Lesson 9 B John 7

I. The author=s emphasis is on God=s timing and how Jesus was obedient to that timing.

II. AAfter these things Jesus walked in Galilee . . . (NKJV) What a neat way to describe His style of ministry. Jesus walked with His disciples from place to place & as He did, He was teaching, sharing, & modeling what it meant to follow Him.

III. Information about the Feast of Tabernacles & how it was celebrated in the 1st century is needed to understand what is going on in John 7.

A. It was an old festival of agriculture from the ancient Near East that adopted the Israelite story of redemption-- their exodus from Egypt.

B. Feast of Tabernacles blended a variety of images from agriculture (harvest), climate (sun and rain), and theological history (desert wandering). Jesus used these motifs to make His identity known.

C. The literary structure of John 7 is the sequence of the feast:

$ The beginning of the Feast (7:1-13)

$ The middle of the Feast (7:14-24)

$ The last, great day of the Feast (7:37-52)

D. Tabernacles was the third of 3 pilgrimage feasts B Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.

E. Since the Festival of Tabernacles takes place in September or October, it coincided with other interesting phenomena

1. People in the ancient world observed the length of days carefully, charting the solstices as well as the fall & spring equinox & Tabernacles coincided with the autumn equinox, when day & night are equal length & from which point on the calendar the nights lengthen & the days become shorter.

2. Late autumn was a period of drought in Israel & Tabernacles incorporated another set of symbols, depicting a prayer for water to replenish the country agriculturally as well as refresh the land spiritually.

F. Like all the great Jewish festivals, it is significant in other ways as well.

1. Historical B It received its name from the fact that during the Festival people left their houses & lived in little booths (sukkoth) as a reminder of when they had been homeless wanderers in the desert without a roof over their heads (Lev. 23:40-3).

2. Agricultural B it was a harvest-thanksgiving festival also called the Festival of the Ingathering (Ex. 23:16, 34:22).

G. Description of the ceremony B Each day of the feast there was a water ceremony in which a procession of priests descended to the south border of the city to the Gihon Spring (which flowed into the Pool of Siloam). There a priest filled a golden pitcher as a choir chanted Isaiah 12:3: AWith joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.@ The water was then carried back up the hill to the AWater Gate,@ followed by crowds carrying a lulab in the right hand (tree branches reminiscent of the desert booths) and an ethrog in the left hand (citrus branches reminiscent of the harvest). The crowd would shake these and sing Psalms 113 - 118. When the procession arrived at the temple, the priest would climb the altar steps and pour the water onto the altar while the crowd circled him and continued singing. On the last day of the festival, this procession took place seven times.

H. Judaism saw this ceremony on multiple levels.

1. It was a plea to God for rain since the autumn is a time of threatened drought in Israel.

2. It was a source of rich symbolism. In the desert, God brought water from a rock (Num. 20:8, 10) and here water was flowing from the sacrificial rock altar of the temple. Zechariah and Ezekiel have visions of rivers flowing from the temple in a miraculous display of God=s blessing (Ezek. 47:1; Zech. 14:8). In a drought-stricken land, it was a spectacular vision of water, life-giving water flowing from God=s life-giving temple.

I. On this final day of celebration, Jesus steps into public view and makes his most stunning pronouncement of the feast. During the seven water processions climbing the steep hill of south Jerusalem, He proclaims. AIf anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.@

J. This promise of Jesus in verse 38 presents us with something of an interpretation problem caused by how you place the punctuation.

1. New King James Version B AIf anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.@ (Believers drink & become a source)

2. Gary Burge offers this translation which reflects the nuances of the Greek: AIf anyone thirsts, let him come to me B and if he believes, let him drink. As the Scripture has said, >Streams of living water will flow from his belly.= @ (Believers drink and Christ is the source)

K. William Barclay offers some possibilities for both interpretations:

1. It may refer to those who come to Jesus and accept him.

a. Such people will have within them a river of refreshing water.B Jesus can give people the refreshment of the Holy Spirit for their parched & thirsty souls.

b. Another possibility is that the Jews placed all the thoughts and the emotions in certain parts of the body. Jesus was promising a cleansing, refreshing, life-giving stream of the Holy Spirit so that our thoughts and feelings would be purified and revitalized.

