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

 

 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 disputes over His teachings which we read in John's 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?"  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?"  My study Bible points out that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness comes from unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.  It notes that St. John Chrysostom paraphrases Christ in 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."

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."  Just as He did in Matthew 12:3-5, in citing the feeding of David and his men with the showbread, Jesus here cites a blameless violation of the Sabbath, circumcision.  My study Bible says that He demonstrates that the law is not absolute over human need or service to God.  This is what it means to 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."   My study Bible comments that the crowds are mistaken here, when they say that "we know where this Man is from."  Both in an earthly and a divine sense this is so.  In worldly terms, they think of Jesus as being from Nazareth of Galilee, but He was actually born in Bethlehem (see verse 42; Luke 2:1-7).  More than this, they can't understand that Christ has come from the Father in heaven, eternally begotten before all ages, and therefore His divine origin also remains unknown to them.

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?"  Christ's hour, my study Bible explains, is the time of His suffering and death.  He is the Lord over time, which is an authority possessed by God alone.  Christ comes to the Cross of His own free will, and in His time -- and not according to the plans 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." Here Jesus is referring 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'?"  My study Bible tells us that among the Greeks is a phrase which means among the Gentiles.  This is an unwitting prophecy, moreover, which points to the time after Christ's Ascension, when His name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles.  Indeed, as the international language of the time, the New Testament itself would be written in the Greek language as the means of communicating to the world the name of Jesus Christ.

We note how the people (and especially the religious leadership) continue to pose "earthly" questions and challenges to the words of Christ.  This is something typical of John's Gospel, a pattern which we've already read, which is a way in which the things of God become communicated in worldly language.  This transition from a worldly or earthly understanding, to the comprehension of language which is necessarily metaphorical by Jesus, is a way to communicate the things of God in this new doctrine of Jesus Christ, the new covenant offered in His Person to the world.  It tells us there is more to life than we suspect, and that in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, we are offered an abundant life.  More life is added to us than meets the eye, than we already know.  In chapter 10, Jesus will teach, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).   In the Lord's Prayer, we are taught to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11, Luke 11:3).  But the word translated as "daily" is a special word, coined apparently just for the Gospel and the prayer, which literally means "above the essence" or "supersubstantial."  The word is ἐπιούσιον/epiousion:  from epi which means atop or upon, and ousia which means substance or essence.  It indicates, my study Bible explains, the bread not only for today's material nourishment, but also the bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God, the nourishment of our soul.  Of course, the living, supersubstantial bread is Christ, the spiritual bread of eternal life, in accordance with His teachings in our previous chapter (see John 6:27-58).  Therefore, when we consider the Gospel and its juxtaposition of earthly-oriented misunderstandings and Christ's teachings, let us consider the Incarnation itself, Christ who is the "bread who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."  The Gospel offers us life, transfigured and transformed through this substance which is added to us through Christ, this mystical reality of the Kingdom which He brings to us, and this is the way to truly understand our faith.  It is a great mistake to separate the earthly and the spiritual without the understanding that in Christ's Incarnation, and in His ministry, what we are offered is both together, inseparable, made one, and this is the life into which He invites us, the life He offers us, and the life in which He invites us to participation in communion with Him.  This word, ἐπιούσιον/epiousion, gives us in some sense everything about Jesus Christ and what He brings to us in a nutshell:  He is fully human and also fully God, and He offers to us this life that He brings into the world, for us to live within and participate in, so that He shares His life with us.  If these concepts are difficult to understand, consider the seven "signs" we're given in John's Gospel.  They are signs because they make us aware of the presence of a deeper substance, something more that exists in our midst.  Christ brings this into our world, so that -- just like Him -- we may live a life in communion with God.  That is, a life not broken into the fragments of a purely material life which cannot collect itself into a meaningful whole.  This more abundant life, this greater substance, gives us a purpose befitting the better things for which we've been created, capable of communion with God.  The misunderstandings in the Gospel seek to bridge that gap, to inform us about our missing understanding of what and Who is among us:  the fullness of the reality of God with us, the Kingdom in our midst (Luke 17:21).  Christ offers us, and those to whom He speaks in the Gospels, so much more, life abundantly.  Let us not be among those mistakenly accepting that the material is all there is, and pass up this gift that gives us so much more than we know.  Let us follow where He leads.