Demon or Divine?
John 7
In a famous section of Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis forces his readers to consider this option: “lunatic, liar, demon, or God.” Jesus himself prompted his contemporaries to consider those options. Chapter six ended with the dark prospect of one that followed him throughout his ministry, gained the trust of the other disciples , showing at last that did not believe but was still under the bondage to Satan, had an evil heart of unbelief, and looked to his own personal interests. Chapter seven begins with the unbelief, and opposition, of those that opposed him from the beginning to the end and traces the heightening of their rage against Jesus.. The one, Judas, ended in distress and suicide, the others ended in the thralls of arrogant opposition and hypocritical religiosity (Matthew 27:3-10).
The opposition of the Religious leaders and disbelief of His brothers [5]
Verse 1 – Throughout this chapter we see the systematic way in which the religious leaders try to stop the growing influence of Jesus. See this development in verses 1, 11, 13, 19, 30, 32, 44, 47-49. At least three things bothered them about Jesus. One, his popularity outstripped theirs. Two, they believed he was deceiving the people into a conclusion that he was Messiah, and he did not fit their assumptions. Three, they believed he was leading the people to disregard the Law because he challenged the validity of their traditions (19).
His brothers chided him to perform more signs to gain greater adherence from his disciples (3). Obviously, they believed that all this attention was ridiculous and represents the sinful sibling rivalry that was experienced by Joseph, but infinitely more incongruous than that Old Testament type. Joseph, sod by his brothers, became their deliverer, and Jesus treated with cynicism by his brothers, rejected by his people, forsaken by his disciples transformed all these events into the great redemptive event.
They tempted him with “public recognition” (4) –he already had faced this in Satan’s temptation that he cast himself from the temple.(Matthew 4:5-7). At least two of these brothers came to see Jesus for whom he was and found in him their Lord and Savior. James calls himself a “servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and pointed to the transforming nature of the “faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory” (James 1:1, 2:1). Jude called himself as “servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James” and calls Jesus “Master and Lord,” and saw him as active in the redemption of Israel from Egypt, referred to the “mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life,” and saw him as the one through whom “glory, majesty, dominion, and authority” is attributed to God as savior (Jude1, 4, 5, 21, 25). These unbelievers, in due time, by the grace of Christ came to drop absolutely all cynicism toward him and see him as Christ, Savior and Lord.
The Delay of Jesus – Jesus did not go with his brothers because he wanted to avoid being brought to attention publicly if possible (9, 10)
There was a real possibility of the Jewish leaders trying to take him by force and kill him 1, 11, 30, 32, 44-5, 51
Though as a matter of decree and sovereign control of events, he would not be crucified until his “time” had come, Jesus, nevertheless, takes precautions; Joseph was instructed to do this when Herod sought Jesus’ life after his birth. When Paul learned that the Jews were plotting to kill him, he escaped from
The Delivery of Jesus
In the middle of the feast at the
Verse 15 – Shows his knowledge of Scripture, probably dealing with issues of the Law and righteousness and the Messianic purpose in that context. His clarity, coherence, and utter confidence in the truth of what he taught brought the query of the source of his knowledge.
Jesus pointed to the source—God the Father, who, in accordance with the eternal covenant, sent the Son—thus indicating that his knowledge was absolute and original, not derived from the necessity of surmising and comparing the teaching of one rabbi with another.
Verse 17 – Lack of understanding comes from perversity of will, not lack of clarity of the text. Jesus points out that both Scripture and his authority derive from the same source and have the same purpose. The one that has been brought to a pure purpose to know the will of God will see that Jesus’ claims about his person and his work of redemption are precisely the things taught in Scripture. The Scripture is given that “we might understand the things freely given to us of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:12)
Glory of God, righteousness [including his personal righteousness] and the true meaning of the Law of Moses 18-24
Because the will of the Father and the knowledge and activity of Jesus are precisely the same, Jesus claimed that there was “no falsehood in him.” Jesus knowledge of the Father and his purpose to bring glory to the Father gave rise to his mission and he has no other purpose than to accomplish the task that will be the manifestation of the God’s glory in both justice and mercy.
