John 7:14-17
As one who has taught the Bible, I can testify that no one
has marveled at my teaching, but some may have said how did this uneducated guy
get to teach a class. I personally
believe that in my case I was willing to do what others who had the training
and education were not willing to do.
When it came to Jesus, it is written; “The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is
it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” Now in the time of Jesus on this
earth it was common to follow a teacher of the law, one such was a Pharisee
named Gamaliel. In Acts 22:3, we see the
apostle Paul making this statement, “I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in
this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of
the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.” That was the norm if you were
going to have others follow you, but Jesus had been a carpenter and had not sat
at the feet of any of the great teachers of His time.
This was Jesus reply, “My teaching is not
mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s
will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or
whether I am speaking on my own authority.
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. Has not Moses given you the
law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why
do you seek to kill me?”
Please forgive me but I must chase a rabbit in the area of
authority: the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and
enforce obedience. Only God has absolute authority over his creation, and that was what Jesus was
telling these people and they, much like our culture today, did not want to be
subject to that authority. In many
families today in the United States we are not seeing any evidence of children
being taught to respect authority, they are not taught to respect adults, not those
who are over them at school, or church, and that has brought about a breakdown
in our society. It also means they will
be raised to not respect the authority of God or submit to or look to His
direction in their lives.
Listen to the
crowds answer to Jesus in verse 20, “The crowd
answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking
to kill you?” This was Jesus
answer to them in verses 21-24, “I did one deed, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is
from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the
Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives
circumcision, so that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me
because on the Sabbath I make a man’s whole body well. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with
right judgment.”
When you ponder
the words of Jesus or am I making a wrong assertion and you, like many, only
read His word, but do not let it have authority over your life? I’m hoping if you are reading this you
deliberate on the words of our Lord, because the hope of your family, your
community, and your nation is people seeing Christ lived out in and through you.
From the Back
Porch,
Rice
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