Day 16 – How is he a teacher?

John 7:1-24

After this, Jesus was walking in Galilee. He wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near. So Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Move on from here and go into Judea, so your disciples there can see the works you do. No one keeps things secret when they are looking to go public. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world.” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.

So Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. You go up to the Festival. I am not going to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.”

Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone to the Festival, then Jesus went too, not in public, but in secret. The Jews were looking for Jesus at the feast, saying, “Where is he?” There was much murmuring among the masses about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “No, he misleads the mobs.” Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jewish leaders. But halfway through the festival, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. The Jews were amazed, saying, “How does this man know the scriptures without an education?”

So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not my own, but from the one who sent me. If anyone is willing to do his will, he’ll know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am just speaking for myself. Whoever speaks for themselves seeks their own glory, but whoever seeks the glory of the one who sent them is true, and there is no unrighteousness in them. Did Moses not give you the law? And yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking to kill me?”

The people answered, “You have a demon! Who is looking to kill you?”

Jesus answered them, “I did one work and you are all wondering. You circumcise someone on the Sabbath because Moses gave you circumcision (not that it came from Moses, but the fathers). Now if someone can get circumcised on the Sabbath, to avoid breaking Moses’ law, why are you angry with me because I healed someone’s whole body on the Sabbath? Don’t judge by appearances, but make the right judgement.”

For reflection

Who do you think Jesus is? Has putting Jesus’ teaching into practice shaped your view?