Though his hearers prided themselves on their knowledge of the Law of Moses, Jesus said that none of them kept that law. Paul dealt with the amazing misperception in his own life (Philippians 3:6, 9) and in the twisted understanding of the Jews to whom he preached (Romans 9:31, 32). Their desire to kill him showed that they had no real grasp of the meaning of the law of Moses, and their querulous response showed that, not only did they not get the law, but they did not know the blindness and corruption of their own hearts. They accuse Jesus of having a demon while they are in bondage to the god of this world.
Jesus goes back to the hostility toward him engendered by his healing a lame man on the Sabbath (John 5:1-9) That prompted an extended discourse on their misunderstanding of Scripture and the law of Moses as a sure indicator that they had never heard the voice of God nor seen his form, and his word did not abide in them (John 5:37). Even so now, his teaching exposes their shallow grasp of the intent of the Law by manifesting more concern for ceremony than for the real needs of men. Ceremonies are positive institutions to be laid aside when the substance they typify has come. Loving one’s neighbor as oneself is at the heart of the moral law in its social aspect and can never be minimized in favor of ceremonial law. Jesus called for their rendering “right judgment” in this matter rather mere form, or external appearance.
The crowd recognizes the frustration and fear central to the Jewish leadership’s opposition to Jesus. (25, 26)
On the one hand they saw clearly that the Pharisees and their puppets had become so intimidated and hostile that they wanted to dispose of him. This discourse of Jesus concerning his origin and his eventual return to the presence of the one who sent him (33) brings greater confusion, consternation, discussion, and hostile response.
On the other, they wondered if such concentration on Jesus and his teaching accompanied by his miracles meant that they had concluded that he was indeed the Messiah. He was now out in the open and they were not taking advantage of this exposure and apparent vulnerability to arrest him. (26, 44)
Their discussion shows the great variety of responses to Jesus and the confusion brought on by his plainness of appearance and humbleness of origin combined with the power and clarity of his teaching and utter confidence in his knowledge of God.
My humble provenance [27], as it were so Jesus acknowledges, veils the true glory of my real nature: “I am from the Father” 28, 29, 33, 34; Jesus is from the Father not only in temporal mission [“sent me” 29b] but eternal generation [“I know Him, because I am from Him” 29a]. It is fitting that the Son as the eternal expression of the Father’s delight in Himself should be sent by the Father on this mission of manifesting all the perfections of divine wisdom, power, justice, and mercy; commensurately, his eternal generation as the “express image of his being” and the radiance of his glory confirms that he alone is fit for such a task.
With all this talk and the crowd’s pointing out that the authorities seem to do nothing leads to the Pharisees attempt to arrest Jesus. They send soldiers to accomplish their plan of removing him before he gains even more influence. His response of leaving and going where they can not find him, seemed to them to be a grand plan of escape and merely added to the confusion they had. The mystery of Jesus’ person, that he is both creator and creature, infinite and temporal, perfectly holy but progressing in righteousness, weak and tired but omnipotent, hungry but feeding five-thousand, thirsty but the provider of living water, from Bethlehem and Nazareth but from heaven, man but God is an awe-inspiring and eternally indecipherable mystery but necessary to believe and affirm with trust and joy, for only such a one can save. For the present moment, these hostile contemporaries had no idea what he was driving at in talking about his eventual ascension to the right hand of the Father where he would make constant intercession for the people that the Father had given him.
Verses 37-39 – By Him, The Spirit will come in fullness and power to mark out the people of God by evidence of true belief 37-39; theme of Water again, cf Is. 44:3, 4; 55:1;58:11; Rev 22:17. Jesus speaks here of the Spirit’s coming in the fulfillment of the New Covenant, marking out the people of God as a community not by circumcision but by the new birth, creating a community whose common trait is forgiveness of sins and the sanctifying operations of the Spirit.
Verses 40-52 – The Division and misunderstanding of the People – The theme of his public reputation has been present since the beginning of the chapter
