Sermon Cloud

INTRO : Fav. Quote : All the best quotes are taken out of context!!

Context is everything, 10 to 1, Cape Canaveral, Children’s B-day, or a 1^st Grade school room.

Determining the context determines the interpretation.  Well what is the context of John’s gospel?

Well, according to a team of scholars known as the Context Group, The Gospels are written in the Middle East.  Middle Eastern culture is the context, and in particular, the notion of “shame and honor.”  For John especially, the enemies of Jesus are constantly trying to shame him – but John is attempting to show his gospel readers how honorable Jesus really is: “It is our hypothesis that the narrator chose to present Jesus continually in situations of conflict to highlight how alien both Jesus and his disciples were to their respective worlds. The narrative choice of forensic proceedings follows a regular pattern in which Jesus-the-accused honorably turns the tables on his accusers and conducts his own trial of them.”

If you didn’t catch that, they are saying that the people who make judgments about Jesus are constantly the ones, who in the end, are judged by Jesus. 

Who judges Jesus in John’s gospel? His family, the crowds, the religious rulers, the Roman rulers, and even the cross!  To which, Jesus takes each accusation, and triumphs over them – He is vindicated as the innocent and righteous one.

That is one proposition of a context, and then the resulting way of interpreting out of that situation – it’s got some legs.

How about this context:  The Apostle John is an eyewitness of Jesus who wants you to believe that Jesus is the CHRIST, the Son of God, and that in believing you would have LIFE in HIS NAME!  As everyone knows, the CHRIST is a prophetic and political title meaning the ANOINTED!  Jesus came to make believers his fellow ANOINTED ONES = CHRISTIANS.  And as they treated Jesus Christ, God’s Anointed son, we as Christians should expect similar treatment – people accusing us of sedition, of breaking traditions, of family misunderstanding us, and so on à  I think that also has legs too.

How about this?  Just last week, my take of John 7 suggested this as a context:  The people were struggling with the idea that Jesus was really God in the Flesh – SURE, they had a category for the Messiah, a son of David, a Prophet like Moses, who would come and establish a new kingdom for Israel.  But did they actually expect the Messiah to be YAWVEH, the great I AM?  And did they further expect that the Messiah’s plan would be to include the entire world into His plans – that actually, being a child of God would become more important than being a child of Israel!!  The opening chapter of John says that the Word was in the beginning and that He became flesh!  Those who believe this will have the right, then, to become children of God!  Those who believe in this “incarnation” will actually want to feed on the flesh of Christ as a source of life (and of course, it is truly the spirit that gives life – and whenever we seem to read a difficult passage, the Spirit seems to be the answer for how awkward statements can make sense – or as they say, how you put a difficult passage in context!)

I think all these contexts work.  BUT if you have multiple contexts, can we ever arrive at a proper interpretation?  After a while, competing contexts will render contrary interpretations.  That’s why people have a great time trying to figure Jesus out! 

IF you know a guys family – then he can’t be the Messiah! 

IF you come from Galilee – then you can’t be a prophet! 

IF you didn’t get trained in the Rabbinic schools – then you can’t be a public authority! 

IF you heal someone on the Sabbath – Then you must be trouble! 

IF you start with a faulty context, you’ll arrive at a faulty interpretation!

So let’s review the context for John 7, because John gives it to us, and we covered the first 3 last week -- and I’ve denoted this on our FAMILY PAGE as the Movements of Chapter 7.

FIRST = Feast of Booths = ANOTHER CONTEXT FOR THE GOSPEL – depending upon when the Gospel was written, and I’m with the conservatives on this, persuade that it was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.  But whenever it was written, the pilgrimages were either still important to the Jewish people, and a clarification for why the Christians weren’t keeping these feasts was an underlying purpose for the gospel – OR – if after the destruction, John could discuss how Jesus fully participated in these pilgrimages and that Jesus is for the church, both Jew and Gentile alike, the fulfillment of what this 3 pilgrimages represent theologically in relating to the work of salvation as opposed to religious or national identity – we’ve learned that Jesus came to make all who believe, Children of God, and not children of Israel.

