14 About halfway through the feast, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man attain such learning without having studied?”

16 “My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “It comes from Him who sent Me. 17 If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own. 18 He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a man of truth; in Him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”

20 “You have a demon,” the crowd replied. “Who is trying to kill You?”

21 Jesus answered them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.) 23 If a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, why are you angry with Me for making the whole man well on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”

REFLECTIONS

Written by Mercy Saw

In this passage, people make several judgments against Jesus. Firstly, the Jewish leaders witness Jesus teaching in the temple and are amazed at him. We aren’t told the details of what he taught, but it was clearly of such a standard that they are impressed at his wisdom and authority despite him not having received formal training under their religious teachers. Although they can see that his teaching is powerful, the Jewish leaders judge Jesus as a threat, so they are still intent on killing him. The crowd’s response to Jesus is just as bad. They judge Jesus completely incorrectly and accuse him of being demon-possessed for calling the Jewish leaders out for their evil intentions.

Ironically, the judgments made again Jesus expose those who are judging him. Jesus says that the mark of whether a person desires to do the will of God is whether they correctly recognize that Jesus’ authority comes from God who has sent him. Jesus seeks to glorify the Father by obeying him, and thus demonstrates he is the one who is full of truth. In contrast, the religious leaders are caught up with maintaining their authority through their rigid enforcement of the law, and so fail to recognize Jesus for who he is. They condemn him for healing a man on the Sabbath (John 5) rather than seeing that this miracle shows he is the promised Messiah sent by God to fulfil the law.

This reminds me that it is possible to have much head knowledge and training in God’s word, but what matters most is to be submitting to the authority of Jesus and his word over my life. This is especially important when we come to parts of the Bible which may challenge our beliefs or call out areas of our lives where we may need to repent and obey God. It also reminds me that we need God’s Spirit to give us discernment to understand his word and see life as Jesus does. Praise God for Jesus and his humility in seeking God’s glory by obeying him, and ask that he would help us to do likewise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mercy is a member of our Fairfield Morning congregation.