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.  

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.

 

 

Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things

 

 Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him and spoke to Him, saying, "Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things?  Or who is he who gave You this authority?"  But He answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me:  "The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?"  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."  So they answered that they did not know where it was from.  And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

 

- Luke 20:1-8 

 

On Saturday we read that as Jesus drew near Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."  Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  And He was teaching daily in the temple.  But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.   

 Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him and spoke to Him, saying, "Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things?  Or who is he who gave You this authority?"  My study bible tells us that these things refers to Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem as Messiah (19:35-38), the cleansing of the temple (19:45), and Christ's preaching (verse 1 of today's reading).  These men, the elders of the temple at Jerusalem, confront Christ since it was the priestly descendants of Levi to manage the temple.  While Christ is descended from Judah (3:33 in Christ's genealogy as given in Luke), He is also High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110:4), which is a priestly line far greater than that of Levi, as Christ's authority is from the Father.

 

But He answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me:  "The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?"  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."  So they answered that they did not know where it was from.  And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."  Jesus' answer is designed to draw those who would answer to the obvious response, that both John's and Jesus' authority comes from God.  But clearly the priority for these leaders is their own position as rulers in the temple, the authority and regulators of the faith and thereby the people.  They fear losing this authority, as the people all believe John to have been a prophet.  Jesus' concise and colorful debating skills trap them in their own response, no doubt to the delight of the people who could participate by listening to an open dialogue.

In much of the discourse during Jesus time teaching in the temple -- be that in the Synoptic Gospels and what takes place during Holy Week, or the debates in John's Gospel which occur at various festivals throughout Jesus three years of ministry -- we're told that the people are afraid to participate themselves, even to engage in dialogue, because of their fears of the leadership whom they know by this time seek to kill Christ (John 7:12-13).  Even among the leadership, we're told, many are afraid to speak openly although they believe that Jesus is the Christ (John 12:42).   And yet, Mark's Gospel tells us that the people heard Jesus with delight as He debated the leaders in the temple (Mark 12:37).  Perhaps this is one of the very reasons why Jesus' dialogues and debates with the leadership became so very well recorded for the Gospels, because they were made in the hearing of the common people -- who, while they themselves could not speak openly for fear of the leaders, nevertheless heard Jesus gladly.  In the available public forums for debate (and even entertainment or drama, if we want to think about it on those terms) there wouldn't be much place for people to participate in this kind of open dialogue, except in private and among themselves.  But Jesus takes His teaching to the people and always has.  He has publicly preached in synagogues and to large crowds, and on many occasions the leadership has come to openly question Him.  If there is one signal we can take from Christ, it is in this place of freedom and free debate.  As far as He is concerned, the truth is meant to be proclaimed from the housetops -- so long as it is at the right time, of course.  The truth about Him as Son of Man and Son of God -- His identity as Messiah -- that must be heard in the fullness of His ministry; that is, in the fullness of God's revelation through Him and His mission.  It is only in that context that the fullness of truth is present for proper understanding.  Jesus tells the disciples, "Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops" (Luke 12:3).   Perhaps simply because Jesus was an outsider, not one of the ones with the "authority" the religious leaders question Him about, His dialogue and sermons come to us in the Gospels.  Had he been an insider among the Sanhedrin, no doubt those debates would have been more private and within an inner circle.  As it is, Jesus came to the world in a time and place that facilitated everything about what He has given us.  In the Roman Empire roads stretched far and wide to connect the entire empire for trade and commerce, which in and of itself extended to spread news and the Christian movement.  Jerusalem itself was the Holy City, the one Jesus says "kills the prophets and stones those sent to her" (Luke 13:34), but also at this time a place where civilizations meet, where Roman rule could at any time assert its authority to keep people under control, and which depended upon the religious leaders themselves to maintain that control or else political rebellion could get out of hand.  In this context, we read the open debates of Jesus, and must come to understand the threats to the places of the religious leaders, the anxiety of the people who both feared the oppressive, tax-imposing Romans and waited for a Deliverer/Messiah, and frequently mistrust their own authorities in this context.  But Christ comes, nevertheless, freely proclaiming Himself and the gospel of the Kingdom.  He knows what will happen, but that through all things He is the One who is sent to do precisely what He does.  He gives us the power of the Word, and He is the Word, and we should never forget where our basic values regarding this kind of freedom come from, nor that He is the One who taught us both that the truth makes us free, and that He is the Person who is truth (John 8:31-22, 14:6).  In these open debates in the temple, and as they are presented to us in the Gospels, we can find a confidence in the truth, that the truth makes a difference.  Not only does it make a difference, but Christ teaches that it makes us free:  free because we are no longer slaves to falsehood and no longer slaves to half-concepts of truth that stand outside of the fullness of communion in Him.  In these words we find not only a positive definition of freedom but also a liberating concept of truth, and we find the foundations for what we claim today if we are those who seek the freedom for ourselves He proclaims.  These open debates before the people make it clear, moreover, that Christ places confidence in the power of that truth and in His message to the world.  It is, and becomes in His hands and preaching, a truth that belongs to each of us, a truth which is aimed at each human heart and soul.  He calls to all of us, and we delight to be called.  The question becomes, in some sense as parallel to the elders here, if we can understand the authority in that truth, or not.