John 7:25-36
“Notice what you notice.” 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?” (v. 31) What a powerful testimony from the crowd! They saw what they saw – and simply believed! Unlike the Pharisees their eyes were not clouded over with specific expectations and “alternative facts”. Makes me wonder if we have specific expectations with respect to our interpretation of Scripture…? And the same question to those who disagree with our understanding of Scripture…!
I’ve read it probably hundreds of times and it’s been there all along in John chapter 7, this focus on the leaders’ seeking to kill Jesus and Jesus’ knowing that His time had not yet come. I had always thought of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus as the turning point for what I always called “the Passover Plot”, where Caiaphas offered Jesus as that one man who would die for the nation (John 11:47-53). But here we have this back-and-forth “kill talk” (vv. 1, 19, 20, 25) with the crowd, the Pharisees, and Jesus at the Feast of Booths (commonly known as the “Ingathering”), at least half a year ahead of His actual crucifixion. During our readings in John’s Gospel for the next couple of weeks Jesus will continue teaching and healing in Jerusalem and the surrounding region. The Synoptics will then pick up the same threads in July and August. It will be late August before we finally reach Palm Sunday and Holy Week. That is, Jesus will continue to do what He has been doing; there seems to be very little in Jesus where He has fear for His own death.
Traveling has made it difficult for Carol and me to stay regular in our readings. Carol fell far behind and is now catching up, and thus far I’ve been able to read and post every day – sometimes very late and sometimes very little. We are now halfway through our sixteen nights in Europe. Tomorrow we meet up with Vlado and Maria – Slovaks who attended St. Andrew’s intermittently during 2012-2016. It’ll be a real joy to be with them!
Slava Bohu!
Please give Vlado and Maria hugs for me, and all of us. They are so precious. Will you see Honza too? Wish I could be there with you.
People had so many different perceptions of Jesus, just like the world today. It is scary to think that, as ambassadors for Christ, people’s belief about Jesus can be formed by how they see us. Looking forward to later John: “they will know you are Christians by your love.”
Unfortunately, your use of the phrase “the Passover Plot” is misguided. See my comment on the February 27, 2019 post.