Session 13: September 10, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 7:10-52

10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then Jesus himself also went up, not openly but in secret. 11 So the Jewish leaders were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is he?” 12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He is a good man,” but others, “He deceives the common people.” 13 However, no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jewish leaders.

14 When the feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. 15 Then the Jewish leaders were astonished and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” 16 So Jesus replied, “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. 18 The person who speaks on his own authority desires to receive honor for himself; the one who desires the honor of the one who sent him is a man of integrity, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19 Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law! Why do you want to kill me?”

20 The crowd answered, “You’re possessed by a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” 21 Jesus replied, “I performed one miracle and you are all amazed. 22 However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child on the Sabbath. 23 But if a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to external appearance, but judge with proper judgment.”

25 Then some of the residents of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to him. Do the ruling authorities really know that this man is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from. Whenever the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”

28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You both know me and know where I come from! And I have not come on my own initiative, but the one who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I have come from him and he sent me.”

30 So then they tried to seize Jesus, but no one laid a hand on him because his time had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the crowd believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?”

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about Jesus, so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Then Jesus said, “I will be with you for only a little while longer, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.”

35 Then the Jewish leaders said to one another, “Where is he going to go that we cannot find him? He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? 36 What did he mean by saying, ‘You will look for me but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd began to say, “This really is the Prophet!” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” But still others said, “No, for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” 43 So there was a division in the crowd because of Jesus. 44 Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

45 Then the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him back with you?” 46 The officers replied, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 Then the Pharisees answered, “You haven’t been deceived too, have you? 48 None of the members of the ruling council or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they? 49 But this rabble who do not know the law are accursed!”

50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before and who was one of the rulers, said, 51 “Our law doesn’t condemn a man unless it first hears from him and learns what he is doing, does it?” 52 They replied, “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you? Investigate carefully and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee!”

Main Themes

Jesus Goes in Secret

In verses 10 through 13 John gives us insight as to how dangerous Jerusalem had become for Jesus, which may come as a surprise to the reader. Because the Gospels are ancient writings they had to be brief. The media on which the texts were written, probably papyrus scrolls, had limited space; and, using multiple scrolls would have presented challenges of its own (e.g., difficulties in storage, transportation, and copying). So, the Gospel writers give us snapshots. This can give the modern reader the misimpression that what is recorded in the Gospels is all that happened or that it happened in quick succession. The thought might be something like, “Why would the Jewish rulers seek to kill Jesus? Jesus just did a handful of miracles and said some cryptic things. That seems like an odd overreaction.”

Truly, at this point in the story (chapter 7) about two years have transpired. Jesus has performed many miracles. Remember verses like John 2:23, “Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing.” Jesus has undoubtedly risen in popularity; he has had many conflicts with the authorities—both recorded and, it’s safe to speculate—unrecorded; word has spread far and wide about him; and the authorities have clearly discussed the situation. Jesus is a threat to the system.

Then why go to the festival at all? The law requires it (Exodus 23:16). Jesus follows the law perfectly. Jesus is also there to do the will of the Father (v.16 his teachings are “from the one who sent [him]). So Jesus goes, but he remains hidden until the middle of the celebration. Thousands of people would have been there. Blending with the crowds would have been possible. Moreover, the authorities would probably not interrupt such a holy and festive occasion with the arrest and prosecution of a man who was dear to many in the crowd. There was safety in numbers. Now, remember that Jesus is deliberately advancing towards the cross. This is not out of cowardice; his time has not yet come. He will lay down his life—just not yet.

Finally, notice the “atmosphere.” It was the masses, the rubes, who were being taken in by this charlatan. And if anyone thought Jesus was a good man, well he wouldn’t say that in public for fear of the elites. Sounds a bit familiar in this day and age.