– Feast of Booths was not the feast where Jesus would complete his ultimate mission of providing his life as a sacrificial lamb so that God’s people could escape judgment and be redeemed, because that was to happen on the feast of Passover – so there won’t be a huge ingathering after Jesus here.

SECOND = His brothers want him to stop hiding = Jesus told them that they are seeking favor with the world, and want things on their time schedule – Jesus walks another path that seeks favor with God and HE will walk a lonely path of rejection and suffering.

THIRD = The Jewish crowds are divided on whether Jesus is good or bad -  they are measuring their cues by the authority of the religious leaders – YET, they recognize that Jesus is powerful in his teaching and with miraculous signs – ERGO, He must be a prophet, even a candidate for the Christ – but no one says this publicly because they fear the reprisal of the Jewish rulers.

FOURTH = The Final Day of the Feast = 1) ingathering 2) build sukkots 3) wave the lulav, 4) Simchat Beit HaShoeva?

When sacrifices were offered in the Holy Temple, there was also a special pouring of wine and oil at the altar. On Sukkot there was also a special ceremony entailing the pouring of water.

The water was drawn the night beforehand from the Shiloach spring, and this was done with great joy and hapiness, with singing and dancing. This was called "Simchat Beit Hashoeva" -- the "joy of the drawing." Today's Simchat Beit Hashoeva is a commemoration of that one, and a fulfillment of the LAW to rejoice on the holiday of Sukkot.

TODAY – if you are an observant Jew and you build a little booth, you may pour water on the floor…

“The Simchat Beit HaShoeva also expressed the joy of anticipation of the ultimate experience of oneness with G-d that was achieved on the final day of celebrations-on Simchat Torah, when the celebrants embraced the Torah (which is referred metaphorically as water since its teachings are as fundamental to life as water).”

SO REMEMBER THIS CONTEXT WHEN Jesus goes to the temple on the final day of the feast!

The pour of the water libation is intended to be a priming of the pump for all the passages in the OT which symbolize God’s blessing upon Israel by refreshing them with rivers – OF WHICH, Ezekiel 47 is in mind when he says that the water will flow from the temple!!.  HOWEVER, you must know that from the 120 mentions of Rivers in the OT, the MAJORITY of those references describe God as judging Israel by drying up her rivers!  The river passages that are prominent in most of our Bible studies are the ones which we read and sang today because they are the positive announcements of God’s blessing to Israel (much like the agricultural theme and Garden theme we’ve explored – that’s why the book of Revelation concludes with a flowing river in heaven as the future sign of God’s presence and blessing of His people.)  JESUS announces by referencing rivers, that HE ALONE is the one who is able to bless Israel.  Israel has encountered dry rivers (spiritually speaking), but now Jesus is here to deliver eternal, not seasonal, flow!  Jesus is every full river that Israel ever longed for, and he is water leaping up into eternal life!  But that river runs through them…

FIFTH = The Pharisees want Jesus arrested, but those sent to do so are so persuaded by Jesus’ teaching that they cannot bring themselves to apprehend him.  For this, these arresting agents, are berated by the Pharisees who claim that they have superior judgment about such things, and they make radical claims about where true prophets originate, saying Galilee is not a prophet producing place, and yet, my commentaries suggest that Galilee produced… “As a matter of fact Jonah, Hosea, Nahum, possibly also Elijah, Elisha, and Amos were from Galilee.”

So it is appropriate for us to question their judgment and this is what Nicodemus does in…

SIXTH = Nicodemus adheres to the standard of judging rightly by hearing Jesus out – this would assure that a rush to judgment does not take place as we read in Dt. 1:17.  But the religious leaders are so willing to reject Jesus, that they are willing to reject one of their own – and even their clearly stipulated law!.  They are willing to throw Nicodemus under the camel in order to silence Jesus and what the crowds are saying about him

–       That he is a prophet, and even more powerful, the Christ sent to redeem and LEAD Israel just as Moses, and Samuel, and David lead Israel

– people who are in charge are becoming fearful of how public opinion is swaying toward a new authority – and they become so unhinged about it that they are willing to curse the crowds for their speculations! (Heavy thought when they were supposed to shepherd the people, that curse is actually something that will fall upon them…An important note to the church since we all have the tendency to become the thing that we are quick to curse – it’s sadly ironic, but predictable – this is one aspect for why forgiveness is a “freeing” activity, because it has the ability to prevent you from becoming what you despise…We can talk about this more offline…)

