Today we’ll be learning from John 7:26-31. Yesterday we saw Jesus Go to the Festival of Booths.
25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Do you remember that Jesus didn’t want to go to the Feast of Booths? People wanted him dead! Yet Jesus went anyways, without any fanfare, teaching in the temple.
He caused a bit of consternation there teaching the people. Reminding them to judge each other fairly not just going with how things appear. Some of the people there said “hey, isn’t this the man they want to kill? He’s here! Why aren’t they doing anything about it?” They wondered if the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
They were confused though. From what they knew, no would really know Christ comes from when he does appear, yet they know that Jesus comes from Nazareth. So how could he possibly be the Christ?
While they talked and wondered, Jesus continued to teach. He also proclaimed “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”
Do you see what he did there? He acknowledged that they do know him and where he’s from. It’s like he’s answering their confusion without being too direct eh? He lets them know he didn’t come of his own doing but they don’t know the one who sent them to them. That the one who sent him is true. Jesus knows him because he was sent by him and he comes from him. It’s like he’s saying .. Yes you know where I am coming from (Nazareth) but you don’t know where I am coming from (God).
Jesus’ time to be captured hadn’t arrived yet, so when they wanted to arrest him they couldn’t.
Despite all this confusion there were many people who believed him him, yet I wonder if they truly knew he was teh Christ because they wondered “when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
It’s hard eh? To truly understand Jesus the Christ. I can see the confusion people would have had, trying to see the difference between the physical and the eternal. Knowing a place, but not the personage sending. Thinking as Jews that they did know God so not really understanding they they didn’t.
I SO get that.
I often feel like I don’t truly understand God and his ways and that I’m not even breaching a mole hill in my understanding of him. I too am one of the confused. Seeking to understand. I need more understanding.
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