Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom You do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come?"

- John 7:14-36

On Saturday,  we read that Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the religious leadership sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.   You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus has never been a student of a famous rabbi, like the scribes or others who would know Scriptures in the ways that He does.   From the beginning of His ministry, questions have come to Jesus regarding His authority, and whence it comes.

Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."  My study bible tells us that "Jesus identifies the source of spiritual blindness:  unwillingness to do the will of God.  St. John Chrysostom paraphrases the words of Christ:  'Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, and the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts -- entirely without provocation -- against Me, and you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of God. For, as it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort the sound judgment that shines there, while, if you remove these passions, you will no longer be thus afflicted' (Homily 49)."  Jesus shows us the path to true humility:  we seek the will of God in all we do, just as He does.  It reminds us of His great "knowledge of letters" at which the temple authorities marvel.  Jesus summed up all the Law and the Prophets in two great commandments:  to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself.   And He also teaches us about loyalty:  Jesus is eminently loyal to the One who sent Him.  Out of love, He is righteous and true.

"Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"   The leadership deny that they seek to put Him to death, after Jesus points out they're not following the law of Moses in making the decision to do so.  Later on before the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus will seek to defend Jesus' rights before the Council

Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."   My study bible notes, "Jesus implies that healing the paralytic on the Sabbath is a greater obedience to the will of God than circumcising on the Sabbath."  What best shows God's mercy, in restoring the wholeness of a person?  Is this not the purpose of the Sabbath rest?  To judge with righteous judgment is, once again, to truly seek the will of God before all else.

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  My study bible tells us, "This is an ignorant claim filled with irony:  they know Jesus' human origin, but not His divine origin." 

Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom You do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  Jesus refutes their claims:  they know Him and where He is from.  But the One who sent Him is true, and they don't truly know God.  Emphatically He repeats again His relationship to the Father:  "I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."    My study bible notes, "His hour is the time of His suffering and death.  Jesus Christ shows Himself to be Lord of time, a prerogative possessed by God alone.  He comes to the Cross of His own free will and in His time, not as a result of the political machinations of the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Romans."

And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to take Him.  The leadership responds to the popularity of Jesus and those coming to faith through His appearance and teachings in the temple. 

Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  My study bible notes here:  "Jesus speaks of His death, Resurrection, and Ascension.  His hearers, as is so often the case, do not understand Him."

Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come?"   A note reads:  "Among the Greeks means among the Gentiles.  In those days, there were communities of Jews scattered throughout the Mediterranean world, especially in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Egypt.  Their question bears a tinge of irony.  By the time this Gospel was written, the Christian faith had spread throughout much of the Gentile world."

In today's reading, Jesus stresses His union with the Father.  But what kind of union is it?  Jesus speaks first of a knowledge of God that comes from love of God.  He says that His doctrine is not His, but of the One who sent Him:  those who know the One who sent Him will know the doctrine.  Jesus does not seek His own glory, but the glory of the Father, the One who sent Him.  And He links that will with full healing, becoming completely well, as His healing of the paralytic expressed.  Righteous judgment, in Jesus' formulation here, also comes from love of the Father.  Jesus repeats that "I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom You do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Finally, He stresses His return to the One who sent Him.  But they, the leadership who seek to kill Him, will be unable to follow:   "You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Again the relationship with the Father, through faith, is what gives us the capacity for eternal life.  In each of these ways, Jesus' emphasizes His relationship to the Father.  He is sent by the Father, He does the will of the Father, He seeks the glory of the Father and not His own, and He will return to the Father, and where He is going, they cannot come.  Over and over again, we hear stressed this basic relationship.  And the caveat is that without this love of the Father in our own hearts we will not be able to understand Him, nor to understand where His doctrine comes from.  So how do we seek the glory of God in our lives?  What do we do that gives glory to God?  Surely the act of mercy of healing the paralytic is one example of what it is to be God-like, to become a child of God through adoption.  While we cannot all do signs and wonders such as Jesus does, we do have the capacity to help to heal.  We do have the capacity to wish and to pray for wholeness, not only for ourselves but for all those around us, for our community and society, and for the world.  Jesus instructs us to pray for our enemies.  In this way we understand right relationship, and putting things into the hands of God.  Moreover, seeking God's glory really is all about seeking how God wants us to live our lives, and there is no better way that I know of to find that except through prayer, by allowing God's energies to infuse our hearts and help us to heal so that we may also see His way.  How do you honor God today?  How do you seek the glory of the One who is the Creator of us all?  Let us remember the love that ties it all together.  Let us seek understanding so that we may judge not according to appearance, but with righteous judgment.  Can we, too, discern the difference between the traditions of men and the commandments of God?