7.50 = we see Nicodemus being ostracized.  He picks up the irrational response that the religious leaders have toward Jesus and he tries to temper their response with some level headed thinking – but their reaction reveals their blindness and fear – their desire to be in control while not realizing that they were now admitting that they were losing it.  This is rather typical of all of us when our world begins to crumble, looking for the reason why people should be blamed for our problems and lack of promotion when in fact, God might be trying to get our attention about something.  [So with all this context, let’s read; 7:30-53]

³⁰ So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, "When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?" ³² The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. ³³ Jesus then said, "I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. ³⁴ You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come." ³⁵ The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What does he mean by saying, 'You will seek me and you will not find me,' and, 'Where I am you cannot come'?" ³⁷ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" ³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. ⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This really is the Prophet." ⁴¹ Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" ⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. ⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" ⁴⁶ The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!" ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" ⁵² They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee." THE EARLIEST MANUSCRIPTS DO NOT INCLUDE JOHN 7:53-8:11 ⁵³ [They went each to his own house,

4 contexts = shame / honor context; The Christ Context, the Children of God context, the How should we regard Feasts? Context.

Ref. Isa. 32

:1 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. ² Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land. ³ Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention. ^…6 For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. ^{… 14} For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; ¹⁵ until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, …  ²⁰ Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

XXX CUT XXX

This brings us to act 6, which is the high light of the passage because it is so crystal clear what Jesus is doing in vs. 37

 Last week was struggle with the incarnation as John 7 is a bit of a thematic struggle – his family wants him to act in a different way, the crowds are divided as to his true identity and goal, the religious leaders know nothing of his education or his background – and all the while Jesus is asserting his authority over their lives… A struggle with the incarnation, clearly, he wasn’t made of the same stuff of Israel!

Jerome H. Neyrey, S.J.
University of Notre Dame
(Member of the Context Group)

Many commentators have experienced great difficulties in "seeing a coherent and logical progression" (Attridge 1980:161) through John 7. A careful reading of the narrative in terms of the setting at the Feast of Tabernacles and in light of typical forensic proceedings can go a long way into solving some of the problems of coherence and logic. But it is especially in terms of the way that the tribulations of Jesus are portrayed in the Fourth Gospel that we can learn not only about John 7 but also the passages parallel to this chapter in the rest of the gospel (see Harvey 1976).

It is our hypothesis that the narrator chose to present Jesus continually in situations of conflict to highlight how alien both Jesus and his disciples were to their respective worlds. The narrative choice of forensic proceedings follows a regular pattern in which Jesus-the-accused honorably turns the tables on his accusers and conducts his own trial of them. Thus in response to intense conflict, both Jesus and his disciples acquit themselves honorably, at least on the narrative level. Finally, in view of the shame of the cross (Heb 12:2), the narrator fully appreciates the need to present Jesus in cultural terms as a successful person, a winner, and an honorable man. Thus the levels of analysis (forensic trials and tribulations of honor) are two compatible and even necessary ways of reading John 7 to appreciate how honorable Jesus is, so that people may join themselves to him and become his loyal disciples (see 20:31).

"The Jews sought (ezêtoun) to kill him" (7:1)

"The Jews sought (ezêtoun) him at the feast" (7:11)

"Why do you seek (zêteite) to kill me?" (7:19)

"Who seeks (zêtei) to kill you?" (7:20)

"Is this the man whom they seek (zêtousin) to kill?" (7:25)

"They sought (ezêtoun) to arrest him" (7:30)

"You will seek (zêtêsete) me and you will not find me" (7:34)

"What does he mean by 'You will seek (zêtêsete) me'?" (7:36)

"Seeking" Jesus, then, means either to "seek to arrest" him or to "seek to kill" him; even seeking to arrest him serves as the prelude to killing him and so comes to the same thing. "Seeking" in John 7 is tantamount to murder.

