Tag Archives: John 7

Chapter-a-Day

Division

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Division (CaD Jhn7) – Wayfarer

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.
John 7:43 (NIV)

Here in America, the news is filled with talk about the deep political divisions that seem to have only widened in the past decade. Both sides of the political aisle have their version of extremists to which the other side can point and stoke up fear and loathing that politicians have proven motivates crowds to action like nothing else. Both sides ignore the worst and most obvious flaws in their own presumed candidates while believing the worst accusations and exaggerations of the candidate on the opposite side. Meanwhile, the media giants (who are equally divided among political lines) in their insatiable need for clicks, likes, shares, and revenue relentlessly exploit the worst of the opposition while ignoring the glaring newsworthy problems on their own preferred side of the political narrative. It’s not a great situation.

This came to mind in the quiet this morning simply because in today’s chapter John focuses on how incredibly divisive Jesus was at the peak of His public ministry. The scene is an annual seven-day Jewish harvest festival called the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. Jewish pilgrims from all over flocked to Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest at the Temple.

John begins by simply stating the fact that the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem were looking for a way to kill Jesus. Obviously, tensions are high. John spends the rest of the chapter focusing on three distinct groups of people and their opinions about Jesus.

First, there is Jesus’ own younger brothers. The younger sibs are currently of the opinion that their eldest sibling is whacked. They (and presumably the rest of the family) are headed to Jerusalem for the feast. When Jesus begs off, they sarcastically tease him in true sibling fashion that if He wants to stay at the top of the #trending charts He shouldn’t pass up going to the feast where He can have maximum public exposure.

The “crowds” of everyday people on pilgrimage are the second group John mentions. The Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem are the third. The distinction between these groups falls along eerily familiar socio-political lines. The Jewish religious leaders are the educated, wealthy “elites” who view the crowd of pilgrims as uneducated deplorables from fly-over country.

John reveals that among both of these groups, there was tremendous division over who Jesus was. Some believed that Jesus was the Messiah, a prophet, or at least a good man and teacher. Others saw Jesus as a deceiver or an agent of the devil. Among the elite religious leaders, the die has already been cast and they secretly have put a price on Jesus’ head. They are even spinning the narrative that Jesus can’t be a prophet or the Messiah because He comes from Galilee and “no prophet comes from Galilee.” Their spin was absolutely wrong. Jonah came from Galilee, and God can raise up a prophet from wherever He chooses. But the elite are used to being able to say whatever they want and the system will obediently line up behind them. John is careful to note, however, that Nicodemus (who made a clandestine visit to Jesus back in chapter 3) was willing to call his colleagues on their own self-deception. There was at least some quiet opposition among them.

The entire book of John is about John presenting his primary source account of Jesus to readers. At the time of his writing, the question about who Jesus was was no less divisive, perhaps only more so. John clearly embraces this fact, acknowledging that those reading his account could be anywhere on the spectrum between believer and antagonistic rejector. His job, which he states up front in the prologue, is to share what he saw, heard, and experienced being one of Jesus’ most intimate followers. John is silently begging the question: “Who do you believe Jesus is?”

So in the quiet this morning, I can’t help but ponder this question anew. Jesus famously shared that “the truth will set you free,” but He equally shared that the truth will also sharply divide. Today’s chapter is John’s testimony as to the latter. As a disciple of Jesus, among the exhibits of this divide is the reality that Jesus’ famous quote “the truth will set you free” has a caveat that literally no one includes with the famous quote:

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (emphasis added)

My observation is that everyone wants “truth” and its promised “freedom” without Jesus, His teaching, or the need to hold to that teaching. As a disciple of Jesus, I can’t expect the latter without submitting to the former.

So, once again I enter another day on the journey endeavoring to hold to Jesus’ teaching, believing that He is who He said He was, and trusting that I will continue to find both truth and freedom as I make the trek.

I’m back on Facebook for those who liked to read my chapter-a-day posts there! Facebook refuses to give me access to my old, hacked account, but I have started a new account. Please search for me on Facebook and friend me. If Facebook won’t let you friend me, please go to my Facebook profile and “Message” me, which should then allow me to friend you. Cheers! -Tom

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Who is This Man?

