John 7 Commentary
Who hasn’t felt uncomfortable with the LORD Jesus’ actions of shifting from His stated positions? It feels like we need to examine the instruction, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’”
This internal conflict is fine as it exposes our folly. Don’t drop the feeling but ask the LORD to help you understand.
Why should Jesus say yes to the vanity trip proposed by His brothers? These “PR experts” and “Image builders” are up to no good. Jesus’ ministry is not anything close to what they think. He is not out there to garner numbers for his profile and boast about social media ratings. It is not a popularity contest.
So His statement punches holes in ambitions closely related to the devil’s temptations at the start of Jesus’ ministry. He will not go for a “campaign trip”. At the same time, a trip of a different nature with a different purpose is on the table already.
So we have a ‘no’ to the vanity trip (the strong “get behind me Satan” type), and a strong yes to God’s purposes.
You experience the same ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and ‘no’ and ‘yes’ nearly on a daily basis. Check your heart and see that there is no pride before you pray. Otherwise, even an outwardly innocent prayer request becomes terrible! The motive easily spoils the party – even a very good party. The ‘yes’ and ‘no’ becomes personal.
The place of prayer has many such situations. Check carefully and see that what you thought was a ‘no’ from God wasn’t actually a ‘no’. And was a ‘yes’ truly yes? Check God’s heart; it defines ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
Our folly is exposed because we use the wrong lenses to see. How do you say ‘no’ to vanity while saying ‘yes’ to the call of God in the same sentence? Can you do it without appearing contradictory?
We have the Book of Proverbs in action – wisdom at work. The fact that you will eventually die (as ordained by God), doesn’t mean you can throw yourself under a moving train. So Jesus escapes trouble until the right time. Needless trouble causes pain in Heaven!
Verse 27. “…when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from”. Which scripture is quoted for this statement? None. The LORD Jesus Christ won’t address Himself to baseless talk. However, Jesus admits his humanity. At the same time, he points to His other Father who is the source of His authority. It is this ‘otherness’ that the Jews never just understand.
“How can the Messiah come from Galilee?” Verse 41. Jesus lived in Galilee but was never from Galilee. Jesus’ hometown was Bethlehem. No one bothered to research! Many times, unbelief is backed by ignorance.
Yes, the “Messiah will come from Bethlehem, the town where David lived”. Who bothered to find out who Jesus’ father was and where he came from? Satan thrives on ignorance and deception. Knowledge is an enemy of Satan.
“Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?” Nicodemus spoke up and you can see the difference. Knowledge helps. The kingdom of light thrives on knowledge. The kingdom of darkness thrives on ignorance.
What do you know about Jesus Christ? What do you know about His promises? Have you ever taken time to examine the facts of His life to objectively judge between Jesus and other opinions? The sinner will always answer ‘no’. The believer will always say affirm.
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