Skip to main content

189. Overview: Jesus at The Feast


John 7:1-52 & 8:11-59
Key Verse: "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
John 7:24

There is a lot to read for today. I apologize for that. In the coming days, we will be looking at this passage more closely and breaking it down into bite size pieces, as we did the Sermon on the Mount and The Sermon on the Plain, to grasp better understanding. For today, just see this passage in its entirety as an overview.

On the day that we discussed Jesus' birth, I had said that one of the reasons that Jesus walked this earth was to earn the right to say, "I understand." If you have ever faced opposition for speaking the truth, if you have ever been frustrated by religious closed mindedness, this passage shows you that Jesus certainly understands. He constantly faced opposition, mostly from the religious leaders of the day who had taken what God the Father and Jesus the Son had originally given to guide the people and had twisted it into a means of gaining power and control over the poor and helpless. As with the Pharisee from Luke 18:9-14, these leaders were unteachable. They knew it all and were hard hearted toward Jesus. Note that Jesus did not back down, but continued to speak the truth anyway.

When this episode actually occurred during Jesus’ Ministry is hard to say. The Feast of Tabernacles does take place in the fall of the year, as we will see tomorrow. John, however, is not concerned with chronology as much as theology, so placing this event in time is a bit tricky. I continue to think that Jesus’ ministry probably took place over more than a year, I think closer to three. Jesus was somewhat known by this time, and He was being sought out, which leads me to think that this particular feast of Tabernacles dialogue took place during Jesus’ last year of ministry. Within six months, He would be hanging on a cross because of the opposition of these same religious folk. Yet, He was determined to continue for their sakes and for ours.

Hymn: "God of Grace and God of Glory"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

July 16 Thick Skinned Love

Whoever covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ~Matthew 18:15  The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8  Being offended seems to be the battle cry of the day. Instead of freedom of speech, everyone has the right not to be offended. If one is offended, then one has the right to exact vengeance on the offender because, of course, the offender KNEW that he or she was being offensive and just didn’t care. Is that how you see much of society behaving today?  There seems to be all of this offending and finger pointing that just keeps growing and growing. Nothing is being resolved, just more blame that grows louder a...
Post a Comment
Read more

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more