¹⁴ Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”
¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. ¹⁷ Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
²⁰ “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. ²² Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. ²³ Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man's whole body on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”
The one who truly knows is the one who obeys.
Thoughts
Teaching with Divine Authority (14-18)
- About the middle of the feast, Jesus goes up into the temple and teaches. He is the greater Prophet promised in Deut 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you… and I will put my words in his mouth. Moses spoke what God gave him, but Jesus is the Word made flesh, his every syllable breathed out from the heart of God. How did this man get such learning without having been taught? They are looking for credentials—a rabbi’s endorsement, formal schooling, a pedigree. Jesus answers without defensiveness: My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. (16). Why does his teaching ring with such authority? Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own (17). ➤ We think expertise equals insight. Jesus turns that upside down: the one who truly knows is the one who obeys.
- Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth (18). Here is the heartbeat of the passage: Jesus lives to make much of the Father. Every word, every miracle, every step toward the cross is focused on God’s glory. ➤ When we speak, serve, or make a decision, do we seek our own glory or the Father’s? The more we live for his fame, the more Jesus’ teaching will ring true in our souls.
Jesus Exposes Hypocrisy (19-24):
- None of you keeps the law—yet you seek to kill me. His charge lands hard: they are breaking the 6th commandment You shall not murder. Jesus continues: God permits the “work” of circumcision on Sabbath, so healing a man fulfills the heart of the law. Jesus is not abolishing it—he is fulfilling its deepest intent—mercy over sacrifice (Hos 6:6). The Sabbath was made for man’s good, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, showing what true rest looks like: wholeness in him. ➤ Obeying Christ means letting him expose our hypocrisy, and replace our superficial judgments with his righteous eyes. When we see others as he does, we stop condemning, and start marveling at the mercy that made us whole.
Reflections
- So what? What are you going to do with this teaching?