2. The other interpretation is that >rivers of living water shall flow from his belly= may refer to Jesus himself. Christians always identified Jesus with the rock which gave the Israelites water in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6) Paul took that image and applied it to Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). John tells how there came forth at the thrust of the soldier=s spear water and blood from Jesus= side (John 19:340. The water stands for purification which comes in baptism and the blood for the atoning death of the cross. The symbol of the life-giving water which comes from God is found often in the O. T. (Psalm 105:41; Ezekiel 47:1; Joel 3:18). Human beings cannot live without water; and AChrist is the one without whom human beings cannot live and dare not die.@ (Barlcay)

IV. Threaded through these feast days are questions posed to Jesus (7:15, 20, 25-26, 35, 30, 35-36, 41-42) by leaders and the crowd, who are trying to interpret what Jesus is saying. Gary Burge says that AThe discourse represented in 7:14-36 follows the pattern already well-established in this Gospel. Questions are launched by Jesus= listeners that permit him to describe his identity and mission more completely. But the questions do more. They disclose how little his audience really understands. Buried in each of Jesus= answers are ironic messages fully beyond the grasp of his listeners. Three scenes are anchored in three questions with three ironic answers:

Scene Question Jesus= response

One Where did Jesus go to school? (7:15) heaven

Two Where is this man from? (7:25-27) heaven

Three Where is this man going? (7:35) heaven

What kind of questions do people ask about Jesus today?

V. The chapter also describes a series of reactions to Jesus as people must decide if indeed he is a man to be followed (7:3-5, 12, 30-31, 40-44, 45-49).

A. There was the reaction of His brothers (verses 1-5) They didn=t really believe Him and were actually trying to egg Him on. It is hard to see greatness in your siblings. Barclay describes their reaction as Atolerant contempt.@ It is still around today!

B. There was the sheer hatred of the Pharisees and the chief priests (vs. 7, 19). They did not hate him for the same reason, because in fact they hated each other. Neither group really wanted a Messiah: for when he came their political set-up would be gone and so would their comfortable life. What we need to think about is that it is still possible for us to love our own ways of living more than we love God, and to place our own interests first rather than live an obedient life of sacrifice.

C. Both of these reactions issued in the consuming desire to eliminate Jesus (vss. 30,32) When people=s ideals clash with those of Christ, either they must submit or they must seek to destroy him.

D. There was arrogant contempt (vss. 15, 47-49) What right did this man have to tell us what to do?

E. There were the reactions of the people: 1) interest (vs. 11) Barclay says that Jesus is the most interesting figure in the world. 2) discussion and questions abound. They debated who he was. 3) amazement and awe (vss 15, 46). 4) fear was expressed in verse 13 B ABut no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews@ 5) belief (vs. 31) some people heard what Jesus said and saw what He did and they believed. and 6) finally the defense by Nicodemus (vs. 50).

VI. In addition to a whole series of reactions to Christ, there are also in this chapter a whole series of verdicts about Jesus.

A. He was a good man (verse 12). He was also God.

B. He was a prophet (vs 40) A prophet foretells the will of God but their authority is borrowed and delegated. Jesus spoke the Word of God because He and the Father are One!

C. He was a deluded madman (vs. 20) It is true that either Jesus was the only completely sane person in the world or He was mad.

D. He was a seducer according to the Jewish religious authorities.

E. He was a man of courage (vs. 26) He was willing to defy the religious authorities & He had the courage to walk all the way to the cross.

F. He was a most dynamic personality (vs. 46) The response of the officers sent to arrest Him was that no one had ever spoken like this and they came back empty-handed because of that.

G. He was the Christ, the Anointed One of God. Jesus is not just the AMessiah.@ The Messiah, to the Jews, is one who will be chosen by God to save them as a nation but Jesus makes an even more astounding claim B He tells them that He has come from God and that He knows God intimately!!!

Jesus evoked strong emotions from all who encountered Him and still does. One of the commentators made the observation that we need to be on guard today about our own choices and decisions. Do we really allow Jesus to work in our lives through the Holy Spirit; are we open to His voice and teaching or are we holding on tightly to life the way we want it to be?