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 

 

Yesterday we read that, after the controversies surrounding His preaching (see chapter 6),  Jesus walked 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?"  We recall that this section of John's Gospel (John 7:1-10:21) concerns events at the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day festival commemorating the time that Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai.  There is already a great deal of controversy surrounding Jesus:  the religious leaders seek Him, and the people debate about Him with many different opinions, but are afraid to speak openly for fear of the leadership. See yesterday's reading and commentary, linked above.  It is now the final year of Christ's earthly life and ministry.

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 comments that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness, it says, comes from unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.  It 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 afflicted in this way."

"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."  Of course Jesus is correct, there are those among the leadership who now seek to seize Him; in fact, a few verses down we're told that the religious leaders send officers of the temple to take Him.  Jesus refers to His healing of the paralytic on the Sabbath, which the religious leaders seized upon as a violation of the law of Moses (see this reading).  But here Christ also gives an example of a blameless violation on the Sabbath ("if a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath"), as He does elsewhere (see Matthew 12:3-5, for example).   Jesus says, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment," which can be said to sum up so much of His preaching.  It also reinforces His earlier statement about seeking the glory of God in all things, rather than personal glory, such as the actions of the religious rulers exemplify in their question to maintain authority by silencing Jesus.

 

 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 comments that the crowds are mistaken, in both an earthly sense, and also in a divine sense.  In terms of His human life, they think of Jesus as being from Nazareth in Galilee; but they are not aware that He was actually born in Bethlehem (verse 42; see Luke 2:1-7).  Moreover, they can't comprehend that Christ has come from the Father in Heaven, eternally begotten before all ages, and therefore His divine "origin" also remains unknown to them.  

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?"  Once more, Jesus returns to His relationship to the Father who sent Him.  It is this on which so much hinges, Christ's identity and His word.  My study Bible comments that His hour is the time of His suffering and death.  It says that Christ is the Lord over time, an authority which is possessed by God alone.  Christ comes to His Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of human beings (see John 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."   My study Bible comments that Christ's statement refers to the 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, the Greek-speakers, as Greek was the lingua franca of the ancient world.  My study Bible says that this unwitting prophecy points to the time after Christ's Ascension, when His name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles.  

Jesus tells the people, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  It's important that we know He tells this to the people and not just to the religious leaders.  For what He is saying is that we are all capable of doing as He does.  Over and over again, what He emphasizes is His complete relationship, His unity with the Father.  But in today's reading, He teaches, "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."  Let us note, He says that this applies to anyone.  So He is inviting anyone, just one who wills to do the will of the One who sent Him, then that person will know concerning the doctrine:  whether it is from God or whether He speaks on His own authority.  Repeatedly in John's Gospel, Jesus has emphasized not only His own close tie or unity with the Father, but also the Father's pull of love upon us.  And now He says quite clearly that we also may understand concerning the doctrine He teaches, whether it is from God or whether He speaks on His own authority.  All it really takes is that deep internal willingness to separate ourselves from our own will, and to do as He does, to seek the will of the Father.  This is the key to truth and to knowing truth -- and it is the key to the capacity not to judge by appearance, but to judge with righteous judgment.  He makes clear the distinction between one who seeks only his own will, or one who seeks the will of the One who sent Him -- meaning the Father, and that this is the key to our own capacity for truth and the recognition of truth.  To use a modern coin of phrase, He is teaching us to divorce ourselves from our own egos so that we seek the will of God.  He makes a plea for the honesty of real humility, and teaches us how we are to practice discernment, the key to recognizing and knowing truth and living truth within ourselves.  He opens this door for all of us, for anyone.  This is not just for religious scholars, and not just for the enlightened elite, but requires of us the humility of true desire to do the will of God.  This is the response in us to the love of the Father that draws us; as He said in Tuesday's reading:  "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God'."  He has given us the key; let us endeavor to do our best to use it, to cultivate the humility and the desire to hear and respond to the love of God in truth.