Can’t follow Jesus where he’s going.

John 7.32-36.

Frequently in John, the author mentions how nobody seized Jesus because his time hadn’t yet come. But it’s not that nobody tried to grab him and do away with him. In the middle of chapter 7, here’s a story where they gave it a shot.

John 7.32-36 KWL

32Pharisees were hearing the crowd

murmuring these things about Jesus.ᴾ

The head priests and Pharisees are sending their assistants

so they might seize Jesus.ᴾ

33So Jesus is saying, “I’m only with you² a little while.

I’m going away to he who sends me.

34You’ll² seek me and you² won’t find {me}.

You² can’t come to where I am.”

35So the Judeans tell one another, “Where is this Jesus about to go,

that we won’t find him?

He’s not about to go into the Greek diaspora,

and teach the Greeks, is he?

36What is this word which he says?—

‘You’ll² seek me and you² won’t find {me}.

You² can’t come to where I am.’ ”

Two people might’ve seized Jesus: Either people who were part of the government, or private citizens who decided to take matters into their own hands vigilante-style. In this case it’s the government. Whenever the gospels refer to the head priests and Pharisees, the authors mean the συνέδριον/synédrion, “senate,” the oligarchs who actually ran the province. It consisted of the head priests (mostly Sadducee) and the wealthier Jerusalem families (mostly Pharisee). If you thought the Romans were in charge, yeah they were, but they didn’t handle the day-to-day stuff; the senate did.

The Judean crowds didn’t have the authority to seize Jesus, but the senate did. So they sent their ὑπηρέτας/ypirétas, “underlings” (KJV “officers”) to go get him. Instead they got an answer from him they couldn’t understand: “I’m going away, and you can’t follow me.”

Not knowing where Messiah comes from.

John 7.25-31.

There are actually people who get outraged when prepositions are what I end sentences with. (Y’know, like the title of this piece.) It’s because they grew up with old-timey rules for grammar—and Latin and Greek are what those old-timey rules are based on. In those languages it’s kinda impossible to end sentences with prepositions; and if you want to maybe split an infinitive, their infinitives are one word (ire) not two (“to go”), so it literally can’t be done. Grammarians wanted to conform our language to theirs, but why?—the “rules” of grammar are meant to make English comprehensible, not tie us to languages we seldom speak. But enough ranting about grammar fascists.

Anyway, in the last John 7 passage, Jesus critiqued his opponents for wanting him dead because he cured people on sabbath. They pretended they didn’t really, Jn 7.20 but y’notice in the very next verses after that passage, i.e. today’s passage, the Judeans debated over who Jesus is, and were fully aware some of ’em wanted Jesus dead.

I should remind you: In the first-century Roman Empire, there was no such thing as freedom of speech and religion. If the local government passed a law against your religion, you could be beaten or killed for it. If the locals thought you committed heresy or blasphemy, sometimes they wouldn’t even wait for due process; they’d throw you off a cliff and throw stones down at you, same as they did Stephen. The only reason they didn’t drag Jesus out of temple and kill him right away, was ’cause a significant number of them realized Jesus is a prophet. If not the Prophet. If not Messiah himself.

John 7.25-26 KWL

25So some of the Jerusalemites are saying,

“Isn’t this the man whom they seek to kill?”

26and “Look, Jesusᴾ speaks openly,

and nobody talks back to him.”

“Perhaps the leaders actually know

that this Jesus is Messiah!”

Speculating the rulers really knew Jesus is Messiah, but were keeping it secret, is typical paranoid conspiracy-theory behavior. Yep, they did it back then too. But to their minds, it’d explain exactly why the leaders wouldn’t touch him. The Pharisees taught those who opposed Messiah would be destroyed with the breath of his lips. Is 11.4 (Paul later swiped this idea for 2 Thessalonians 2.8, and John transforms this into a sharp sword in Revelation 19.11.) In their End Times timeline, Messiah vanquished his opponents, took his throne, and ruled the world. So if the Judean senate suspected Jesus is this Messiah… well they wouldn’t wanna get vanquished. They wanted him to vanquish Rome, not them. So they let him be.

Others weren’t so sure he’s Messiah:

John 7.27 KWL

“But this Jesus—we knew where he comes from.