The Argument

1 How does this man know so much?

Jesus is the son of a carpenter (Matthew 13:55) and a carpenter himself (Mark 6:3). This is completely expected. The sons learned the trade of their father. The crowd’s amazement at Jesus’ knowledge is because of this very fact—his lack of formal education. A member of the elite may have received formal education in a school for the study of the Law (the Torah). Jesus certainly did not and yet he spoke with eloquence, knowledge, and authority. Notice that this functions as a sign in itself. We may fail to grasp how astonishing this sign is because we live in an age where information is readily available. If I encountered, for example, a mechanic, the son of a mechanic, who only attended school through 8th grade and never went to college, expounding on the writings of Plato in the original Greek, I could believe he has learned this from watching YouTube videos. Perhaps he downloaded an app to learn Greek. Maybe he goes to the library and learns the “old school” way. But what if none of these resources were available. Then his knowledge would be nothing short of miraculous.

2 My teaching is not from me.

So how does a carpenter who is the son of a carpenter go toe to toe with the educated elite in scriptural discussions? Jesus has been taught by—perhaps more accurately, directed by—the Father. Jesus does not expect the audience to simply believe this claim. He says (and I paraphrase), “If anyone is seeking God, they will recognize my words as coming from him.” The Jews had the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. If anyone was reading them humbly and earnestly, they should recognize that Jesus was speaking in accordance with them. Moreover, the idea that Jesus would have learned from his father would have been intimately familiar to his audience. In their culture, one’s father was to teach him the Shema (a prayer from Deuteronomy 6:4-5), the Torah, and Hebrew (the language).

To get a better picture of what Jesus is saying, remember Psalm 119:97-113

97 מ (Mem)

O how I love your law!

All day long I meditate on it.

98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,

for I am always aware of them.

99 I have more insight than all my teachers,

for I meditate on your rules.

100 I am more discerning than those older than I,

for I observe your precepts.

101 I stay away from every evil path,

so that I might keep your instructions.

102 I do not turn aside from your regulations,

for you teach me.

103 Your words are sweeter

in my mouth than honey!

104 Your precepts give me discernment.

Therefore I hate all deceitful actions.

105 נ (Nun)

Your word is a lamp to walk by

and a light to illumine my path.

106 I have vowed and solemnly sworn

to keep your just regulations.

107 I am suffering terribly.

O Lord, revive me with your word.

108 O Lord, please accept the freewill offerings of my praise.

Teach me your regulations.

109 My life is in continual danger,

but I do not forget your law.

110 The wicked lay a trap for me,

but I do not wander from your precepts.

111 I claim your rules as my permanent possession,

for they give me joy.

112 I am determined to obey your statutes

at all times, to the very end.

113 ס (Samek)

I hate people with divided loyalties,

but I love your law.

3 Whose honor do you seek?

Notice how the Psalm quotation above ends, “I hate people with divided loyalties.” Jesus goes on the offensive. The argument is simple. Whoever one is serving is the person one is honoring. If one is serving himself, then one brings honor to himself. If one is serving God, then one brings honor to God. Who are you [rhetorical audience] serving?! The religious elite speak as if they are serving God but they act as if they are serving themselves. They teach the Torah but do not follow it. Remember Matthew 23:1-7:

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

4 Why do you want to kill me?

Jesus asks the religious leaders why they seek to kill him. This question is key to understanding the entire conversation. In a rather funny turn of events, they both accuse him of an act deserving death and also deny wanting to kill him. (Exodus 22:18 commands that, “You must not allow a sorceress to live.” A person who is demon possessed, using his powers to perform magical feats, and deceiving the people would almost certainly fall in the sorcerer category.) Of course, the Jews do want to kill Jesus. The crowds even respond, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?” Oh gaslighting, it has been used by the elites in every era.

But let’s return to the question. Why are they trying to kill Jesus? Because he performed “one miracle.” Which one? Healing on the Sabbath. Remember John 5:1-18

1 After this there was a Jewish feast, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool called Bethzatha in Aramaic, which has five covered walkways. 3 A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways. 5 Now a man was there who had been disabled for 38 years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and when he realized that the man had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, “Do you want to become well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, someone else goes down there before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.)

10 So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” 13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out, since there was a crowd in that place.

14 After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more, lest anything worse happen to you.” 15 The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

16 Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him. 17 So he told them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

We covered this passage already and discussed the Sabbath. This is the thing. This is why they are trying to kill Jesus. Now, allow me to suggest an idea. Are the religious leaders being sincere? Are they truly so offended by Jesus’ actions? Or, perhaps, is this Jesus’ most concrete crime? Perhaps this is the crime that is easiest to prosecute. Just a thought.

