Daily Scripture Reading John 7:2-31
There has been a debate over the centuries whether humans are inherently good or inherently evil. Do people default to being a good person unless someone or something corrupts them? Or do people default to being an evil person unless someone or something disciplines them into goodness?
Many modern Christians like to assume the best about other people. They do not want to call anyone an evil person. They do not look at the world as being an evil place.
As we read from John chapter 7 today, we will read a statement Jesus made about the character of the world in the 1st century AD. His statement captures the truth about forces at work today. Today’s passage makes a strong argument that the world is not good; instead, it is in fact evil.
Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. He made some difficult statements that caused some of His disciples to leave Him. When He asked the twelve if they also wanted to leave, Peter asked where they would go since Jesus had words of eternal life. Then Jesus traveled through the region of Galilee. He avoided Judea because the Jews were trying to kill Him.
John 7:2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near.
John 7:3 Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing.
John 7:4 For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself publicly to the world.”
John 7:5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him.
His brothers were implying that if He didn’t go to Judea and publicly show Himself, then He wasn’t really who He was claiming to be.
John 7:6 So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always here.
John 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I bear witness about it, that its deeds are evil.
Notice the statement Jesus made about the world. He said its deeds are evil. Furthermore, He stated the world hated Him because He testified that the deeds of the world are evil.
This is true today. There are many dark forces around the world that do evil. There are global sex and human trafficking rings. Many government leaders are involved in worldwide money laundering. The drug trade is rampant. Many people with power show callous disregard for human life in order to grow or keep their power. The people engaged in these practices hate anyone who exposes their evil deeds.
Many people, including many Christians, believe humans are inherently good. They live as if the world is a good place. However, Jesus stated clearly that the deeds of the world are evil. As Christians, we should live and think accordingly.
John 7:8 Go up to the feast yourselves; I am not yet going up to this feast because My time has not yet been fulfilled.”
John 7:9 Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.
John 7:10 ¶ But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as in secret.
John 7:11 So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and saying, “Where is He?”
John 7:12 And there was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the crowd astray.”
The gospel accounts by Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not tell us about the disagreement within the crowds about the character of Jesus. Those accounts present it as the crowds loving Jesus while the Jewish leaders opposed Jesus. John informs us the reality was more complex than that.
John 7:13 Yet no one was speaking openly about Him for fear of the Jews.
John 7:14 ¶ But when it was now the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach.
This was before the days of photography. Even though the crowds knew about Jesus and had heard about His teachings and miracles, most people probably did not know what He looked like. Thus, Jesus was able to walk into the temple without anyone realizing it was Him.
John 7:15 The Jews then were marveling, saying, “How has this man become learned, not having been educated?”
John 7:16 So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but from Him who sent Me.
It is tempting for us to assume the Jews should have recognized at this point that this man was Jesus, the One they wanted to kill. However, this kind of talk may have been normal.
I did a study abroad program in Jerusalem and lived there for a school year. It is normal for people to show up in Jerusalem and claim to be Jesus or a miracle worker. People who live in cities that are religious centers are used to “nut-cases”. I assume even in the days of Jesus, Jerusalem attracted many people who made outrageous claims like this.
What separated Jesus from everyone else making claims of divinity is Jesus performed miracles to prove His power. Furthermore, as we saw in verse 7, after proving His power, He testified that the Jewish religious leaders were evil. That caused them to hate Jesus in a way that they did not hate all the others who made claims of divinity.
John 7:17 If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God or I speak from Myself.
John 7:18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
John 7:19 ¶ “Did not Moses give you the Law? And yet none of you does the Law. Why do you seek to kill Me?”
John 7:20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?”
The crowd probably knew the Jews were trying to kill Jesus; however, at this point the crowd did not recognize this was Jesus. They probably thought this was some random man making outrageous statements. Since no one was actively trying to kill the man in front of them at that moment, they thought the man was falsely imagining that someone was trying to kill him.
John 7:21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel.
John 7:22 For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man.
John 7:23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?
John 7:24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
John 7:25 ¶ So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?
We see at this point some people in the crowd started to recognize that this was the man they had heard about, the One who was traveling around Galilee teaching and performing miracles.
John 7:26 And look, He is speaking openly, and they are saying nothing to Him. Do the rulers truly know that this is the Christ?
John 7:27 However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”
John 7:28 Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.
John 7:29 I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”
John 7:30 So they were seeking to seize Him; yet no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.
John 7:31 But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than this man did?”
The reason Jesus did His miracles was to prove He was not merely some man making outrageous claims. Instead, He is God Himself.
Here are some questions to ponder.
What assumptions do you make about whether the world and the people in it are good or evil?
How should today’s passage change how you look at the character of the world and its inhabitants?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”