On Line Bible Study - For the Week May 21-27, 2012

Lesson 537

John 7:37-52

You can see the entire passage by clicking on the link above.  We are going to focus on the following verses:

John 7:   ³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

 The "festival" is The Feast of Tabernacles.  This was an agrarian feast originally, and its sacredness was intensified by its association with the dedication of Solomon's Temple.  The feast also becomes connected to the 'triumphant day of the Lord' in Zechariah 9 - 14, perhaps because of the verse in Zechariah 10:1 referencing the prayers for spring rains.

The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated for seven days.  Each day in the morning a procession would go to the fountain of Gihon - the fountain which supplied the waters to the pool of Siloam.  These came to symbolize the 'waters from the well of salvation (Isaiah 12:3).  A pitcher would be filled with the water, and then the procession would go back up to the Temple through the Water Gate.  As members of the procession walked, they carried two symbols with them - in their right hand, myrtle and twigs to recollect the construction of the huts, and in their left hand a lemon or citron as a sign of the harvest.  The water would be poured in a funnel at the altar.  On the seventh day of the celebration the procession would march around the altar seven times.  (Raymond Brown, Anchor Bible Commentary on the Gospel According to John I-XII.)

Prayers for rain, the anticipation of the 'coming day of the Lord", reverence for the Temple - it is in this context - on the last and greatest day of the festival - that Jesus stood and cried out - Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink...

As you read the entire passage under consideration we discover that not everyone was enamored of Christ or receptive to his message - that "rivers of living water" would flow.  Is it true - can it be true - that Jesus provides what we truly need for life from the temple of his body?  The 'living water' is the Spirit.

As John's Gospel presents it, Jesus is the "Festival" we have all been waiting for!

On Line Bible Study - For the Week May 14-20, 2012

Lesson 536

John 7:14-36

Before you read the text, you might want to review John 5:1-15.  We assume the healing of the man at the pool is the basis for the criticism Jesus is facing here.

For our purposes we are going to home in on four verses in particular ...

John 7:  ¹⁵ The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”  ¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.  ¹⁷ Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.  ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

How does Jesus come by such learning?  That's what the people want to know.  In other words, they know he is not the product of one of their "seminaries" - no prominent rabbi of the day takes any responsibility for having taught Jesus. 

Jesus responds to their question in a way that might seem rather cryptic - he essentially says that his teaching comes from God.  If we put it another way, Jesus is saying: "I know because I know."  Still another way to put it - a more philosophical way - would be for Jesus to say: "I know what I know because it has been revealed to me."

Since the "Enlightenment" that began in earnest in the 18th Century, we "moderns" have assumed that what can be known can be proven.  "Knowledge" carries with it the notion of certainty.  When a plane barrels down the runway, we don't have a bunch of people praying that the thing will fly.  Based on what we know, there is certainty that, given a specific speed, a certain design of wing and the like, the plane will not only take off - it will stay up.

The question is: Are there other ways of knowing things?  The Christian Testament acknowledges that there is an innate "hidden" quality to the divine.  Paul writes, however, that some of God's "hidden qualities" are made known through the natural world.  (Romans 1:20.)  Paul also says the "invisible God" is made known through the Son - "The Son is the image of the invisible God ..." (Colossians 1:15.)  Several verses later Paul writes: "The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the Lord's people ..." (Colossians 1:26.)

Along with proof of a scientific nature, are there others ways to "know" something?  Can we be "certain" of the truth of what we believe in the same way we are "certain" the plane will fly?

There is an irony in this passage we are considering, for at one point the people doubt the validity of Jesus' message precisely because they know where he is from.  This doubt may be the result of a train of thought that had grown around the idea that the Messiah would have unknown origins - his appearance would be mysterious in ways that Jesus' origins were not.  They are unwilling to apply the same criteria to Jesus' teaching authority.

Have you ever wondered how it is that you have come to "know" something?  Is it enough for you to read the testimony of the first Christians with regard to Jesus?  Do you think it is possible that the Spirit of Christ might whisper some truth in your ear, meant just for you - something as true as any law of physics might be?

The question of "truth" will emerge again later in this gospel.

On Line Bible Study - For the Week of May 7-13, 2012

Lesson 535

John 7:1-13

The text we will concern ourselves with is John 7:  ³ Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. ⁴ No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

Recall that there is no "Temptation Story" in the Gospel of John.  However, Raymond Brown suggests that the three temptations found in Matthew 4:1ff and Luke 4:1ff also appear in John, but in a very different format.

Temptation:  Satan offered the kingdoms of the World to Jesus.  We find a similar 'temptation' in John 6:15.

Satan invited Jesus to turn stones into bread.  This 'temptation' occurs in John 6:31 where the people ask for "miraculous bread".

Satan also took Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem and tempts him to display his power by jumping.  Now, in John 7:3, Jesus' brothers want him to go to Jerusalem to show his power.

The writers of Matthew and Luke present the temptations in dramatic form.  In the Gospel of John, these same temptations occur more as a matter of course.

Isn't this true for us as well?  Aren't we more apt to be tempted and tested in the everyday events of our lives - while we are struggling to make ends meet, or live up to the expectations someone else has for us?  As we work with our peers or try to impress the boss, don't we find ourselves succumbing to the temptation at times to make promises we can't keep or take credit for something we didn't do?

At times, it's not so much the devil that is our problem as it is the people who love us and want so much for us.  And perhaps even more frequently, the "tempter" is ourselves - our own pride or impatience.  Jesus resists these temptations - whether they come from Satan, his brothers, or his own human tendencies.

Where do your temptations come from?