Jesus Keeps Pharisees At Bay (J28)

Halfway through the Feast, He began to teach;
At His knowledge, the people were amazed;
But Jesus said, “The words of God I speak,
Not my own, that He be honored and praised!
I’d like to know why you want to kill me!”
Nonplussed, the people looked at Him in shock;
“Who wants to kill you? Certainly not we!”
He spoke so, the Pharisees plot to block!
“On the Sabbath day, you circumcise babes,
So that Moses’ Law remains unbroken;
My healing on Sabbath a whole man saves;
In your judgment, I have the Law broken!”
By announcing the Pharisees’ intent,
It slowed them down, His killing to prevent!

“Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having studied?’ “ (John 7: 14-15)

Commentary on John 7:14-24

Jesus is risking His mission by teaching the throngs of Jews in the outer courts of Herod’s temple at the Feast of Tabernacles. If He is stopped by the guards and brought before the Sanhedrin for trial, He might be put to death quietly and secretly, thus failing in His primary task of dying in public on the later designated day. By saying, “Why do you want to kill me?” to a large crowd of ordinary Jews mixed with Pharisees, He is forestalling the Pharisees from having the guards arrest Him without the people knowing what was afoot. Most of the common people liked Him, for His healings and teaching, and Jews are notorious for raising ruckuses at such times. His announcement, in effect, prevented the Pharisees from making a sudden, public arrest. That is why they needed a traitor, Judas Iscariot, an apostle, to lead them to Him in the middle of the night, at a later time. Even then, they tried Him at night, which was illegal in Mosaic Law, and went to Pontius Pilate at daybreak to get the necessary authority to kill Him. Only a very small number of the common people were present at His trial and execution. How wise Jesus was in every move and word! Even so, in my next blog we will see that He has to use His miraculous powers to slip away from the Pharisees!

I wonder if His younger brothers were in any of the crowds He taught during the latter half of this Feast; they may have missed Him by being outside the temple in their individual brush shelters that the Jews set up and spent time in, honoring God for bringing them out of Egyptian slavery and caring for them during a forty-year trek through the desert. The little shelters commemorated their shelters used during the long journey. If they had been present, it certainly may have led them to a belief in Him. We know that James, one of His brothers, was a very dedicated Christian who became pastor of the Jerusalem church. He was martyred by being thrown off the roof of the temple some time after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension back to heaven. His mother Mary was a disciple; she was present at the crucifixion and waiting with the others in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)