4. Sent to seek God’s glory (John 7:14-18) – a mission of truth
Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple
courts and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, ‘How did this
man get such learning without having been taught?’
Jesus answered, ‘My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who
sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my
teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their
own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who
sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
The Feast of Tabernacles
was the last of seven annual celebrations given to Israel by God. These dates in the calendar marked the
seasons and enfolded the year in gratitude to God. Tabernacles, specifically, reminded the
nation that their ancestors had lived in tents as they wandered through the
desert. It challenged them to be
thankful for God’s provision of a permanent home where they could live and
serve Him. John 7 tells of Jesus’
journey to Jerusalem to celebrate this festival. As the chapter opens, He is active in Galilee
and we are told that He did not want, or perhaps was not given authority by His
Father, to be in Judea, preferring to stay in relative safety far from the power-base
of His opponents. His brothers, however,
saw the opportunity the festival gave for Jesus to strengthen His following
among the Judeans. If you want to lead
people, you’ve got to do more public works.
If you want people to be impressed, stop doing things so secretively. If you want to make something of yourself,
promote yourself. That was the logic of
their advice. Interestingly, John
explains that the reason they said this was that they didn’t believe in
Him. This might seem odd, since these
men clearly knew that their half-brother could do amazing wonders and are
actually encouraging Him to do more, but the statement highlights the nature of
faith as described in John’s Gospel.
Faith is not simply recognising that Jesus can do wonderful things, or
even placing hope in Him to do wonderful things for our benefit, but entrusting
ourselves fully to Him in a way that expresses dependence upon Him and that
acknowledges that His plans, explanations and understandings are superior to
our own. Jesus’ brothers had not yet
trusted in Him, although at least two (James and Jude) would after His
resurrection.
Jesus rebukes His
brothers by saying that His time has not yet come and that they would not
understand – they thought He could receive glory through a stage-managed
miracle-working tour of Judea, but Jesus knew that the path to glory must lead
through the cross and must follow the timetable set by His Father. His testimony concerning the evil that is in
the world means He will face a hatred they cannot comprehend. They can go to the Festival, but He will not
go until His Father makes it clear that He should. The brothers leave and then Jesus leaves too,
but in secrecy rather than pomp. It is
not that He deceives His brothers by saying He was not going, but rather the
Father has only now given Him the command to go. This journey to Jerusalem will be His last
before the events of His death. The
Jewish leaders are expecting Him to come
and look for Him. The people are talking
about Him and opinion is divided. For
the first three days of the seven day festival, there is no sign of Jesus. Then, suddenly, on the middle day of that
special week He begins to teach publically.
The impact is dramatic – people are amazed at His teaching. Yet Jesus is quick to give the credit to His
Father. He is not seeking personal acclamation,
but His Father’s glory.
Jesus was not afraid to speak truth to the powers of His day. Indeed, He insisted that only by seeking the
glory of the One who sends Him can a messenger truly be a “man of truth”. Just as this is true of Jesus, it is true of
those He sends out. When a person is
motivated by their own glory, the truth is inevitably compromised. Not only are their motivations untrue, but
they become incapable of following Jesus in the path He followed – the path of
self-sacrifice. When opposition comes
and popularity fades, they will compromise the message to suit the crowd. In their preaching of the gospel they will be
more concerned with their own performance than with their faithfulness. So the gospel itself is distorted and they
become representatives not of the embodied Truth who is Jesus, but of a false
Christ.
This chapter reveals a further
principle for Christian mission:
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