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 not this 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 the 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

Yesterday, we read that Jesus stayed in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews 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 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."  My study bible says, "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)."

"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."  Here is a key to Jesus and to what He has to teach, a theme repeated many times in the Gospels.  His aim is true because He seeks to be true to the One who sent Him; others speak for their own authority and glory.

"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?"  My study bible says that "Jesus implies that healing the paralytic on the Sabbath is a greater obedience to the will of God than circumcising on the Sabbath."  Jesus is referring to a previous incident which occurred during the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, at which time He healed a paralytic on the Sabbath.  (See Do you want to be made well?)

 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Here's a teaching we can remember!  Elsewhere, He teaches, "Judge not, lest you be judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" (Matthew chapter 7, as part of the Sermon on the Mount).  But here the teaching is refined, and we're invited in to understand and think about this concept:  What is righteous judgment?  What is judgment by appearances?  Here, He's referring to a legalistic way of looking at the letter of the Law, rather than its spirit.  This way of judging fails to see the heart, and fails to understand God's purposes.

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is not this 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 calls this "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.  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?"  A note says, "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."

 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the 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."  Jesus alludes here to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension.  But, as will happen so frequently in John's Gospel, those who hear Him take His words at face value, and have no idea what He's suggesting.  They 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?"  My study bible says that 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."

Let us consider what it is to "judge with righteous judgment," as Jesus tells them in today's reading.  He contrasts this with "judging by appearances."  In the sense that Jesus is speaking, "appearances" refers to outward features, a person's face.  Righteous judgment would be judgment that is truly just, correct.  In modern Greek, this word for "righteous" also includes the concepts we associate with "rights" and "being in the right."  It also means having good reason.  So all of the concepts that link righteousness with truth and justice apply here.  But Jesus gives them depth when He contrasts it with judging by appearance; one needs to dig a little deeper, beyond the surface, to judge with righteous judgment.  For that, in Jesus' case, we need to go to the root of things, and He inextricably links righteousness with the desire to the do the will of God.  This is so when applying the Law of Moses, and it is so in judging just who Jesus is and what He's doing.  In fact, this "true aim" is the key to everything if we are to understand Him, if they are to understand Him.  It is also the way they are judged, in His sight.  Jesus claims that if they truly loved the One who sent Him, they would understand Him, because He is true to the aims of God the Father.  And there we have another, deeper layer of what righteousness is, where its root is.  When Jesus says, "He who sent Me is true," He's making it very clear that to love God (that is the One who is true) is also to love truthfulness itself, to be true to the ultimate One who is true is to be trustworthy.  So, righteousness, trust, and faith go together, but all begin with the love of God.  Jesus becomes an example for us because His aim is true, and that aim is to be true to the One who is ultimately true.  If this seems complicated, let it illuminate another teaching for us from the Sermon on the Mount:  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  That Jesus' aim is true because He's ultimately loyal to the One who sent Him gives us a picture of what it is to be pure in heart.  This loyalty is honor, without a personal agenda to magnify one's own glory or authority.  To be true to God, to love God who is defined by God's love for us, is to be truly righteous.  If we come full circle with this argument, then, it is a "pure heart" that is most capable of judging not by appearances, but with righteous judgment.  The real test becomes one of love, because it is the One who loves us who is the most true, to whom we must be true.  Love wants not necessarily what we want in our limited perspective, but rather what is truly for our good, and which leads us to a better good.  Let us remember Jesus' example so that we, too, may think about how righteous judgment may depend upon what we love and trust, first, and what our real aim is.