Regardless of the leaders’ sincerity, Jesus leaves them with no argument. They circumcise on the Sabbath. This is both a medical procedure, and one that is intended for the wellbeing of the person. Jesus does much the same. Judge properly, Jesus chastises them. As Craig Keener points out, “Jesus’ argument was readily intelligible. To fulfill various biblical commandments, those practicing the Law sometimes had to override specific requirements of the Law, such as Sabbath observance. Festivals like Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles (perhaps in some of Jesus’ hearers’ minds, 7:2), the temple service, and any activities necessary to conduct them, properly override the Sabbath. Circumcision, a central commandment in Judaism, likewise overrides the Sabbath. That some commandments must override some other commandments is a well-attested principle of rabbinic ethics.”

Jesus’ argument takes a form that was common at the time, called qal va-ḥomer. This is the argument from the minor to the major. If the “minor” has this or that property then the “major” must undoubtedly have it.

5 The Messiah will come from a secret place.

Despite the religious leaders’ gaslighting, the crowds recognize Jesus. The crowds know this is the guy the authorities seek to kill. The crowds know the claim that Jesus is the Christ. But, the crowds also know that Jesus is a lowly carpenter from Galilee, and they apparently believe that no one would know where the Christ is from. They try to decide what to make of all this.

Firstly, let’s discuss this idea of the secret Messiah. On one hand, we know there was a tradition that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. This is not only prophesied in Micah 5:2 but also explicitly mentioned in Matthew 2:5-6 and later on in this very chapter of John. On the other hand, the crowds in John 7:27 speak of a different tradition that held no one would know the Messiah’s origin. Scholars believe the crowds are referencing a rabbinic tradition that taught not that the Messiah’s original location would be unknown, but his place of concealment just before he made himself publicly known would be unknown. Consequently, the Bethlehem and rabbinic traditions were not explicitly at odds.

Secondly, and much more importantly, the crowd’s words about the hidden Messiah are dripping with irony. They say they know where Jesus comes from so he can’t be the Messiah. They obviously mean Galilee, which is already not quite right. (Jesus is from Bethlehem in Judea.) But Jesus has emphasized again and again that he is from above, from the Father, from God, from heaven. The crowd doesn’t know that. Jesus was in fact a secret Messiah to the crowd.

Jesus takes the crowd from confusion to anger. If I paraphrase, “You should know where I come from: God. And you do not know him.”

6 Some react in anger, some in belief.

Some try to seize Jesus, presumably for expedient execution. Some recognize that his miracles attest to the truth of who he is and what he is saying.

7 Where is Jesus going?

When officers approach Jesus to arrest him, he addresses them with a confusing statement. “I will go where you cannot follow.” Keep the context in mind. This sounds like Jesus is going to make a run for his life. Just like Nicodemus and the birth from above, the Samaritan woman and the living water, and the crowds and the bread from heaven, the officers miss the double entendre. Will Jesus run away to the Gentile world? (The Jewish people living outside Israel were called the Diaspora.) No, Jesus will return to God. Because the Jews did not understand where Jesus was from they also could not understand where he was going. But the text drips with irony again. “Will he teach the Greeks?” they ask aghast. Eventually, yes.

8 Come to me. Drink. Receive the Spirit.

This is the climax of the whole scene. The themes that recur throughout John’s gospel are stated forcefully and concisely by Jesus on the last day . . . of the feast, on the greatest day. Those who are thirsty, drink from Jesus who brings the living water. Remember John 4:10-14:

10 Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water? 12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.”

13 Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”

Those who believe, receive the Spirit. This passage in John 7 explicitly connects the living waters with the Spirit. Let’s fast-forward to John 14:25-26:

I have spoken these things while staying with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.

The water motif takes on additional depth given the context of Jesus’ words. As Craig Keener points out, “Central to this festival was the famous ‘water-drawing’ ceremony, including the procession from the pool of Siloam to the temple, in which priests and people marched in, after which priests would pour out water and wine at the base of the altar.” The meaning of the water ceremony is a bit unclear. Perhaps it was a prayer for rain. Perhaps it was connected to wisdom and Torah, which were often portrayed as water. But it was certainly an important water ritual which, in this instance, was followed by Jesus’ words, “From within him will flow rivers of living water.”