In terms of the formal elements of a forensic process, we can identify the following:

(1) arrest, only attempted (7:30, 32, 44, 45-46);

(2) charges against Jesus: a false prophet who "leads the people astray" (7:12, 41, 47), a sinner who violates the Sabbath (7:21-24);

(3) judges, the Pharisees and chief priests (7:32, 45-52) or "the Jews" (7:13, 15);

(4) testimony, either on Jesus' behalf (7:12b, 16-18, 21-24, 40-41, 46) or against him (7:12c, 27, 41-42);

(5) cognitio: either the judges' examination of Jesus' testimony (7:14-14, 37-43) or Jesus' scrutiny of the testimony of others (7:28-29);

(6) verdict: a guilty verdict implied in vv 30 and 44 when the court officials "seek to arrest" Jesus;

(7) sentence: the references to "seeking" Jesus refer to a death sentence, i.e., they "seek to kill" him (7:1, 19, 34).

CONCLUSION: John portrays Jesus as a fully honorable person, both in terms of ascribed honor (origins/birth, education, authorization) and in terms of his ability to claim and defend his honor. If honor is the pivotal or premier value of the author's cultural world, then Jesus should be reckoned as a most exalted and worthy and celebrated person.

But we see the people struggling with the incarnation of Jesus, and now a crowd of people starting to separate themselves from the Jewish leadership as they begin to confess that Jesus is the fulfillment of the feasts and celebrations, the anticipated prophet, or even more important, the Christ come to Israel.  In 7, we read the crowd confessing something about Jesus, and the religious leaders denying it.  It is a trial about the true nature of Jesus (As the passage is filled with legal language) and why we said last week, John chapter 7, a struggle with the incarnation!

Observation: Concern about the Crowd – the Pharisees didn’t like the speculation of the crowds because they were concluding that Jesus was the prophesied prophet and Christ who was to come to Israel – for her redemption – to raise her up as a people of prominence on the world scene.  Now, to be sure, Jesus did come to raise the people up!  To raise them up, however to the place where he came from – which is to the Father – but only those who would believe his signs, his teaching, and his authority!  To deny these things is to deny the very presence of God in the world – and witnesses like this will stand up and testify against everyone who had the privilege of encountering Christ and his message.  The same is true today… and the Lord provides multiple witnesses of His presence and glory upon the earth, to which everyone must stand to give an account – even the supposed authorities of Israel, who at one point despises the speculation of the crowds, but is also fearful of the crowds.  We said last week, that people were kept from confessing Jesus as the Christ for fear of the Jewish leadership – but equally fearful was the Jewish leaders of the people embracing Jesus.  They had power and authority as long as the people regarded them as THE power and authority.  Jesus comes and challenges all power and authority – and those who follow.

Jesus prophesies his impending return to the Father.  The crucifixion will become the resurrection will become the ascension.  Jesus knew the path he was to take in order to obtain his vindication and reward! (Do the twofold declaration and reward here???)

The people do not understand his language and think he is going to leave Israel and go to a place that would defile them, religiously speaking.  I’m going to a place you cannot go – they conclude, “O, to the Greeks, I can’t go there as an observant Jew…”  This is the JOJO.  No, Jesus is going to the Father to inherit his reward – AND NO ONE can go there, save the grace of God who will graciously share it with all who believe!

The Great Day:  The feast of Sukkoth, of Booths was a 7 day celebration; but an 8^th day was added for a grand conclusion!  And here Jesus announces, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me” (Validity of pouring water on temple steps, River 47??)

Isa 58-59 = streams and rewards!! (Talk about another powerful theme in Jewish literature: The stream vs. the Sea)

7.39 = the theology of Jesus purchasing salvation in his own body, ascending into heaven and taking a throne of a kingdom, and then dispensing royal provisions to his citizens.  Jesus doesn’t tax in his kingdom, he gives to his subjects!  He supplies them with the means by which they rejoice in their salvation, and equips them to carry out their calling!  The Spirit is now present to raise a new Israel to a new task for their new king!

7.47,48  = we don’t pay you to think!!

7.49 = Harsh!  “Tourists!!”  Why is the crowd cursed?  Have you not taught them, shepherded them, discipled them?  Are not the crowds your flock and you have nothing but disdain for them?  May we never despise crowds, but pray that they will be lead into the truth…