The teachings of Philip G. Roets & Lois Roets
Good News: Real Love Is Service c. 125 A.D.
Commentary by Philip G. Roets STL, SSL
Jesus: Light of the World
The gospel picture proceeds. The hostility and opposition of the leaders of the Jews were becoming stronger and stronger. It could explode at any moment. Jesus revealed more and more about himself and his message and how these truths were to change the lives of his followers and through them, the world.
In chapters 7 and 8, there are TEN explicit references to the antagonism, opposition and hatred of the leaders towards Jesus. Here is the list: 7:1, 13, 20, 25, 30, 32, 44; 8:37, 40, 59. Rather than copy all the statements here, I'll take them in context as we go along. However, if you want to read them all as a group and get a sense of building momentum, pick up your Gospel and read.
JESUS TEACHES IN JERUSALEM. John 7:1-24. This passage starts with the explicit statement about the opposition of the leaders. John said Jesus stayed in Galilee. He could not stay in Judea because the leaders were out to kill him.
Next, we are told of the attitude of Jesus' relatives toward him. The Gospel said they urged him to go down to Jerusalem and do all these works and all this preaching. The reason they gave was that a man who was doing such great things did not want to remain hidden but wanted the world to know about him and his work. The gospel writer said that they were talking in this way because they did not believe in him or accept him for what he truly was.
The gospel seems to indicate that they wanted him to go to Jerusalem and be tested. If he was accepted there, they could claim him and join in the glory. If he was rejected in the capital, they could shake their heads and say, "We told you so!" Either way, they took care of themselves.
Jesus understood their thinking perfectly. "My time has not yet come but you go on up to the feast because any time is your time. The world cannot hate you but it does hate me because I showed that its works are evil. I am not going up to this feast." And he stayed there in Galilee.
After everyone else had gone, Jesus left for Jerusalem. He went up alone and called no attention to himself. The people were all talking about him. Some thought he was a good person and praised him highly. Others were afraid of him and his influence. They were sure that he could easily lead the people away from the shaky peace they enjoyed with the Roman authorities. However, all this discussion was carried on quietly because of fear of the Jewish leaders.
Half way through the feast, Jesus appeared and went to the Temple to preach and teach. The leaders stood back in amazement. "How did he learn to read? He didn't go to our rabbinical schools," they grumbled.
Jesus faced them openly with strong words. He emphasized that he did not learn his ideas from any books or schools but from God. He claimed the same source as the prophets in the past and even Moses, himself. In fact, said Jesus, "Moses gave you the Torah and yet not one of you keeps it."
Then he stopped with the question: "Why do you want to kill me?" The crowd did not know what he was talking about. Jesus continued because he wanted to reach the leaders where it hurts. "You circumcise on the Sabbath and you do not consider that breaking the law. Now, I cure the whole man, and you are out to kill me. Stop thinking according to accidentals and judge according to what is right."
Self-awareness of Jesus. It is important to notice how the gospel writers depict Jesus in his own mind. He had no doubt about the certainty, the meaning, and the value of what he was teaching. Yet he knew how much the people hesitated to accept him and how much the leaders opposed him. He was aware that his work was not yet finished and so he could not provoke an open confrontation in which he would die with his work unfinished.
Jesus stressed that he got his ideas and convictions from Yahweh in exactly the same way that the prophets did. The ideas were not some special internal illumination. Rather, Jesus knew what the goals of the Law actually were. He knew how far the Rabbis had strayed from the pristine ideals. He felt compelled to set the people back on course.
This compulsion was a sense of duty born of justice and love. The closest parallels among the prophets would be Jeremiah and Isaiah. Jeremiah lived in the 6th century B.C. He saw the downward skid on which the teachers and leaders were bent. He felt compelled to oppose this error openly and yet he knew the consequence for himself. Jeremiah would take physical punishment and excessive ridicule. He decided to keep quiet and then his own conscience drives him into a frenzy.
Jesus had the same sense of urgency as Jeremiah and the same clear picture of what should be. However he did not waver. In this, he was more like Isaiah I, who lived the century before Jeremiah. He had the same clear convictions of righteousness but had no hesitancy about speaking up. He could out-maneuver the intrigue of the leaders.
The Gospel goes on to say that some of the people listened to Jesus speaking. He was not being arrested. They wondered if perhaps the leaders had decided that Jesus was the Messiah.
As Jesus heard their doubts and murmurings, he faced them directly and openly. He said they did not really understand where he was coming from. All they could see was that he was from Nazareth and they knew his family and relatives. The Messiah, according to the thinking of the times, was to be some sort of mysterious person.
