Today's Reading:

John 7
John 8
John 9

When Jesus was teaching in Jerusalem during the Feast of the Tabernacles (Feast of Booths), the people were amazed, as well as the Jewish leaders. The leaders did not know where His knowledge came from, as Jesus had no formal rabbi training. Jesus said the knowledge comes from the Father, and anyone can learn. If you want to do God’s will, you will be able to discern and know if teachings are from God or from humans.

Jesus pointed back to the healing that triggered the leaders to want to kill Him, the healing of the man on the Sabbath (John 5). Even while they plotted against Him, Jesus kept offering them the truth and the invitation to know the Father. The same grace that moved Him to heal on the Sabbath was still reaching toward them: knowledge and a life freely given, if only they were willing to receive it. 

If Jesus said that anyone who wants to do God’s will can understand His teaching, what is one area in your life where you sense Him inviting you to listen? Are you open to learning from Jesus even when His teaching challenges what you already think you know?

It had been several months since the feeding of the 5,000, the walking on water, and the transfiguration. Around the month of October, Jesus went to Galilee, and the leaders were looking for any excuse to kill Him. Jesus’ family suggested to Him not to stay in secret but to make Himself known. The Feast of the Tabernacles was one of three major feasts that Jews would travel or make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for each year. It was a reminder of Israel’s time in the Wilderness, and the people celebrated by building temporary roofless housings, “booths,” to live in for the week. Jesus’ family believed He was deserving of recognition for the miracles, yet they still did not believe in Him. Jesus was on the Father’s timeline and would not seek human glory. It would be difficult to reclassify a family member or close friend as something more than you have ever known them. Jesus refused to be pressured into going publicly but later decided to go to the feast in private. There were public rumors about Him, but the people were afraid to publicly express belief in Jesus for fear of backlash. Halfway through the weeklong festival, Jesus finally made a public appearance to teach.

Circumcision was commanded by law (Genesis 17, Leviticus 12:3) and must happen on the eighth day. If the eighth day fell on a Sabbath, the rabbis still worked to perform the circumcision. Jesus called out the hypocrisy of why He could not heal on the Sabbath if they could work. Why would He need to wait until the next day to heal? Jesus said not to judge by or break the Sabbath rules inconsistently, but to be consistent.

The crowd questioned Jesus’ authority for speaking in public and wondered if the leaders thought He was truly the Messiah. The crowd did not believe it was true because it was known that Jesus was from Nazareth. He rebuked them with “Yes, you know me, but God sent me.” Jesus told them He would only be there for a short time. This confused the people, and they thought maybe He was going to the Jewish Diaspora to teach the Greeks, but they missed that He was talking about His own death, resurrection, and return to the Father.

On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, they had water-drawing ceremonies to remember God’s provisions in the Wilderness and look forward to future blessings. Jesus said this was now Him. He is the source of the living water. The Spirit will be given to believers, and they will be the water channels of the Holy Spirit, life, and power. You do not receive water for yourself; it is so that the life-giving waters flow from you to others. The river is a picture of the Spirit’s life, presence, and ministry working in all believers.

The temple guards were sent to arrest Him but decided not to. It was not that they did not have a chance, but Jesus’ own teachings stopped them. Nicodemus declared Jesus should be given a chance to defend Himself before being judged. The other Pharisees shut him down sarcastically. Again, they were wrong, and said that no other prophet came from Galilee, but Jonah did.

Some transcripts of the Bible do not include John 7:53-8:1-11. The reason it is not always included is that the earliest of the found manuscripts do not have that section. It may also have been removed for fear the people would misuse mercy as an excuse for immorality. The Pharisees brought an adulterous woman to where Jesus was teaching. Note that Jesus bent to write on the ground with His finger. The finger of God writing has been seen before in Scripture (Exodus 31:18, where the finger of God wrote the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets. In Daniel 5:5, during Belshazzar’s feast, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster wall in divine judgment as a supernatural writing sent by God). Jesus was acting with the same authority. Here, the Pharisees were setting a trap for Him. One by one, the accusers left until only Jesus and the woman remained. He does not minimize her sin; it is not acceptable. This was a call to be holy, as only He can judge.

Now Jesus spoke to the crowds again. The Pharisees do not approve His testimony about who He is because He was talking about Himself. They judge by human standards while He judges no one. Then, He said He was leaving, and they could not come. They think He means suicide. When they ask who He is, He said that He has been telling them from the beginning. Freedom from sin is freedom when you are on a mission with the Father. He talks to those who believe in Him but says it is early in their belief; only those who are really His disciples will know the truth. They misunderstand. John made the point that echoes back to John 1:1: He is the Word, and the Word was God.

In verse 8:28, Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man,” He was foreshadowing the cross. The truth will set you free. The truth He reveals is the truth about God, the truth about Himself, and humans. This correlates to John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Knowing the truth means having real personal knowledge of Jesus. He used “then” as a conditional trust, meaning to continue to abide. Short-term belief is not enough. The truth sets you free, reveals your sins, and gives you a relationship with Jesus, who has the authority to free you from them and give you a permanent place in His house. The people have a spiritual block because they were unwilling to hear. It was a big announcement that whoever obeys never sees death. Sin does have consequences in general. “We” must do the work. Jesus was including His disciples when He said “we,” in that they are on the Father’s mission. His light exposes spiritual blindness.

Jesus healed the man at the Siloam pool. John wrote that “Siloam” meant “sent,” which fits the theme that Jesus is the One sent by the Father. The man’s obedience is what healed him. Like we are made from dust, Jesus used dust of the earth to restore the man’s sight (this echoes Genesis 2:7). This is not the first time Jesus healed with spit (Mark 7:33, 8:23). The blind man’s parents were brought in to confirm he is their son and that he was born blind. In order to protect themselves from being excommunicated from the synagogue, they told them to ask him themselves who did the healing. Because anyone who had confessed that Jesus was the Messiah was cast out. The leaders were pressuring the man to agree with them that Jesus was a sinner. The man was bold in declaring that Jesus was sent from God. The man who received sight was now also given spiritual sight. Those who claim they already see because they can see will get nothing and remain in darkness. If they would admit they need Jesus as the light, then they would not be guilty, but they kept claiming they could see on their own.

Today's Discussion question:

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