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 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 His eucharistic teachings on eating His Body and Blood (see John 6, or the blog posts immediately previous to this one), 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, 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?"  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."   We recall that Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles, during the final year of His earthly life.  This is an eight-day autumn harvest festival, commemorating the time Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, living in tents (or tabernacles).  My study Bible comments on this passage that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness, it says, comes from an unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.   It cites St. John Chrysostom, who paraphrases Christ as saying,  "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 this way."  Jesus refers to making a man completely well on the Sabbath:  This refers to events in Jerusalem at a previous feast, the Old Testament Pentecost, known also as the Feast of Weeks (see this reading).  As we frequently note, in John's Gospel, here the phrase the Jews refers to the religious leadership, not the people.

 

 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?"   Some of the people from Jerusalem say, "We know where this Man is from."  My study Bible remarks that these crowds are mistaken, both in an earthly sense and also a divine sense.  Humanly speaking, they know Jesus as being from Nazareth in Galilee.  But they're not aware that He was actually born in Bethlehem (verse 42; see Luke 2:1-7).  Moreover, they can't understand that He's come from the Father in Heaven; He is eternally begotten before all ages, and thus His divine "origin" remains unknown to them also.  His hour refers to the time of His suffering and death.  Christ is the Lord over time, my study Bible says, which is an authority which is possessed by God alone.  He will go to the Cross of His own free will, and in His time, 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 says that Christ's statement here refers 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'?"  The Dispersion is literally in Greek the Diaspora; that is, the Jewish communities outside of Israel.  To go among the Greeks means to go among the Gentiles; that is, the Greek speakers, as Greek was the international language of Christ's time.  But this is an unwitting prophesy.  It points to the time after Christ's Ascension, when His name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles; and the Gospels and Epistles and the Revelation of the New Testament will be written in the Greek language, for all the world.  

We can see the confusion in Jerusalem.  John's Gospel almost has the structure of an ancient play at this juncture, with the people acting as a chorus, voicing the varied opinions and responses to Jesus and His preaching and teaching.  Today's passage begins with the consternation and perplexity in the people, who can't understand where Christ gets His wisdom, having never studied.  Jesus begins, in today's passage, by reiterating His identity which is inseparable from the Father who sent Him, and He also claims His true authority comes only from the Father.  But then He speaks what He knows, that there are those who wish to kill Him, because He made a man well on the Sabbath.  The people respond that He has a demon.  Jesus says, "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."  When He asserts again that He has come from the Father, there are those who wish to kill Him -- but this time there are others of the crowd in Jerusalem who wonder if He could be the Messiah, who believe. They ask, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  Jesus adds yet more information about Himself, alluding to His Crucifixion, death, and Resurrection to come.  These all come as cryptic statements to the religious leaders, who can understand nothing about His words.  But their response becomes an inadvertent prophesy, that He will "go among the Greeks," among the Gentiles, as will the disciples bearing His word and gospel.  We have a picture, at this juncture of Christ's ministry, of a world that is stirring and being stirred by Him.  His truth is the sword that pierces through everything.  In St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword."  He goes on, quoting from the prophesy of Micah, "For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.'  He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." (See Matthew 10:34-39; Micah 7:6).  In today's reading, the public forms a backdrop, like the Greek chorus of the ancient plays, so that we get all of the voices being stirred up by Christ, and a sense of the confusion around His Person and His preaching.  For when the truth appears to us and makes its mark, perhaps we should take this scene to heart and bear a philosophical perspective in accordance with it:  that truth has an impact depending upon where it strikes, and the ground it hits upon.  Just like the parable of the Sower which tells us of the seeds that illustrate the word of Christ, we should not be surprised when there is division, and even confusion, but rather see it as a time to hold fast to what we know, and to take root in our faith.  Jesus will tell us repeatedly that, especially when He is gone and we await His return, we are to "watch and pray," and Saints Peter and Paul also repeat these thoughts in their Epistles (see Matthew 26:41; Mark 13:33; Mark 14:38; Luke 21:36; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Peter 4:7).   This is especially true in times of uncertainty and confusion, and remains so today.   Contrary to many modern assumptions about truth-telling and the impact of reason, or assertions that there's always one right answer, perhaps the Gospels give us the assurance that confusion -- amidst a chorus of voices -- is something we should expect as the product of a world which both needs, and rejects, the truth.  Perhaps we're rather taught the humility to expect that, as human beings, we don't always have all the answers.   In such times, we take root in our faith, in what we've been taught, to watch and pray, to seek God's will as He says in today's reading, and God's glory.   For we are commanded, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."    In a world that always seems to be in a rush, let us take the time to find His way and His answers.  To watch and pray is sometimes the only way we can do that when things remain unclear, the best way to find righteous judgment.    For now let us watch the unfolding of the story of the Gospel.