John 7: The Word on The Street

The title of this post comes from the title of a paraphrased Bible. The Word on the Street Bible was an attempt to paraphrase the Bible using 21st century language, including 21st century slang and jargon. Rob Lacey, the British author, still seemed to miss the urban feeling he was going for, perhaps because the British urban slang is much different than American slang. (For example, his 21st century equivalent to “amen” is “absolutely.” How many gangsters do you hear saying “absolutely!”?) There’s debate whether the Word on the Street Bible is to be taken seriously as inspired Scripture, or if Lacey has gone too far with paraphrasing, making it dangerously close to heresy. I decided to name this post, not after the paraphrase of the Bible, but because it does literally cover the topic about this chapter. John 7 is about the word on the street about Jesus.

I believe there are 2 ways to understand what the brothers of Jesus are saying in John 7:3,4. The first way is to approach what they say as sarcastic. This would render us the most literal interpretation of verse 5. The brothers are sarcastically telling Jesus to act like a public figure because they really think Jesus isn’t all that and He shouldn’t be a public figure. Now some people are wary to say people are speaking sarcastically, so the second way to look at John 7:3,4 is to look at what the brothers say as literal. In this case, verse 5 would more mean that they do not believe in Christ’s ministry or mission, for His mission is not one to become a popular leader. The brothers seem like they care more about the popularity, fame or even riches that would come with popularity and fame. Jesus is not interested in that. Jesus is interested in proclaiming the gospel message.

Jesus knows it’s too dangerous to go to Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders, such as the Sanhedrin, have more control in Judea than in Galilee, and even more control in Jerusalem than the rest of Judea. Jesus is well aware people are trying to kill him, especially after His teaching in John 6. Jesus also understands why the people are trying to kill him. The people (mainly the Pharisees and Sadducees) want him dead because He exposes the sin of the world, especially the sins of those who think of themselves as righteous. So Jesus decides not to go…or does he? John 7:10 tells the reader he went later secretly.

Why did Jesus go? First, Jesus was a good Jew. The Jewish Law commanded that all laws were mandatory. Yes, Jews had to celebrate holidays. To not celebrate a holiday would be breaking the Law. Jesus was sinless, so to remain sinless, He had to obey the Law and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Second, it’s fair to point out that Jesus did not say he wasn’t going to the Feast of Tabernacles. He just said it was not his time. Apparently His time to go up was a bit later, after everyone else went up. Why? That leads us right into point 3. Third, Jesus just wanted to go in secret to prevent public attraction. If he went with all His family and His disciples at once, Jesus would have stuck out like a sore thumb. When Jesus goes by Himself, He is able to sneak into the city without anyone noticing. Fourth (and this is purely argument from the silence, but it makes logical sense to me), Jesus knew ministry needed to be done in Jerusalem, and nothing could keep Jesus from performing the mission that His Father gave to Him. Well what about His life? It goes back to point. Jesus knew it was not His time for His death. So Jesus knew the Father would keep Him safe. We’ll see that play out.

Sure enough, in John 7:11, all the Jews, the small and the great alike, are looking for Jesus. Now John 7:12,13 is an interesting 2 verses. John puts the reader in the mind of the Jews in Jerusalem. How does he do this? Perhaps he interviewed the Jews. Maybe he just eavesdropped on the gossiping going around. Or maybe even the Holy Spirit told John as John was writing the book. Either way, listening in on this gossiping about Jesus shows how things have changed after Christ’s teaching in John 6. Before John 6 (more specifically, John 6:66), those for Jesus were the majority, and those against Jesus were the minority. Those who were pro-Jesus were large in number and those anti-Jesus were small in number. Then Jesus taught the Bread of Life message in John 6, and John 6:66 reveals that the message caused many to turn away from Jesus. Now we can see that, as John 7:12,13 almost make it look like the approval rating of Jesus is 50/50 or half-and-half. Those who still approve of Jesus say that Jesus is a good man. Those who disapprove of Jesus claim Jesus deceives the people. Both groups are afraid to say anything out loud, in fear of the Sanhedrin. They know they hold the power in Judea and the Jewish faith to announce if Jesus is in the right or in the wrong. Anyone against the Sanhedrin’s decision would be the wrong one, and that would make them a bad Jew. This foreshadows a Jewish crowd that is easily persuaded by its leaders.