Messiah, whenever he comes,

nobody knows where he comes from.”

Y’might not be at all familiar with this idea, “Nobody knows where Messiah comes from.” If you know the Christmas story, you know the Judeans totally knew where Messiah comes from: Bethlehem. And they stupidly told Herod where this was, so Herod had a bunch of babies murdered lest Messiah grow up and overthrow him. Heck, later in this chapter we see the Judeans knew Messiah comes from Bethlehem. Jn 7.41-42 So commentators tend to skip this verse, or try to explain it away by saying it’s actually about not knowing where Messiah spiritually comes from—which is also rubbish, because all the Messiahs come from God.

But let’s skip nothing, and answer the question of why some of ’em thought they wouldn’t know where Messiah comes from.

Fair judgment.

John 7.19-24.

Earlier in John 7, the Jerusalemites found Jesus teaching in temple during the feast of Tabernacles, and wondered where he got his education, ’cause he didn’t study in any of their academies. Jesus pointed out if we pursued God instead of our own bright ideas, we’d realize exactly where he got his education.

Then Jesus took a bit of a left turn: He brought up the reason he didn’t really wanna go to Jerusalem in the first place. Jn 7.1 He bluntly called the Judeans out for wanting to kill him.

John 7.19 KWL

“Moses didn’t give you² the Law,

and none of you² follow the Law.

Why do you² seek to kill me?”

Bear in mind there’s no legal reason they’d have for killing him. He never broke the Law. He broke Pharisee customs, and Pharisee interpretations of the Law, like crazy; but never the Law. Occasionally some preachers will claim Jesus did break the Law, because these preachers don’t know their bible. They’ve been busy teaching human-made “biblical principles” based on cherry-picked proof texts, instead of what’s actually in the bible. They’ll teach dispensationalism, and claim the Law was void by the time Jesus came around, so it’s okay if he violated it. Of course whenever they talk about “laws” Jesus supposedly broke, they don’t realize they can flip right to the Old Testament, look for these supposed “laws,” and find out they’re not laws; they’re Pharisee inventions. If Jesus ever did break the Law, that’d be sin. 1Jn 3.4 And Jesus didn’t sin, He 4.15 ergo Jesus never broke the Law. Never. You’re defying your own bible if you say so.

So they had no legal leg to stand on when it came to killing Jesus. But they wanted him dead just the same—because he defied their customs. In John, the reason they wanted him dead was he cured the man at the pool on sabbath. Their custom was to do nothing on sabbath; so much nothing, they didn’t even help the needy. In contrast, Jesus teaches it doesn’t defy sabbath to help the needy, and curing people on sabbath is not only fine, but righteous. It’s why our hospitals don’t close on the weekend!

Of course, teaching this just exposed the whole hypocrisy behind the Pharisee teaching: They forbade helping the needy on sabbath because they didn’t wanna help the needy. And hypocrites hate getting exposed like that. So they wanted Jesus dead.

And when Jesus straight-up called them out about that, they fell right back to hypocrisy. Even tried to gaslight him.

John 7.20 KWL

The crowd answers, “You¹ must be demonized!

Who seeks to kill you?”¹

More precisely, δαιμόνιον ἔχεις/demónion éheis means “You have a demon.” I remind you ancient Greeks believed demons are lesser gods, meant to help people; but the Jews rightly recognized they’re evil spirits and are no help at all. In fact they usually drove people insane, so their accusation doesn’t really mean Jesus has the devil in him; more like, “You’re crazy.”

Yeah, certain Christians claim the Judeans really did think Jesus literally had the devil in him. In the synoptic gospels, the Jerusalem scribes decreed Jesus’s exorcisms were done by devilish power. Jesus never performs an exorcism in John—and this isn’t that kind of accusation. It’s the culture’s presumption about how madness works. Nowadays we’d leap to the conclusion you’re off your medication (or really need some). Back then they’d think you had a critter or two, or a thousand, in you. Anyway we can dismiss the Judeans’ comment as mere hyperbole… for now.

But Jesus wasn’t crazy. He knew they wanted him dead, and had known it since they first started plotting. They’d eventually succeed. But he didn’t want them to think they cleverly slipped anything past him; he knew. They weren’t in control of the circumstances; he was.