9 The conversation repeats itself.

Verses 40 through 49 create an almost chiastic structure with verses 14 through 36. The same themes repeat themselves. Some say Jesus is the Christ. However, Jesus is not of correct origin (they say). In the prior verses, the Messiah was supposed to have a secret origin. Now the problem is that the Messiah is supposed to come from Bethlehem, not Galilee. Some believe, some don’t. Officer are amazed at how Jesus speaks. The rubes have been deceived. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

10 Nicodemus speaks up.

Nicodemus (remember John 3) speaks up for Jesus—meekly, one imagines. Doesn’t the law require direct testimony from the accused? Nicodemus is right. The elites respond aggressively. “You are not from Galilee too, are you?” In other words, “You are not a Jesus sympathizer, are you?” “Are you with us or against us? The Law be damned. We are going to kill him.”

The Missing Verses About the Adulterous Woman

You may have noticed that I did not mention John 7:53. This begins a “pericope” (a passage) ending in 8:11 that is widely regarded as not original to John’s gospel. Many of the ancient manuscripts omit these verses. Moreover, the Greek grammar is distinctly non-Johannine. The writing style fits Luke much better, and in fact some of the manuscripts include these verses in Luke’s gospel. If you would like to know more about this textual issue, please go back and listen to the first session of the Bible study.

The story in the omitted verses is well known—better known than most stories in the Bible. I bet you remember the following verses:

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death such women. What then do you say?” (Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against him.) Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight and replied, “Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Instead of talking about the story narrated in those verses, I would like to discuss what we do with such a text that is in question. Should Christians read this story? Should they learn from it?

There are three possibilities. We consider the story canonical despite nearly every evidence and scholar consensus to the contrary. We consider the story non-canonical and disregard it altogether as a fake or deception. Or, perhaps there is a middle approach. To explain this middle approach, I must take an unexpected detour.

Nearly every Christian agrees on the New Testament canon. On the Old Testament canon there is more disagreement. Protestants have the same canon as the Jews. Catholics include an additional 7 books. These books are often called the “apocrypha.” This is a misnomer. Catholics should certainly not use this label, but Protestants should not either. Apocrypha is a pejorative term referring to secret writings—writings that are false and deceitful. The better term for the seven books included in the Catholic canon is deuterocanonical. This means books forming a secondary canon. Why make the distinction?

The early church used the term apocrypha to refer to secret writings it unequivocally rejected, like the Gospel of Thomas. The early church never refers to the seven books in the Catholic canon as apocryphal. (There are only two potential exceptions to that statement, but later writings by that same church father make it clear he did not reject the books and merely used the word apocrypha loosely.)

Instead, the early church felt comfortable with a second level or degree of sacred writings. Here is an excerpt from a YouTube video discussing this very topic (I edited the transcript slightly to “clean it up” for written form):

Athanasius for example and this is, I think, important. Athanasius quotes books like Wisdom [of Solomon] and Ecclesiasticus, he actually quotes them as among the scriptures. He will actually say they are “grafi” or scriptures, but when it comes time for Athanasius to list the books that are in the canon interestingly he does not include Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus amongst the canonical books. Yes, in early Christianity there are tiers of spiritual literature. You have canon. Athanasius describes these as the sources of salvation. This is where doctrine comes from. On the far end of the spectrum he has the apocryphal books. But Athanasius has a middle category of books. He calls them the books that are able to be read, and these are books that explain piety or illustrate true religion for early Christians. They're not canonical but they're not heretical either, and this is where he puts the books like Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus. And what that does for us, I think, it shows that a church father can even cite something as scripture but he might just be referring to books in the middle category and not the books in the canonical category necessarily. You actually need the canon list to be the interpretive key for which books are establishing doctrine and which books are just illustrating piety to other new believers or new converts.

What am I suggesting then? I think that verses like 7:53-8:11 can be treated as deuterocanonical books. They can be read by the churches as examples of piety. They should not, however, be used to determine doctrine.