14 Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?"
I think I would have been amazed also. Not because Jesus didn’t have any “learning,” but because of what he was teaching and his authority. Mark 1:22 records, “And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (NKJV). When the people in John saw Jesus they should have recognized Jesus’ authority. Who else could simply walk into the temple court and start teaching? Perhaps it was the custom of the day for Rabbis to be able to do this. However, it was obvious to many that those in authority were not about to grant this permission to Jesus.
They assumed that Jesus had never studied. Why did they think this? Was it because he came from Nazareth? That would be one reason. Because his supposed father was a poor carpenter? This is getting closer to home. This is nothing but bias that was built into the culture of the day. It is also common today. The poor are uneducated and unfit to have opinions. But our world is much different, and education can be gained without the credentials of a university or other place of “learning.” The story of Abraham Lincoln is a great example of an “uneducated” person who became President of the U.S.
There is no excuse for any of us not to study. There are great online opportunities to learn, and books are readily available. However, the bias is still against anyone who doesn’t have the credentials. In some ways this is valid because going to the wrong online resources or books can lead anyone astray. Search engines will show you what you want, not what you need. What we all need is to listen to Jesus and get it straight from him in the Bible. His teaching is still available.
16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. 17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
Jesus made the point quite concisely that his authority and his message came directly from the Father. If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out what is true and right. He will be able to teach others and show that everything Jesus taught came from God. Those who choose this can only do so as they abide in Jesus. There are too many of us who are out there choosing to affirm what we want to believe instead of seeking God’s wisdom about a matter. While Christians have the ability to choose to do God’s will because we have been regenerated, born again, and have been transforming our minds to be more and more like Jesus, we still can and do choose to ignore God and either come up with our own ideas about how to live or buy into others’ ideas. I can’t get away from this theme of being in the Bible first and listening to even good Bible teachers second. If we know the Word of God well, we will not be deceived, even by some good teachers who just missed the mark in some small way. By the way, you need to make sure that what I’m saying is biblical also.
18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
This is the very problem that happens even in the best of churches. The temptation comes for pastors of mega churches or other ministries who are in very honorable positions. Sometimes, they want to impress their congregations that they have the answers for every conceivable situation in life and end up speaking about things that the Bible doesn’t address. Or they find some way to make it sound like the Bible addresses it in the way they want. Hence, politics enters the church when it has nothing to do with moral issues. These are opinions and should be addressed as such according to Romans 14.
Are they working for the honor of the Lord or for their own concept of what they think the Lord wants? Only Jesus could be pure in these areas because there was nothing false in him. Look at the way he avoided political traps when the Pharisees asked him about paying taxes to Caesar (Matt 22:15-22).
19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?" 20 "You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"
Since they believe that Moses gave the Law even though God gave it as we saw before, Jesus shows how easy it is for someone to think they are obeying God’s Word and disobey it at the same time. The Jewish leaders were using the Law to condemn Jesus because he “broke” the Sabbath and claimed to have God as his Father (John 5:18). Yet, the truth behind their motives would not justify this and therefore exposed them as Lawbreakers.
Now this is true conspiracy. The leaders were trying to kill Jesus but were not making this known to the common people. Even though the people knew the leaders were against Jesus and wouldn’t talk about him in public (John 7:12), they didn’t realize how far it had gone. So they say what most people say about paranoid people, they are crazy. If you have met a truly paranoid person, then you would see how far off the crowd’s assessment was.
It is interesting to see how quickly we will insult people when we don’t agree with them. At least, they did ask for verification as to who was trying to kill him. If we are going to practice biblical discussion, we should first ask questions before making any accusations. “Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish” (Prov 18:13 NLT).
21 Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
Jesus didn’t tell the crowd that it was their leaders who were trying to kill him. Yet, he gave them enough information to understand who it was. Simply by explaining the Law pointed directly to the Jewish leaders. He corrects the crowd’s thinking about circumcision and what can and can’t be done on the Sabbath and uses that to point to the bigger truth that it is good to do good on the Sabbath (Matt 12:11-12). Again, this is an area where we can be just as legalistic as the Pharisees. However, the current culture has gone the opposite way so that the Sabbath or our Sundays have become just another day. Even among dedicated Christians there is a sense that Sunday worship is an option rather than a command (Heb 10:25).
Jesus didn’t tell us not to judge, (consider what is right or wrong rather than condemn) but he gave us the guideline about how to judge. We can’t judge something by what it looks like on the outside. We don’t know people’s motives and what all their circumstances are. So we need to do as mentioned before and ask questions. When it gets right down to it, we are really poor judges. Only God can judge because, “A man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths” (Prov 5:21 NIV).