They wanted to arrest him but it was not a good time and they did not lay a hand on him. The leaders were strongly opposed to Jesus and they truly wanted to get rid of him. However, they had to be concerned about the people who really believed in him and about the Roman authorities who would turn on them if there were any open trouble.
Jesus took the matter in hand and spoke openly. He said he would be with them for only a short while. Then they would be looking for him but they would not find him. The leaders ridiculed him again but Jesus used the occasion to talk about his mission. He referred to himself as a well of fresh running water which anyone could receive if there was true faith.
This was the feast of Tabernacles or Tents, commemorating the years the Israelites spent in the desert. There were prayers for rain, rites which commemorated the water-miracle of Moses (Ex.17:1-7; 1 C. 10:4) and readings from the Bible foretelling the life-giving water of Zion. (Zach. 14:8; Ez. 47:1; cf. J. 4:1)
The Gospel goes on to say that Jesus was talking about the "spirit of community" that the first group of Christians would develop when they finally saw what Jesus was talking about. It would fill them with zeal, courage, and power and they would go out fearlessly to tell the whole world about Jesus and his message. This spirit cannot be given or rise in the group until it was truly a community that lived life as Jesus lived life.
The Temple police go back to the leaders empty-handed. The Pharisees wanted to know why they did not do their job of arresting Jesus. Their answer showed that they had listened carefully to Jesus and they were convinced of what he said. The Pharisees ridiculed them. Had they seen any of the leaders accepting him? The crowd was a mindless rabble. They would buy anything put before them.
Then, Nicodemus, a Pharisee and leader among the people, spoke openly. He had come to Jesus quietly as we read earlier in chapter 3. Now he came out in the open and cautioned the rest of the Pharisees that they should think long and hard about their actions. The other Pharisees pounced on him. They ridiculed him and asked him if any of the prophets had ever come from Galilee. Then they went home.
WOMAN IS BROUGHT BEFORE JESUS. The next morning, Jesus was in the Temple again. He sat and began to teach. The scribes and Pharisees came with a woman who was taken in the act of committing adultery. They reminded him that Moses ordered that such a one be stoned to death. What did he have to say about this?
They didn't care about the woman or the law. They merely saw this as an opportunity to put Jesus on the spot. If he failed to keep the Law, they could point this out openly to the people. If he commanded the Law to be kept, they could turn him over to the Roman authorities.
Jesus did not say a word. He bent down and began to "doodle" in the dust. The Scribes and Pharisees figured they had Jesus trapped and they insisted he give an answer. Jesus looked up and said: "Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone!" Then Jesus bent down and began to doodle in the dust again. The accusers realized the tables were turned, and they began to slink away from the oldest to the youngest. When they were all gone, Jesus looked up and asked the woman, "Where are they who were accusing you?" "They are gone, sir," she answered. "Then neither will I accuse you. Go and sin no more."
Thus Jesus exposed the phony accusers and got rid of them. He forgave the woman but reminded her to get out of the path of sinning.
Jesus added: "I am the Light of the World. Anyone who follows me will not be walking in darkness but will have the light which is life."
Again, the Pharisees paid no attention to the content of what Jesus said. They tried another technicality of law. They said Jesus was bearing witness to himself and therefore his witness was not valid.
Jesus replied. "You miss the point again. I am not bearing witness to myself. The Father is bearing witness to me because it is he who sent me. You do not know the Father and therefore you do not recognize me."
Here is that emphasis on Sonship once again. The notion that the Israelites were supposed to be the "Son of God" was uppermost in Jesus's mind. He was the personification of this Sonship and therefore Yahweh was his Father in a special way. The Pharisees and Scribes would understand this easily if they understood what Yahweh had taught through Moses and the prophets.
Jesus became very forceful in his condemnation of the Scribes and Pharisees. He said they could not possibly understand what he was saying because they do not live according to the plans of Yahweh. They claimed Abraham for their father. But Abraham would disown them. They have only one father, and that is the DEVIL, and they do exactly what the devil wishes. (This idea is clearly a reference to Wisdom 2:23-24; 6:23.)
Jesus threw the supreme challenge in their faces: "Can anyone of you convict me of sin?" There is no doubt they tried but were helpless because they could find nothing to condemn. They tried to besmirch his name by calling him a Samaritan and possessed by a demon.
Then Jesus made his most meaningful claim. If anyone accepted his ideas and lives by them, he would never die. This was an open invitation to the Pharisees. They said he was making himself greater than Abraham because Abraham had died.
Jesus made his strongest identity statement: "Before Abraham was, I Am." This was sure heresy and blasphemy - if it was not true. So they picked up stones to kill him and Jesus left the Temple and hid.