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Who is This Man? (CaD John 7) – Wayfarer

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.
John 7:43 (NIV)

As I read the headlines, it appears to me that I live in a time when I hear many different things being stated as fact, and I am left to reason out what is true.

  • Should I truly still be afraid of COVID and its variants, even though I’ve had COVID and have also been vaccinated?
  • Is a biological male truly a female athlete?
  • Is climate change truly ushering in a soon-coming apocalypse?
  • Was I truly born a racist with no hope of change or redemption?
  • Is it truly possible for everything in life to be fair and equitable?

What a fascinating time to be walking this earthly journey.

As I mentioned at the outset of this chapter-a-day journey through John’s biography of Jesus, identity is a major theme that weaves its way through John’s writing and the stories he chooses to share from the voluminous number of stories he could have shared. I’ve had both my eyes and my heart looking for it as I read each chapter. And isn’t a timely theme for our current time when “identity” is such a hot topic?

In yesterday’s chapter, Jesus pointedly called out the motives of the crowds that were following Him around the shores of Galilee. It was such a harsh rebuke that the crowds dispersed and even The Twelve were tempted to walk away.

In today’s chapter, John shares what a lightning rod Jesus had become. The national religious festival called the Feast of Tabernacles is set to kick off in Jerusalem. Everyone is expecting Jesus to make a grand entrance. Instead, He travels to Jerusalem secretly and arrives late.

Everyone is asking, “Who is Jesus?” Here are some of the takes:

The religious leaders see Jesus as a threat to their power and control over the masses. They have a price on Jesus’ head (vs. 1), they send the Temple Police to arrest Him (vs. 32), and they hold fast to their view of Jesus as, truly, a deceiver and illegitimate prophet (vss. 47-52).

Jesus’ siblings think Jesus is out of His mind, and they mockingly urge Jesus to leave Galilee where He’s wildly popular and relatively safe and go to Judea where He’s likely to get arrested by the religious leaders and stoned for being a heretic (vss. 3-5)

The crowds have all sorts of opinions:

  • Jesus is a “good man.” (vs. 12)
  • Jesus is a “deceiver.” (vs. 12)
  • Jesus is amazing, knowing so much for being a rural schmuck who wasn’t trained formally in the formal, ivy league, educational institutions of Jerusalem. (vs. 15)
  • Jesus is “demon possessed.” (vs. 20)
  • Jesus might be the Messiah. (vss. 25-26)
  • Jesus can’t be the Messiah if He came from Nazareth. (vs. 27)
  • Jesus should be seized and arrested for what He is saying (vs. 30)
  • Jesus is the Messiah. Who else could perform these miracles? (vs. 31)
  • Jesus is the Prophet spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:15. (vs. 40)
  • Jesus is the Messiah. (vs. 41)
  • Jesus can’t be the Messiah because, according to the prophets, the Messiah will be from Bethlehem. (vs. 42)

The temple guards don’t have a clue who Jesus is, but they were so impressed with what Jesus had to say that they disobeyed orders and refused to do so. (vss. 45-47)

John, one of Jesus’ inner-circle and a primary source witness to the events, tells me at the beginning of the book that Jesus is truly the resurrected Messiah and incarnate Christ. Still, John makes it clear that along the way Jesus’ miracles and teaching created tremendous division.

In the quiet this morning, I find my heart contemplating two things.

First, John’s story compels me as a reader to decide for myself who Jesus is. He even provides me with ten or so popular, contemporary opinions from which to choose. As for me, I made my decision forty years ago. Have I questioned my choice? Yes. In fact, I’m questioning it anew in the quiet this morning. Have I changed my mind? Never. My spiritual journey of forty years has deepened my faith.

