John 7:20-24

John 7:20-24

The crowd answered, “You have a demon.  Who seeks to kill you?”  Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work and you all marvel.  Because of this Moses gave circumcision to you all – not that it is out of Moses but out of the fathers.  And in the Sabbath you all circumcise a man.  If a man receives circumcision in the Sabbath in order that the Law of Moses should not be broken, are you all angry with me since in the Sabbath I made a whole man healthy?  Do not judge according to outward appearances, but judge with righteous judgment.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The Jews who were listening to Jesus make a bold accusation in return to Jesus’ bold accusation in the prior passage.  Here the people say that He has a demon!  In modern terminology, this is what they are saying: “You must be crazy to think anyone is trying to kill you!”  This tells us two really neat things.  First, people are easily duped by their leaders.  These people had no idea that the Jewish leaders were actually planning to kill Him.  Because He does die, we know that Jesus is right here and the people are duped.  The second thing that it tells us is that human beings are quick to make evaluations based on what they see, hear, and think to be true.  This is why Jesus chastises them and cautions them against judging by appearances.  He appears to be crazy and the Jewish leaders appear to be acting normal.  Neither of those appearances are a correct evaluation of what is happening in reality.

How are you misled by what appears to be true?  When are you likely to make a false evaluation based on appearances and not what is actually going on?

Second Thought:

Jesus is referring the Jews back to the healing of the paralytic man on the Sabbath (See John 5:1-17).  The Jewish leaders were upset that He had healed on the Sabbath and from that moment they were looking for ways to make Jesus go away.  But within these words Jesus makes a really neat claim.  The Jewish leaders are angry with Him because He made a whole man healthy again.  They couldn’t see past the Law and see into God’s glory.  Because they couldn’t get past the Law, they seek to kill the very one who was sent to reveal the glory of God to them!  When we put the Law – or any human traditions – ahead of God’s work we often miss out on what the Lord is doing.

What traditions are you easily hung up on?  When are you likely to miss out on God’s work because you think things should be done a particular way?

Third Thought:

Jesus specifically calls us to judge in this passage.  However, note what He is asking us to judge.  He is not telling us to judge salvation or condemnation.  That judgment is reserved for the Father.  Rather, here Jesus is teaching that we should make judgments about what is right and wrong and holy.  We should judge what is from God and what is from other human beings.  We should judge what to include in our life and what to exclude.  We should make those judgments.

How do you judge right from wrong?  How is this different than judging other people and their salvation?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 7:25-31