But let’s quickly go back to the two statements. Those pro-Jesus, or for Jesus, say, “He is a good man.” Those anti-Jesus, or against Jesus, say, “He deceives the people.” Deception is a form of lying. So those against Jesus call Jesus a liar, but those supportive of Jesus call him a good man. This reminds me of C.S. Lewis’s “trilemma.” Just like in the early 2000s, the people of the early 1900s were trying to simply declare (or rather, simply dismiss) Jesus as a good man and a good teaching, and nothing more, like God. But C.S. Lewis sees a problem with this because of 2 things Jesus taught. First, Jesus taught He was the Truth, and He always told the truth. Second, Jesus taught that He was indeed Lord and God. So C.S. Lewis stated we are left with three options, hence a tri-lemma. First option, Jesus wasn’t God, knew he wasn’t God, but still taught He was God, which would make him a liar. Liars do not make good teachers, or even good people. Second option, Jesus wasn’t God, but He really thought He was God, thus He taught the people He was God, which would make Him insane, crazy or a lunatic. Insane and crazy lunatics do not make good teachers. Third option, Jesus was truly God, Jesus knew He was God, and Jesus taught the truth that He was God to people, which would make Him Lord. This is the only way Jesus could be a good teacher. He had to be the Lord God, for His teaching testifies to it. C.S. Lewis stated this 1900 years after the earthly ministry of Jesus, but it seems like even the people of the 1st century know C.S. Lewis’s trilemma had to be the truth.

The Feast of Tabernacles is a week long feast, so about a half of a week in, Jesus decides He has had enough time alone in private, so He comes out, teaching in temple courts. In teaching, He amazes they Jewish people. They ask in verse 15, “How has this man get such learning without having studied?” The Jews did take studying the Scriptures very seriously. They went through Torah School in what we would call the preschool, elementary school and middle school years. Then they prominent students did an internship/mentoring with a rabbi during what we would call the high school years. At the minimum, the Jews had the whole Torah memorized. That’s Genesis to Deuteronomy! At the maximum, the Jews had the whole Tanak (Hebrew Bible) memorized. That’s Genesis to Malachi! Some of the most outstanding Jews would even attempt to memorize parts of the Talmud, which is Moses’s commentary on the Torah. But not all Jews got to this point. Many could not make it beyond their regular schooling. These Jews went back to their family trade, like farming, fishing, or carpentry, for example. I said carpentry on purpose because that was the trade of Joseph, the father of Jesus, and so that would have been the trade of Jesus. It got the Jews hung up because a carpenter shouldn’t be this wise when it came to the study, interpretation and application of the Scriptures.

Today, Christians can get caught up in the same rut. Christians want the people with the most degrees or the highest degrees teaching and preaching. All Christians would acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in every believer of Christ, yet few would be willing to trust an uneducated person as much as an educated person with Biblical matters. Christians cannot get hung up on this. Trust me, I can attest to this. I know two very good pastors, who have never stepped foot on a seminary, and yet they are very good preachers. Another good example would be my quiz coach of 5 years. He never got any formal teaching or training in the Scriptures beyond Sunday School and church. He’s not a lead pastor, an associate pastor, or a youth pastor. In fact, he’s an electrician! Yet he knows the Bible inside and out, and he has a wisdom that rivals Solomon’s. A third example I could give is my favorite childhood Sunday School teacher. Once again, he had no formal training or teaching. His occupation was painting decals on vehicles. Yet he had a heart of spiritual leadership. Christians, never put a person down because they have less education. If we truly have the same Holy Spirit in us all, the Holy Spirit can speak truth to us all through us all. So make sure you carefully listen to everyone. (And this is saying a lot, coming from a Bible college graduate!)

In response to the Jews, Jesus calls out the Jews twice on hypocrisy. First, Jesus points out the Jews hate them for exalting God, while the Jews exalt themselves. For if the Jewish leaders did glorify God, their teaching would sound a lot like the teachings of Jesus. Second, Jesus also points out that the Jews yell at him for healing on the Sabbath, yet they circumcise on the Sabbath. Jesus clearly shows that healing is no more work than circumcising. In fact, Jesus actually has to correct the Jews. By this time, the Jews are claiming circumcision came from Moses. Jesus has to get them back to the Scriptures so they can see Abraham is the one who brought circumcision, and Isaac and Jacob followed through with it. Yet the Jews act like circumcising it not work, and healing is. So Jesus calls them out in verse 24, and he says something that people say all the time in the 21st century, but only Jesus really has the right to say: “You have no right to judge me.”