Second, I find myself asking, “If I truly believe, what I say I believe, how should that inform my thoughts, actions, words, and tasks on this 20,185th day of my earthly journey?”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Smoke Filled Back Rooms of Jerusalem

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The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about [Jesus], and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him.
John 7:32 (NRSV)

It has been fascinating for me to read John’s biography of Jesus during the current presidential election. The election is all about popularity, sound bytes, what this person said about that person, what that person thinks about this person, who came to this event, and who sat out of that event. It’s a whole lot of zany humanity, and that is exactly what is happening in today’s chapter.

After the post shore-lunch debacle [see yesterday’s post], Jesus has seemingly chosen to call an end to his whistle-stop miracle tour in fly-over country. There is conflict among his team and fighting among his own family. Jesus organization seems to be fractured from infighting. And now, there’s a big event looming in the Capitol city of Jerusalem. Everyone is going to be there. His family sarcastically rides Jesus that if He wants to be Mr. Big then He has to go to the festival. Jesus chooses out, the abruptly decides to make a surprise appearance.

In the Capitol of Jerusalem, the political atmosphere is tense. Political polls about Jesus are mixed but popularity has swung so much His way that the party establishment are running scared. They begin a smear campaign. They put out sound bytes announcing that there is no way Jesus can be the Messiah on legal grounds because Jesus hails from the Galilee district and the Law clearly says that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Plus, Jesus performing miracles on the Sabbath day of rest is at the very least a misdemeanor if you’re going to split legal hairs. In a “smoke-filled back room” the  party officials and insiders decide to have Jesus arrested and muscle the young upstart into line.

Jesus, meanwhile, is drawing huge crowds. His message is as confusing as ever. He’s talking like he’s been smoking one of those Turkish hookahs. “My teaching is not mine, but the One who sent me” (Hold on. What does that mean? Who’s Jesus working for? Is Jesus starting a Third Party?) “I’m going where you won’t see me” (Is he leaving? Is he getting out of the race?).   “I come from the Father” (Yeah, in Nazareth.). “You don’t know the Father, but I know Him.” (Wait a minute. Yes I do. Joe the Carpenter. Fixed a table for me once).

Despite the confusing rhetoric, Jesus is mesmerizing. He is unlike anything anyone has ever seen. No one talks like this. No one does the things Jesus does. It’s so compelling that even the Capitol police sent to arrest Jesus decide to disobey orders and face the reprimand they know they’ll get from party officials.

The political situation is heating up and everyone is asking two questions:

  1. “Who is Jesus?”
  2. “What do we do with Him?”

And, in retrospect, that seems to have been Jesus’ intention all along. Everyone needs to answer those two questions.

 

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day John 7

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“Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” John 7:24 (NLT)

One of the things Wendy and I have learned about acting over the years is that we enjoy the character work as much as we do the actual performance. Building a character means doing the ground work, investigating the character’s history and relationships, and peeling back the layers of who a person really is below the lines of the script and the movement of the director’s blocking. The character work an actor does brings depth to the character on stage.

One of the life lessons that doing character work has taught me is that people are complex, multi-faceted creatures. If I simply memorize the lines and move from point A to point B like a trained dog I do a great disservice to the complex creature I am portraying. Plumb the depths of a character’s heart and mind and you begin to empathize with who he is and why he does the things that he does. Only then can my acting begin to serve the character and the story well.

As I read today’s chapter I could almost feel the chaos of public opinion swirling around Jesus. The religious leaders were saying one thing about Him, some of the crowd another, His family were saying something different, while within His own inner circle of followers there was an on-going debate about Him. Like all who find themselves in the public spotlight, Jesus was finding Himself judged, labeled, and branded. He knew that people were misjudging Him because they had not taken the time to look below the surface of what they saw and heard, to plumb the depths, and to understand who He really was.

Whenever we brush over another person with a swash of generalization, we diminish them so as to justify our simplistic judgement of them. I have done the same thing. I do it all the time. We would all do well to obey Jesus’ command to look below the surface so we can judge correctly. We would all do well to do a little character work for those creatures and characters we dismiss, diminish, hate, or simply avoid. If we do so, we might find there’s more to their story than we ever imagined. We might just treat them with a little more love and understanding. We might just become better creatures ourselves for having done so.