TENACIOUSLY KNOWING JESUS
John 7:25-52
By Lay Pastor Budy Avianto
Lemah Putro, Sunday, May 17, 2020
Shalom,
No one can stop the fast flying time and in these coming days we are going to commemorate the Ascension of Jesus Christ after commemorating His resurrection from the dead forty days ago. Why should we commemorate these two events? Because He died and rose for our sake, the sinners. He – the Word – was sent by His Father to become flesh and dwell among us (John 1:1-3, 14). He came to His own; unfortunately, they rejected Him (v. 11) and even crucified Him. Does it mean His task as God’s Ambassador failed? No! However, He turned to all who received Him and whoever believed in His name, He gave them the right to become children of God (v. 12). Therefore, we, who are not Jewish, are comforted and have hope to become children of God. Now we have two citizenships, citizen of Indonesian and citizen of Heavenly Kingdom.
He came at the right time to redeem our debt of sin which cause death (Romans 6:23). Illustration: Someone who gets into debt a lot but cannot repay it, he is threatened to be brought to the court and even jailed. Being in that crucial moment when he doesn’t know what to do, what if suddenly a kind-hearted man paid off all his debt. Will this debtor refuse this kindness and rather choose to be imprisoned? It’s impossible, isn’t it? Jesus did come to the world to pay off the debts of sin of His chosen people, but it was inconceivable indeed that they rejected Him.
Who were they mentioned as His own but rejected Him?
• The Jews who tried to kill Him ( John 7:1 )
• Jesus’ “biological” brothers who didn’t believe in Him ( John 7:5 )
‘Brother’ here can refer to sibling, person of same faith, neighbour, close friend, fellow countryman. As we read more carefully, Jesus’ fellow countrymen rejected Him. Who were they?
⊗ The Jews
“Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?" Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me... But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from" (John 7:14-16, 27).
In the beginning the Jews were impressed with Jesus’ teaching about God’s Kingdom and salvation, but right after they knew who Jesus was (His parents, their job and the house they lived), they looked down on Him and made excuses to ignore and not to believe in His Word.
Application: We should not underestimate a preacher just because we know him very well. It will disadvantage us. Otherwise, it’s better we check and examine whether the topic being preached is about God, His Kingdom and His mighty deeds or merely about wordly matters.
Did all the Jews reject Jesus? No! Some of them actually believed in Him (vv. 31, 41) but because of lack of understanding or knowledge about the Word of God, their faith didn’t grow accordingly yet.
Implication: When we don’t understand about the Word of God, do not give up easily and then turn to become unbeliever; instead, learn His Word in perseverance thus God Himself will explain it to us.
We need to be careful in judging the messenger of God who preaches His Word. No matter who he is, as long as sent by God, God The Trinity is in him because God gives His Spirit unlimitedly to speak about Jesus – the Word (John 3:34). Honestly, it is not easy for a preacher or speaker to deliver the Word of God unless the Holy Spirit helps him to do it.
His countrymen (Jews) rejected Jesus because of His education and background. One of them was the high-educated Saul/Paul who was a disciple of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), circumcized on the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew, a Pharisee and faultless in regard to the law (Philippians 3:5-6). But despite the lofty background that he was proud of, he failed because he pursued and killed the followers of Christ. Fortunately, he experienced a complete transformation after meeting Jesus. He realized that he should have been punished, yet Jesus came to bear his sins. He began to believe in Jesus, be baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17-18). His life changed drastically, from the pursuer of the followers of Jesus to a militant Jesus’s follower. With humble heart, he testified about the mercy of God toward him that he was chosen to preach about His Son, Jesus Christ, to the gentiles (Galatian 1:12-17).
Application: When a servant of God delivers His Word in the form of advice and admoniton, don’t accuse him of purposely aiming it at us assuming that he knew the wrongs we had done. If we come to God to listen to His Word longingly, the Holy Spirit will surely be poured out (John 7:37-39) to give us the understanding so we may know His very Person deeper and we are sanctified more and more, also our life is renewed.
⊗ The Pharisees and the chief priests
Actually it was not the ordinary people who rejected Jesus but the Pharisees and the chief priests. They ordered the temple guards to arrest Jesus (John 7:32). But, what was the response of the temple guards? They were astonished at Jesus teaching, saying, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” (v.46)
When Jesus was brought to Pilate to be judged, he admitted that he found no case against Jesus (Luke 23:4) but the elders of the Jews, the chief priests and the teachers of the law (Luke 22:66) accused Jesus even more firmly that He had provoked people with His teaching (Luke 23:5). Surprisingly, when Jesus died, the centurion confessed that Jesus was truly the Son of God (Mark 15:39).
Somehow, the hearts of the leaders (the Pharisees, the chief priests, the teachers of law) were hardened. They insistently wanted to kill Jesus because they didn’t believe in Him. Jesus critized their attitude and their deeds, among others:
♦ Teaching the law but not doing it in their daily life (Matthew 23:2-3).
♦ Shutting the doors of the Heavenly Kingdom and hindering those who try to enter it (v.13).
♦ Being hypocrites (v.15).
♦ Giving tithes but having neglected justice, mercy and faithfulness (v.23).
♦ Cleaning the outside of the cup and dish but inside is full of greed and self-indulgence (v.25).
♦ Being blind, first they must clean the inside of the cup, and the outside will also be clean (v.26).
♦ Being like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean (v.27).
♦ Building tombs for the prophets and decorating the monuments of the righteous whereas they are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets (vv.29-32).
♦ Being the brood of vipers (v.33).
The leaders of church such as pastors, elders, deacons and cell-group leaders should be watchful. Don’t preach hypocritically changing the pulpit into a stage show talking only theories but they don’t walk the talk themselves! That way, they don’t become positive role models for the congregation! Remember, faith without deeds is dead (James 2:17,26). The most important to be cleansed firstly is their hearts (the inside) that are the source of all wickedness and uncleaness (Matthew 15:19) that comes out of mouth (Matthew 12:34-35); if not, their regular church services will just become a camouflage.
Were all leaders hypocrites? Definitely not! A leader of the Jewish, Nicodemus, tried to defend Jesus (vv.50-52). Who was he? One night he met Jesus and had a dialog with Him about being born again. Jesus states clearly that if someone isn’t born again of water and the Spirit, he will not enter God’s Kingdom (John 3:1-5). After this meeting, Nicodemus’ conscience was renewed. Being born of water (baptism) intends to plead with God for good conscience (1 Peter 3:21).
Also Josepf of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, who secretly asked Pilate to take away the body of Jesus. Together with Nicodemus, he gave spices to Jesus’ body and wrapped it with linen, then buried Him in a new tomb near the place where Jesus was crucified (John 19:38-41).
Indeed, if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and sincerely believes that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. For it is with heart that we believe and are justifed, and it is with our mouth that we confess and are saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, will be saved (Romans 10:9-13).
Application: Whoever meets Jesus and believes in His name, his heart that used to be filled with wickednes will be cleansed and renewed until there is no more hypocrisy in him. This new heart will enable him to appreciate Jesus’ death, just like Nicodemus who was faithfully by Jesus’ side when He was being crucified.
How about us? Are we rejecting Him because our heart is inconsistent with our mouth? Let’s keep our faith growing by always having a tenacious desire to know who the Lord is by zealously listening to the Word of God that will bring us to all righteousness! Amen.
Video: Ibadah Minggu Raya - 17 Mei 2020 - Pdm. Budy Avianto.