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

 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 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

On Saturday, we read that after the events of chapter 6 in John's Gospel, Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the religious leaders sought to kill Him.  Now the 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 religious leaders.

 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."  The Feast, we remember, is the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day autumn festival commemorating the time when Israel wandered the desert of Sinai, living in temporary dwellings (tents or "tabernacles").  While the leadership seeks by now to rid themselves of Him, the people are divided.  My study bible says that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness comes from the unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.

"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."   Jesus is referring to events that occurred in chapter 5, at an earlier festival in Jerusalem (the Feast of Weeks), when He healed a man on the Sabbath.  See Rise, take up your bed and walk.  My study bible quotes St. John Chrysostom, who paraphrases Christ this way:  "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of God.  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be affected in this way." 

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."   The people are mistaken about where this Man is from, in both an earthly and a divine sense.  In human terms, they think of Jesus as being from Nazareth in Galilee, but they're unaware that He was actually born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7).  Beyond this, they can't understand that He's come from the Father in Heaven, eternally begotten before all ages, and therefore His divine origin is also unknown to them.  As we can see, in both today's reading and Friday's, Jesus' reference is over and over again to the Father and our knowledge or understanding of Him.

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?"   His hour is the time of His suffering and death.  Christ, says my study bible, is the Lord over time, an authority possessed by God alone.  He comes to His Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of human beings (see 8:20; 10:39).

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 refers here to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.

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'?"  To go among the Greeks means to go among the Gentiles (that is, those who speak Greek, which was the international language of the time).  This is an unwitting prophecy, says my study bible, pointing to the time after His Ascension when Christ's name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles.

In the reading from Friday, and in today's reading, Jesus repeatedly returns to the love of the Father as the guiding principal in our understanding of Christ.  Without this love, understanding is absent.  We won't understand that which is "of God" in any other context.  We won't recognize the Son, we can't understand His words.  Jesus despairs again and again that the leadership which questions Him, which disparages Him, which wants to rid themselves of Him can't understand nor recognize anything about Him.  It's a question of honor, in Friday's reading, as well.  Is it worldly honor we recognize ("the honor that comes from men") or the kind of honor that is in the love of God?  In Saturday's reading, He tells His "brothers" (or extended family), who do not believe in Him, that "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."    Christ asserts a difference between life lived with a love of God and life with this love absent from it.  When He speaks of the works of the world that are evil, He's speaking of the "worldly" not as the world itself or any element in it, but that which is separated from the love of God.  When He speaks of "the honor that comes from men" (Friday's reading), it is an honor absent the honor that comes from God.  In today's reading He also speaks of the authority and the glory that comes from God.  St. Gregory of Nazianzus writes extensively about salvation and the Incarnation of Christ.  He writes that Christ's full incarnation as human being enables salvation, because "that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved."  It is in the context of the unifying love of the Father taught by Jesus in today's reading that we may understand this theology.  United to God, all is saved, all is worthy.  In this love, in this communion, everything is changed.  It is in the absence of such communion that we are blind, we fail to see, and we fail to know the true worth of human life and all of creation, including the goodness of the world.  It is this love that teaches us true honor, and true life, and gives us a grasp of the values of which we are capable, even the love of which we are capable.  Christ comes into the world from a place He says these people who disparage Him do not know.  They can't understand Him, they can't recognize what He's about.  But His mission is to save, to unite God and human beings, to renew the whole world through this saving mission of communion and unification "for the life of the world" (and not only human beings).  This is the one thing necessary, the thing that saves us from blindness.  In His life, He offers it to us.  Are we capable of grasping what He offers?