Pursuing God’s ideas. Not our own.

John 7.14-18.

After Jesus decided he was in fact going to Jerusalem for Tabernacles, he went privately, (KJV “as it were in secret”) Jn 7.9 and at first people weren’t sure he was there. Till he started teaching in temple.

I need to remind you synagogues were not “Jewish churches.” Today’s synagogues get that way sometimes, but in the first century they were Pharisee schools, created and run by Pharisees to ensure future generations knew the Law of Moses and followed it. Specifically, followed it the way Pharisees taught it; Jesus has his own interpretations. Hence they butted heads.

There were also prejudices among Judean Pharisees about the quality of education you’d find among Galilean Pharisees. So when the Judeans listened to Jesus, they immediately realized here’s a guy who knew as much as, if not way more than, any of their scribes. But Jesus grew up in the Galilee, in Galilean synagogues. Not Judean synagogues; not any of the Jerusalem academies of higher learning. Therefore he must surely be “uneducated”—a presumption they’d later make about Jesus’s students. Ac 4.13

John 7.14-15 KWL

14Now at the middle of the festival,

Jesus is going into the temple campus

and is teaching.

15So the Judeans are amazed, saying,

“This person knew the classics? How?

He wasn’t educated in academy.”

“The classics” is how I translated γράμματα/grámmata (KJV “letters”). The word literally refers to letters of the alphabet, but it’s a Greek euphemism for literature. Not automatically Greek literature—they weren’t saying Jesus knew Homer, Plato, Sophocles, and Thucydides—though the Judeans did study that stuff, and the Pharisees used the Socratic method to train their disciples in critical thinking. More likely they referred to Pharisee literature; the teachings of their rabbis which later became the Mishna.

Unfortunately, various anti-intellectual Christians make the very same presumption about Jesus and his students, and will regularly preach, “These were uneducated, illiterate men!” Then use this to justify their own lack of education—and how their ignorance shouldn’t stop them from coming to conclusions about science, economics, politics, or God. You’ve seen Twitter; you know what I mean.

As for “illiterate men”: These guys wrote the New Testament. And no, they didn’t just hire secretaries to make up for an inability to read: Synagogues taught reading. If you were gonna follow the Law, they expected you to be able to read it! Jesus could read, Lk 4.16 and what kind of sucky teacher would he be if he couldn’t? Or if his students likewise couldn’t?

Jesus was educated enough to engage Pharisee scribes on their level. Above their level; he knew more than them, and could quote their own rabbis back at them. Mk 7.11 But the reason he’s smarter and wiser than they, is because he knows his Father. And they didn’t. Claimed to, but didn’t.

John 7.16-18 KWL

16In reply Jesus tells them, “My teaching isn’t mine,

but from God who sends me.

17When anyone wants to do God’sᴾ will,

they’ll know about the teaching—

whether it’s from God,

or whether I speak on my own.

18Speaking on one’s own

seeks only one’s own opinion.

Seeking the opinion of the one who sent him—

this person is true,

and there’s nothing unjust in them.”¹

See, Jesus teaches the scriptures and the Law correctly because he cares about what God thinks of it. (And yeah, since he’s God, it’s also what he thinks of it. But that wasn’t what the Judeans needed to hear at that time.) He seeks his Father’s opinion on the matter. The Pharisees only sought their own opinions.

Like many people, Christians included, they were self-promoting: They wanted to be recognized for their own wisdom and insight, and be lauded as great teachers. And if you wanna stand out, you gotta be different. Not necessarily in a good way. It’s always easier to be weird for weirdness’s sake, to pitch novel ideas for novelty’s sake, to be a naysayer just to trigger controversy and debate, to claim “I’m just trying to be thought provoking” when really we’re just throwing intellectual grenades.

