John • The passed-over passages 8 • Jesus teaches at the feast

Steve Schott
Oct 22
11 min read

► Previously in John we looked at the 7 signs recorded, and referenced in John 20:30-31, where it says

30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

► We also explored the 7 "I AM" statements that do not always correspond to the signs, but also add definition to the nature and purposes of Jesus.

► Links to all of these posts can be found at the end of this posting

► Now I'm going to turn my attention to what I call the "passed-over" passages, Those passages from chapter 1 to chapter 12 which I haven't previously dealt with.

► After that we'll deal with chapters 13 to 19, which I call "the end of it all". These chapters deal with a single 24-hour period, that starts with the last supper in the upper room, and takes us all the way to the cross and the tomb.

► And then we'll end with chapters 20 and 21 that I call "the new beginning".

► The further into the gospel of John we go, the more we see threats against Jesus. Death threats. Some of the Jews probably thought they were doing a service for God, getting rid of this blasphemer. Others probably just wanted Him gone, as He was distracting the people. Still others wanted Him dead because He was a threat to the political hierarchy of the day.

► As we enter into chapter 7, we'll see Jesus being a little bit more cautious about going to Jerusalem. He's still going to go, but in a way that He won't be hijacked on the journey.

Jesus teaches at the feast → John 7:1-53

Jesus and His brothers

John 7:1-13 → ¹ After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. ² Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. ³ Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. ⁴ For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” ⁵ For not even His brothers were believing in Him. ⁶ So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. ⁸ Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.

¹⁰ But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret. ¹¹ So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?” ¹² There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.” ¹³ Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

► A 6 to 7 month gap between chapters 6 and 7. Passover in chapter 6 would have been in April, while the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles) is in October.

► "his (Jesus') brothers" → Matthew 13:55 lists Jesus' brothers... "⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?"

→ Of His brothers, James would go on to become the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and would also pen the epistle that bears his name.

→ The brothers are urging Jesus to go publicly to Judea to display "Your works which You are doing", but their motivation is suspect, seeing as how verse 5 tells us that "not even His brothers were believing in Him."

► Jesus tells them that He is not going to the feast (at least not yet), but when He does finally go, He goes "in secret", staying on the down-low to avoid attracting any significant attention to Himself, at least until He's in the middle of the entire event.

Jesus begins to teach

John 7:14-18 → ¹⁴ But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” ¹⁶ So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ 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.

► And of course, once He's in the right place, at the right time, He begins to teach in the temple.

► The Jews are unsure how this backwards country bumpkin can teach so eloquently having not had a seminary education.

► Jesus basically tells them that He got His smarts from God.

Why do you seek to kill me?

John 7:19-24 → ¹⁹ “Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. ²² 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. ²³ “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? ²⁴ Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

► Jesus confronts the crowd about their plan to kill Him, and they tell Him He's demon possessed.

► He jumps all over them because of their accusations that He broke the Sabbath, but He turns it back on them.

Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?

John 7:25-31 → ²⁵ So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? ²⁶ Look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? ²⁷ However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from.” ²⁸ Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. ²⁹ I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” ³⁰ So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. ³¹ But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?”

► Some of the crowd are expressing their confusion as they thought this was the person the leaders were trying to kill, but now they are not doing anything to Him. They question whether the leaders are themselves beginning to believe that Jesus is the Christ.

► Jesus responds saying basically that He is from God, which gave them further motivation to at least lock Him up.

► But others were believing in Him, because of the signs He was performing.

and where I am, you cannot come.

John 7:32-36 → ³² The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. ³³ Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. ³⁴ You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” ³⁵ The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He? ³⁶ What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”

► When the Pharisees heard what some of the people were saying about Jesus, they sent the cops to capture Him.

► Jesus told them "you will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come."

► To which the Jews began wrestling with what Jesus meant by that, some assuming that He was going to go live amongst, and preach to, the Gentiles.

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

John 7:37-39 → ³⁷ Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” ³⁹ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

► Near the end of the multi-day feast, Jesus says "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.' "

► He was speaking of the Holy Spirit, who will soon be infused into every believer on the day of Pentecost.

The people are divided

John 7:40-53 → ⁴⁰ Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

⁴⁵ The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? ⁴⁸ No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? ⁴⁹ But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said to them, ⁵¹ “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” ⁵² They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” ⁵³ [Everyone went to his home.

► Some were believing that Jesus was some kind of holy person, if not the Christ (Messiah) Himself, then at least the long awaited Prophet (whom some in 1st century Judaism believed to be separate from Messiah), but there was some confusion about where Jesus was actually from.

→ The Messiah would have to be from the line of David, and be born in Bethlehem, but this Guy is from Nazareth. How does that fit?

► The officials are all wondering "why can't we get our hands on this guy?" "No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?"

► At this point, Nicodemus (perhaps at this point a true believer), asks the others to exercise some caution, suggesting that they shouldn't judge Him without hearing what He has to say, and understanding why He is doing what He is doing.

► "no prophet arises out of Galilee." → not necessarily correct. We do know that Jonah was from Galilee (2 Kings 14:25), and that Elijah (1 Kings 17:1) and Nahum (Nah 1:1) may also be.

► The end of chapter 7, verse 7:53, and chapter 8, verses 8:1-11, are not found in some of the earliest manuscripts, and were presumably added at a later time.

So what?

► In Jesus' time there was a lot of confusion about "just who is this guy?"

► Because of some of the things Jesus was saying about Himself, specifically because He was calling Himself God (that is a biggie!), the crowds were divided, and violently so.

► Is He who He says He is? And if so, why aren't we following Him?

► If not, then based of the Scriptures, He is deserving of death, having blasphemed.

► Even today, everyone has an opinion about Jesus.

→ Even those who believe in Him have some varying ideas about Him that lead to some contention within Christendom.

→ Those who don't believe in Him fall into several camps...

• Those who violently are opposed to Him, some of those either belonging to some other religion, or to no religion at all.

• Or some who are tolerant, and are open to having the freedom to believe whatever you want, but just don't want to be bothered with it themselves.

• And there are also those who don't care at all and don't want to be bothered with any of it.

► But one thing is for certain. Most of the population of the world knows something about this "Jesus" person, and have various thoughts about Him.

► If you read John's gospel carefully, you can only come to one conclusion as to what John is trying to communicate. Jesus is God. Jesus is the Creator. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is Lord.

► The only question remaining is will you choose to believe?

The Signs

► Sign 1, Water to Wine, Jesus is the master of the ELEMENTS → John 2:1-12

► Sign 2, Nobleman's Son, Jesus is the master over DISTANCE → John 4:46-54

► Sign 3, Lame Man at Bethesda, Jesus is the master over TIME → John 5:1-18

► Sign 4, Feeding of 5,000+, Jesus is the master over DIMENSION → John 6:1-15

► Sign 5, Jesus walks on water, Jesus is the master over NATURE → John 6:15-21

► Sign 6, The Man Born Blind, Jesus is the master over HISTORY → John 9:1-41

► Sign 7, The Raising of Lazarus, Jesus is the master over DEATH → John 11:1-46

The "I AM" Statements

► I AM #1 • I AM the Bread of Life - Jesus ELIMINATES HUNGER → John 6:26-58

► I AM #2 • I AM the Light of the World - Jesus ELIMINATES DARKNESS → John 8:12-9:5