In reading the Book of John this morning, I had a spiritual
image of Jesus dealing with the Rabbis and Jewish leaders as they watched and
waited for His every word or action to criticize, condemn and accuse. In attendance
with those self-appointed judges, were locals and those in town for the Feast of Booths.
I got frustrated just reading how Jesus was under a magnifying
glass of scrutiny, if you will, and was challenged at every sentence. It felt
like trying to explain gravity or Newton’s
Law to pre-school kids. They just didn’t have a clue because their minds were
closed to everything but that which they believed they had total command.
Some of those following Him as Disciples even threw their hands
up and walked away when the concept of Jesus being ‘the living bread’ needed to
be eaten for eternal life blew their minds. This had me asking myself, would
people be any different today? Sadly, I do not think so.
At a time when the Church Body is more concerned over denominational
trivialities than they are reaching people for Jesus, I doubt the majority of Church
leaders would come across from a more receptive stance than the Rabbi’s of
Jesus’ day. Jesus was considered a radical by those practicing the long
standing traditions and conventions of faith. Good heavens, Jesus walked, ate
and hung out with undesirables, causing those that believed they were the all
knowing ones, the educated and defenders of all things of Jewish law to look
upon Him as a heretic; this non-conforming man with the audacity to heal on the
Sabbath, to eat with tax collectors, to mingle with the diseased.
He specifically rebuked them in John 7:24 when He said, “Do not judge
according to appearance but judge with righteous judgment.” The
problem was they thought they were the epitome of righteous judgment; the truth
is more that they were consumed with being judgmental about anything with which
they were not familiar.
Jesus is using language from Moses' teaching regarding the
responsibility of the judges and officers of the people (Deut 16:18). Jesus’
opponents are not acting in accordance with this injunction. The right judgment
of which Moses speaks includes such things as refraining from showing
partiality and taking bribes. Jesus' opponents are not blinded by bribes (Deut
16:19) but are blinded by receiving glory from one another (Jn 5:44). They are
observing the letter of the law, but do not understand what the law is really
about, neither in its witness to Jesus nor in its goal of expressing God's own
love and mercy in the life of God's people. Making a right judgment (dikaia krisis) is dependent on seeking
God's will and not one's own (5:30). They lack this disposition; they are too
shallow. They have no depth in themselves and thus cannot recognize God at work
among them. God Himself is the one who is dikaios
("right," "righteous"; cf. Jn 17:25; 1 Jn 2:29; 3:7; Rev
16:5), so their lack of right judgment is yet another indication of their
alienation from God.
This call to right judgment is a challenge to each of us,
for we are all guilty at times of judging by appearances. The only way to avoid
such shallowness is to be united with God and to share in His truth about Jesus
and about our own lives. This requires that we will God's will (7:17), which means God's
will as God knows it, not as our prejudices and sins tailor it.
To will God's will is to have a purity of heart and clarity of vision that come
through our ‘death to self’. Until we have found our own heart (which lies
deeper than our emotions and imagination) and made contact with God there, we
will be in danger of judging by appearances instead of with right judgment.
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