Many bibles translate δόξαν/dóxan, “opinion,” as “glory”—

John 7.18 ESV

“The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”

—and yeah, there’s overlap in these ideas. People promoting their own opinions so they can become known as wise sages. Problem is, we’re wrong. When we teach our own ideas instead of God’s, we’re gonna teach wrongness. Not necessarily lies. Some of us, like politicians, lie to promote political allies or selfish agendas; the rest are unwittingly wrong, and spreading falsehoods because we never bother to fact-check ourselves. But in general we just promote wrong ideas, which is why I really don’t care for the ESV’s “falsehood” as an interpretation of ἀδικία/adikía, “not right” (KJV “unrighteousness”). It’s not mere falseness. We’re doing the wrong thing instead of the right thing. We’re unjust.

So why’s Jesus the best teacher ever? Because he seeks his Father. And, he points out, everyone else who truly and selflessly seeks our Father who sent us, gets it right.

When Jesus said he wouldn’t go… and did.

John 7.1-13.

When you read the synoptic gospels (meaning Mark, Matthew, and Luke, the three which sync up a lot), you might get the idea Jesus only went to Jerusalem once—to get arrested and crucified.

That’d be historically inaccurate. Jesus obeyed the Law, and the Law decreed every adult male should go to temple three times a year for the festivals. Dt 16.16 Hence Jesus went to Jerusalem a lot, and John—which largely takes place in Jerusalem, at those festivals—fills in the blanks of what happened during those many Jerusalem trips.

Including when Jesus cured that one blind guy. The context of that story was when he went to Jerusalem one year for Sukkót. That trip began a few chapters back; since I skipped that part I figure I’d better backtrack. Here y’go.

John 7.1-13 KWL

1After these things, Jesus is traveling the Galilee,

for he doesn’t want to travel in Judea,

because the Judeans are seeking to kill him.

2Tabernacles, the Judean festival, is approaching.

3So Jesus’sᴾ siblings are telling him,

“Leave here and go to Judea,

so your¹ students will also see the works which you¹ do,

4for nobody works in private

if he wants to get attention.

If you¹ do these things,

show yourself¹ to the world!”

5For not even Jesus’sᴾ siblings are believing in him,

6so Jesus tells them, “My time is not yet now.

Your² time is always here.

7The world can’t hate you.²

It hates me because I testify about it—

that its works are evil.

8You² go up to the festival.

I’m not going up to this festival,

for my time isn’t full yet.”

9This said, Jesusᴾ stays in the Galilee.

10Once Jesus’sᴾ siblings go up to the festival,

then he also goes up—

not publicly, but {like} in private.

11So the Judeans are seeking Jesusᴾ at the festival,

and are saying, “Where is that person?”

12Much grumbling about Jesusᴾ

is happening in the crowds.

On the one hand, some are saying he’s good;

others are saying, “No, but he misleads the crowd.”

13Nonetheless, no one is boldly speaking about Jesus,ᴾ

out of fear of the Judeans.

I’ll admit right now: This story has always kinda bothered me. ’Cause y’notice Jesus initially told his brothers, “You go to the festival; I’m not going.” Then, one verse later, he goes—“as it were in secret,” as the King James Version puts it. On face value, it totally looks like Jesus lied to his brothers and snuck to the festival.

I know, I know: Christ Jesus never sinned. He 4.15 I’m not claiming otherwise. I don’t think the passage is claiming otherwise either. Certainly no Christian is gonna interpret it that way. But anybody who honestly looks at this passage—including skeptics who have no qualms about accusing Jesus of all sorts of things—are gonna come right out and say, “Looks like Jesus deceived his siblings.” (That is, once pagans get over their initial surprise: “Wait, Jesus has siblings? Brothers and sisters? I thought he was an only child!”)

So instead of letting little doubts poke at the back of our minds for no good reason, let’s deal with this bible difficulty today.

God’s grace is sufficient: What we mean, what Paul meant.

2 Corinthians 12.9.

Recently I wrote about Paul’s thorn in the flesh, and praying about our own thorns in the flesh. Contrary to popular belief, Paul wasn’t talking about an illness or ailment he was suffering, but a person. Which is why Jesus didn’t cure him—there was nothing to cure but Paul’s attitude about this person.

Problem is, people are really insistent this passage is about an illness. And about how sometimes God won’t cure us, so we gotta accept that. Y’ain’t getting nothing but his grace, honey.

We’ve even made “My grace is sufficient for thee” 2Co 12.9 KJV a whole theme in Christendom. Frequently reworded: “Your grace is enough for me,” or “His grace is sufficient.” People don’t even quote the entire verse; just the “grace is sufficient” bit. And whenever we pull it out of context, we mean one of two things.

