John 7:14-24 – Seek to appraise rightly

Jesus, who came to Jerusalem after His brothers had left, arrived midway through the feast, at the height of the celebration. He then went up to the court in the Temple and began to teach. Amon those who heard Him were His opponents, and many who came from the region to celebrate the feast. His hearers were drawn to His teaching for He taught with great inspiration and authority. They were amazed and puzzled at the great insight He must have given them. They were puzzled because they knew He did not have any formal training from any rabbi. People with such knowledge and insight were usually those who had have years of training. Here was Jesus, unattached to any rabbi, yet He spoke with great clarity and authority that challenged them. Where did He get such amazing thoughts?  

Jesus told them that His teaching came from God. He was unlike any Jewish teachers of His day. They taught to compete for honor with one another. Whereas Jesus here was giving honor to the Heavenly Father. He was not seeking His own glory but was seeking to point them to Father God. He even accused the Jewish leaders for their faithlessness in teaching the law. Had they been keeping the law truthfully they would not seek to take His life. Their attack on Jesus was an indication that they were rejecting God, for they were rejecting the very one whom God had sent. Jesus asserted that those who genuinely seek the will of God, would be able to discern whether His teaching actually came from God. Isn’t this so true? Over the years, believers who heard or studied, meditated and acted on the Word of God, have been transformed in life. The Word, when acted upon, always change our life.  

In verse 18, Jesus’ point is this: one way to distinguish a God-ordained teacher is to examine the motive of the teacher. If a teacher seeks to glorify himself then he cannot be from God. If he seeks to glorify God, then he is one that God has ordained and sent. As one sent of God, Jesus’ whole purpose was to glorify God and to fulfill His will. Christ was making a case for Himself, asking them to examine the manner and purpose of His teaching. What, how and why He taught clearly showed that He was not an imposter. He had always sought to magnify God in all that He had said.

They knew that Jesus had no formal training in the Law under any rabbi. So they put a question mark over what He had said. Jesus knowing where they were coming from, asked, “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?” Here the crowd, not knowing the intention of the Jewish leaders, then accused Him of being demon possessed. For they did not know that the Jewish leaders had intention to kill Him. So that accounted for why they said, “Who is trying to kill you?” While Jesus was addressing everyone, His question was intended for the Jewish leaders.

In answering the charges, Jesus referred to the miracle of healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. The man who had suffered for thirty-eight years of paralysis was healed. The healing took place on a Sabbath. They used that incident to accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath law. Jesus then called attention to the fact that they would circumcise a new born on the Sabbath, but would forbid healing of a man who needed it. He was pointing to their inability to distinguish between what’s more needful. He was urging them to look beyond the peripheral. They were unable to judge rightly. A sound Judgment must of necessity take into consideration the man who needed healing, and the whole spirit of the law intended by God. Jesus showed the intention of this healing. The man was not just healed physically, he was ushered into a life with God. That’s what really matters.

Let’s learn to rightly appraise the things of God! We must learn to give preference to the core without insisting on the less important. Let’s go for the heart of God’s will for our life in everything. Don’t just skirt around the surface without examining the heart of the matter!