The Expectation Block
John 7:14-36
If they think you have a demon, does that mean you are crazy or dangerous?
Photo by Iulia Mihailov on Unsplash
About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?” Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him. “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?” The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?” - John 7:14-36
After the transfiguration, Jesus told Peter, James, and John to keep his identity a secret until after the resurrection. Then he goes and reveals himself through his preaching.
What gives?
It’s kind of like Jesus is saying, “Don’t tell them. Let me do it, my way.”
We can come to understand why he chose to tell them in small revelations like this by the way they react. They question what they were taught, or they dismiss him as demonic.
Some wonder if the Messiah will perform more signs than they have seen Jesus perform. Could this be the Messiah? How can that be? He doesn’t match the expectation.
We can see why Jesus wanted to reveal himself slowly. He knew they would be confused. It is as if all they had been taught was false.
If not false, then misunderstood.
The Messiah will be a king, but not the kind they expected.
The Messiah will free them from oppression, but not the kind of oppression they associated with Rome.
The Messiah will save them, but not the way they wanted to be saved.
What a difficult job Jesus had. For them to see who he really is, he had to show them that what they had learned was incomplete. It is only part of the story.
What we learn from this is that our expectations color our beliefs. What we see and hear passes through the filter of what we expect to see and hear.
Jesus understood that, but he didn’t try to change it. He knew that eventually, they would come to understand.
Wisdom cannot be doled out. It cannot be absorbed through education. It has to be experienced.
When we open our minds to possibilities beyond our expectations, we see the world differently. We see that the impossible is possible, and that the truth is not someone’s interpretation of reality.
We have become lazy.
We let others tell us what to think. This is nothing new. What Jesus taught through his parables is how to think.
Work at it until it makes sense. Then you will have obtained wisdom.
More to come...