Breakers of the Law
When it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach.
The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”
So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 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. Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”
The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?”
Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. 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. 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? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (John 7:14-24)
Jesus had no credentials. He was not the student of a famous rabbi. The “Jews” listening to him were struck with the contradiction: how could he know so much when he’d never had a formal education?
When the gospel writer John uses the term “Jews” he generally does not mean the ordinary people of Israel, but rather the religious establishment who had rejected Jesus. They were the educated elite. They claimed to know it all. So, after they questioned his credentials, Jesus questioned theirs. If they were so educated, then why they were planning on violating one of the more obvious of the Ten Commandments, the one that forbid murder?
Why did they want to kill him? Because they thought they knew how the Messiah should act and it wasn’t the way Jesus acted.
Too easily do human beings believe they know everything. When that happens, it’s no longer possible for them to learn anything. People don’t look for an answer if they believe they’ve already found it.
Jesus had no formal education and he turned out okay. The religious leaders had a lot and it hadn’t done them any good. True education leads to humility, rather than arrogance; a desire to hear more than a desire to speak.
Send to Kindle
