Tuesday 3rd October
Read John 7:19-24
“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.’” (NIVUK)
How much effort have you put into understanding the Law? Because Jesus’ argument with the Jews at the Festival is quite difficult to follow, even for those who have put the effort in. Jesus intends to use the Law, which they profess to love and which reveals God’s will, to challenge their willingness to work out if His words are in fact true.
Jesus argues that if they truly understood the Law, and desired to obey it, they would not be seeking to kill Him. After all, the Law prohibits murder, yet there are those in the crowd actively seeking His death. The very same people who claim to understand the Law and seek to obey it. The crowds may not yet be fully aware of this turn of events but in six short months will be willing accomplices as Jesus, declared innocent by the Romans, will be handed over to death by these people.
Though not fully aware, they are offended and affronted at being accused of murder and law-breaking and in turn accuse Jesus of being possessed and delusional. Their reaction, like ours, is not to question whether they really do understand the Law. They will make their own decision based on their own perspective and reality. They think Jesus is crazy. After all, who could possibly think that Jews, at a festival in obedience to the Law, would fall into the category of law-breakers – let alone murderers.
We may think they are hasty and foolish in their judgement of Jesus. But do we ourselves understand the Law any better?