Most of the time it’s used to state God’s grace is sufficient for salvation. It’s a reminder we humans can’t save ourselves from sin and death, no matter how many good deeds we do; and that’s fine ’cause God does all the saving. He applies Jesus’s atonement to our sins, takes care of it, forgives us utterly; all we need is God’s grace. It’s sufficient. It does the job.

Great is your faithfulness oh God

You wrestle with the sinner’s heart

You lead us by still waters into mercy

And nothing can keep us apart

So remember your people

Remember your children

Remember your promise, oh God

Your grace is enough

Your grace is enough

Your grace is enough

Your grace is enough for me

—Matt Maher, “Your Grace Is Enough,” 2008

Is this what Jesus means by “grace is sufficient”? Not even close. While the idea we’re entirely saved by God’s grace is entirely true, the basis for this idea isn’t at all the verse where we find the words “grace is sufficient.” It comes from other verses, like “By grace are ye saved,” Ep 2.8 KJV —not good works. I say more about that elsewhere

The rest of the time, “grace is sufficient” is used to say God will provide all our needs. ’Cause he’s gracious, generous, watches over us, answers prayers, cures our illnesses, guides our steps: We figure when we have God, we don’t need anything else. A self-sufficient person doesn’t need help, and neither does a God-sufficient person, ’cause God has us covered. Different worship song:

Jehovah Jireh, my provider

His grace is sufficient for me, for me, for me

Jehovah Jireh, my provider

His grace is sufficient for me

My God shall supply all my needs

According to his riches in glory

He will give his angels charge over me

Jehovah Jireh cares for me, for me, for me

Jehovah Jireh cares for me

—Don Moen, “Jehovah Jireh,” 1986

Horrible pronunciation of YHWH-yiréh aside, which I remind you isn’t one of God’s names but a name of an altar, Ge 22.14 the problem is this also has nothing to do with what Paul meant by “grace is sufficient.”

But you know how songs are. Once a catchy one gets in your head, it’s hard to shake the song away… much less the inaccurate bible interpretations which come along with it. Just because K-LOVE plays it twice an hour, doesn’t mean it’s theologically sound: It’s a radio network, not a church. They’re not pastors; they’re programmers. They’re here to entertain Christians, not disciple us. They don’t know any better. All the more reason we gotta be careful about Christian music.

But I digress. Time to get to the context.

The Lᴏʀᴅ sends fire.

1 Kings 18.36-40.

In proposing this contest between the LORD and Baal—which of these gods could set fire to his offering—Elijah wasn’t just putting God’s reputation on the line, but his own. Baal was silent, but if the LORD had been silent too, it wasn’t like the people of Israel would throw up their hands and say, “It’s a draw.” They’d just presume neither Baal nor the LORD thought their contest was worth their divine time, and simply continue with the status quo.

Only problem with the status quo: The LORD’s prophets were getting persecuted and killed. And here’s a prophet of the LORD who suggested his God would make fire, but he didn’t… and hey, didn’t Moses say we’re supposed to kill false prophets?

So yep, Elijah’s life was at stake over this one. Which is why it was only fair when Baal lost the contest, that his prophets should suffer the very same fate they intended to inflict upon Elijah.

Anyway, let’s check out where the LORD came through for Elijah:

1 Kings 18.36-40 KWL

36The time to offer the sacrifice came,

and Elijah the prophet came near.

He said, “YHWH, god of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,

make it known today:

You’re¹ God in Israel,

and I am your¹ slave,

and I did all these deeds by your¹ word.

37Answer me, YHWH, answer me,

and the people might know you,¹

the god YHWH;

you¹ who make their hearts repent.”

38YHWH’s fire fell.

It consumed the offering,

the wood,

the stones,

the dirt,

and licked up the water in the trench.

39All the people saw,

fell on their faces,

and said, “YHWH, he is God!

YHWH, he is God!”

40Elijah told them, “Seize Baal’s prophets.

Don’t let any of them escape.”

They seized them.

Elijah brought them down to the wadi Qišón.

He slaughtered them there.