This leaves the Jews dumfounded. The Jewish people look to towards the Jewish leaders, but they can’t get a peep in. The most they can get in is a denial and an accusation, both of which are false (John 7:20). Since the Jewish leaders are remaining silent, some of the Jewish people are starting to take the silence of the Jewish leaders to say, “We got no argument against Him. He’s right,” which could be interpreted, “He is the Christ.” So the crowd is left to decide on their own. Some come to faith and side with Jesus, believing that no one can give a greater testimony that he is the Christ than Jesus can. Others still are hesitant in coming to faith. They are clinging onto a Jewish tradition that said the Messiah would have no background, like family or hometown. So they can’t believe Jesus is the Messiah because they know He is from Nazareth and they know His mother is Mary and His father is Joseph. Jesus is even willing to demonstrate that He fulfilled the tradition by coming from God the Father, who is mystery to human beings, so it is almost as if Jesus doesn’t have a background because His “background” can’t be comprehended by mere mortals. Still, the Jewish people are cautious.

The Jewish leaders, still dumbfounded, quickly send the temple guard to come and arrest Jesus. To the chief priests and Pharisees, it’s the only way to get Jesus to shut up, since the chief priests and Pharisees can’t say anything to prove Jesus wrong. Yet even arresting Jesus won’t work. John, in his narration, simply says that it was not Christ’s time to be arrested, so the Father prevented Jesus from being arrested. Of course, temple guards, chief priests and Pharisees can’t see this. So when the Pharisees and chief priests question the temple guards on why they came back empty handed, the simply report that while pushing through the crowd, they heard Jesus preach, and they stopped and listening, for even they were perplexed by His words. The chief priests and Pharisees simply dismiss as stupidity. They claim that the only reason Jesus is winning over people is because the people are uneducated and thus are too stupid to know real teaching from fake teaching, good teaching from bad teaching. But Nicodemus, our good from John 3, who is also a Pharisee, raises an eyebrow at this. Nicodemus calls out the Pharisees, his own religious party, for not giving Jesus a fair chance to speak because they are going in to listen to Jesus with a bias against them. Once again, the Pharisees simply dismiss this, arguing that the only reason Nicodemus is defending Jesus is because Jesus is from Galilee, just like Nicodemus is from Galilee.

Jesus preaches in Jerusalem all the way to the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. By now, it almost sounds like he’s repeating himself, for his words, his metaphors and his message sound the same as in John 4-6. It shows Jesus is really trying to get out this message to the people. They need to believe in Him.

So what’s the reaction of the people in the crowd to all of Christ’s teaching? It hasn’t changed too much from before. It’s still split half-and-half, or 50/50. Some people are siding with Jesus, claiming He is either the Christ or the Prophet. Other people are still not willing to side with Jesus. They are still caught up with the fact Jesus grew up in Nazareth in Galilee. Even getting past their Jewish tradition, they know the Scriptures clearly say that the Messiah will come out of David’s family, which means the Messiah would have to come from Bethlehem in Judea. If the people would simply do their genealogy homework, they could see that both Mary and Joseph are descendants of David, thus making Jesus a descendant of David. If the people would simply do their history homework, they would have discovered Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem. (It’s interesting to see the issue of the location of Christ’s birth comes in the book of John during chapter 7, yet John does not include a birth story. But as we already talked about, John’s telling of the origins of Christ, as told in John 1, fit John’s overall message better.) Yet the Jews remain ignorant about it, and because of it, many refuse to come in faith. So what’s the thesis, or main verse, for John 7?

John 7:43-
“Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.”

Sorry if this post seemed to be all over the place, bouncing back and forth in the chapter. But you’ll see that no matter where I bounced, every verse pointed back to John 7:43. Sorry if it doesn’t seem like there is an overall, primary application to this chapter (although I did make sure to put in small, secondary applications), especially in relation to John’s overall purpose and portrayal of Jesus Christ. What I wanted to show you, and I believe that John wanted the reader to see this in chapter 7 as well, is that after Jesus taught the Bread of Life in John 6, much of the crowd went from follower to skeptic, which led the people to be sharply divided on the subject of Jesus. Some still supported Jesus, while other opposed Him. If there is a group that is larger than the supporters, and larger than the opposers, it would be the undecided and the skeptics. In John chapters 1-6, Jesus laid down the evidence that He was God the Son. Now Jesus is calling for the crowds listening to Him, as well as the reader reading about Him, to make the decision if Jesus truly is God or not. As we read through the next 2/3 of the book of John, we’ll continue to see Jesus prove Himself as God, call the people to make a decision to believe, and see the growing split between those for and against Jesus.