their response, we see that there is still more questioning.
They questioned, is this the one who is so opposed and feared?
Is He the One they’re trying to kill?
Then they began reasoning. He speaks so boldly and openly, and they don’t try to stop Him. Is He the Messiah? But these local residents of Jerusalem came to a tragic conclusion.
Jesus is NOT the Messiah. Why? (V. 27). Because they knew His origin. They knew all about His family and how He was raised. So they concluded that He was a mere man, a carpenter from Nazareth. In their minds there was absolutely nothing unusual about His origin. So He couldn’t possibly be of God. He couldn’t be the promised Messiah.
Here’s a thought on that: Some always have and always will question, and try to reason and draw the wrong conclusion. Some still question today, is Jesus the One promised by God?
Some will reason: Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. He’s bound to be because we continue to hear about Him. He’s still proclaimed despite all the persecution.
Some will conclude: Jesus couldn’t be the Son of God. It’s impossible for a man to be born of God, to literally come from God. Do people still question the incarnation, questioning Jesus’ virgin birth? Yes, there are still people today that say that a man is a man, just flesh and blood like all other men.
This unbelief will almost always come about when the mind is set only on the earth and its physical law. If God is God, He must be allowed to act supernaturally, about natural law. This was the problem is Jesus’ day, and it’s still the problem with our generation.
Jesus’ reply to those who questioned and didn’t believe him is a critical point. His answered centered on His origin. You might have noticed that Jesus was very emotional in answering this point. It says in v. 28 that He cried out. The Greek word used here means that He cried and shouted three things.
1. He IS a man, and men DO know where He came from. He was born of Mary, and DID come from Nazareth, but that’s not all. There is much, much more.
2. He has come FROM GOD. God sent Him. Notice what Jesus claimed. (and note at the same time the even though Jesus was still being persecuted, He stood on the truth. He WAS the truth so He didn’t waiver in what He claimed.)
a. He claimed, “I am not here on my own.” His mission and message were not His own. He didn’t dream it up, or plan it or plot it. He wasn’t out for self glory or to build a movement or a following. What He did wasn’t of Himself.
b. He claimed, “He who sent Me is true.” A real Person sent Jesus, and note, the Person is not only real, He is true. He is a Person who is the very embodiment of truth. What Jesus was claiming and doing was exactly what He had been sent and commissioned to claim and to do.
c. Jesus said, “You don’t know Him.” They didn’t know that Person who is truth. Jesus was saying that they didn’t know God. If they knew God, really knew Him, they would recognize and know that Jesus’ mission and works were of God. They would know that only God’s perfect love and power could speak and do as Jesus did.
3. Lastly, to close out our study for tonight, Jesus said, (v.29), “I know Him.” Jesus told how He knew God. He knew God because He was from God. And then He goes right back to what He has been saying all along—He came from God’s presence, from being face to face with Him.
He knew God because He was sent by God. While He was face to face with God, God commissioned Him and sent Him forth to proclaim and live the truth before men.
Jesus’ persistence in proclaiming the truth should be our example for standing strong in what the Bible teaches us. No matter how we are mocked, or unbelieved, or persecuted, we should stand up for what God’s Word tells us.
Jesus never backed down. No matter how much He was questioned or persecuted, He continued to proclaim the truth. We will see it again and again as we study the Gospel of John.
John 8:42, “Jesus said, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own, but he sent me.”
John 10:36, “What about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?”
John 17:21, “That all of them may be one, father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
If only we could be so firm in our beliefs.