CURE OF MAN BORN BLIND. John 9:1-41. This is the last incident in this fourth week of the New Creation. Everything in this segment of the Gospel has stressed the deliberate blindness of the leaders of the Jews and the clarity of the vision of Jesus as he grew from day to day. This last event was the cure of a man born blind and would stress that same basic notion.
Jesus and the apostles were walking along and they saw a man who had been born blind. It was common belief that such an affliction was a punishment, and the apostles wanted to know who was at fault, the blind man or his parents.
Jesus said this affliction was not a punishment for anyone's fault. But he was going to use it to bring Light to the World. He made some mud and smeared it over the eyes of the blind man. Then he sent the blind man to the pool of Siloam to wash off the mud. The man did as he was told and his sight was restored.
The people saw him and some said it was the same man. Others said it was just someone who looked like the blind man. The blind man assured them he was the same person. They asked how he could see after all these years. He told them what Jesus had done and summed it up thus: "I went, I washed, I see!"
They brought the man to the Pharisees. The first thing they noted was that it was the Sabbath when Jesus made that mud. Some of the Pharisees looked right at the cured man and said Jesus could not be from God because he had broken the Sabbath. Others of the group said that they had better be careful because you cannot perform these signs without God on your side.
The Pharisees were still not convinced it was the same person. They called his parents. His parents realized they were really on the spot. If they backed their son, they could easily be punished for talking against the obvious will of the leaders. So they were careful in their response. "That he is our son we have no doubt. That he was born blind we are absolutely certain. How he can see now, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age and can speak for himself."
So the Pharisees sent for the cured man again. They tried to scare him into a change of testimony. They asked him to describe exactly what happened. The cured man really irritated them with his answer. He said, "I have told you exactly what happened. Why do you want to hear every detail again? Do you, perhaps, want to become his disciples too?"
The Pharisees blasted him for this bold assumption. Then the cured man said, "This is really amazing. He opened my eyes. I can see! And you don't know where he comes from. Does God listen to sinners? Since the world began, has anyone heard of a man born blind who received his sight?" There was no answer to these plain words so the Pharisees blasted off in their anger and drove him away.
Jesus met the man again. He asked him if he believed in the Son of Man. The cured man asked who he was and Jesus said clearly. "You are looking at him. He is speaking to you." The man said: "I do believe" and showed him special reverence.
Then came the main points of the whole section. Jesus said he had come into the world that the blind may see, and those who see may become blind. The Pharisees were indignant. They asked "Are we blind?" Jesus answered, "If you were blind, you would have no sin. But you say that you see and therefore your sin remains."
Jesus told them they could not have it both ways. Either they accepted him as the Light of the World and lived by his teachings. Or they claimed they were not blind and lived on in their ignorance and darkness.
Leaders Decide He Must Die Now
This section of the Gospel stresses two aspects of the person and ministry of Jesus. He is the Good Shepherd and the Conqueror of Death. Neither of these ideas will be understood or appreciated unless we put them in their first century setting in Palestine.
GOOD SHEPHERD: I KNOW MINE AND MINE KNOW ME! John 10:1-21. The Good Shepherd is described. It was a favorite theme of the early Christians in all their works of art. To understand the full meaning we have to recall the life of a shepherd in Palestine in those days.
Background Information: A shepherd did not have a large flock. As is stated in the other gospel stories, a hundred sheep would be a lot for one shepherd. The day's work began at first light. Each shepherd would call his sheep from the common sheepfold. This call was special to each shepherd and would be understood and followed only by his sheep. He knew each of his sheep by name and could call them individually if necessary.
Once his flock was separated, the shepherd went in front to lead. He led the sheep. He did not drive them. His goal was to have them to fresh pasture in the cool of the morning. The sheep could graze under his watchful eye. By midday, the sheep needed fresh water to get a drink. Then he would let them lie in the shade during the heat of day. When it cooled off, they would get another drink and then graze until time to start back to the fold.
As light began to fade, the shepherd led the sheep back into the sheepfold (enclosure) for the night. As the sheep entered the fold, they would walk under the shepherd's outstretched staff - one at a time. He would examine each and give special attention to any that needed it. The shepherd knew the appearance, mannerisms and characteristics of each sheep as well as he knew himself.
That was the regular routine for each day. To carry out his work, the shepherd had a staff, a club and a slingshot. The staff was his support in walking and his means of singling out each sheep. His club and slingshot were means of defense against his enemies and his flock.
All these details would be contained in the words "shepherd" and "flock" for anyone in the area in the time of Christ. Now Jesus applied this whole picture to himself.
First, there is the sheepfold, the gate and the gatekeeper. The fold is the whole world. The Gatekeeper is the Father. The gate is the only port of entrance into the kingdom of the Father. Anyone who goes into the sheepfold by any means other than the gate is a thief and robber. Only the real shepherd will be allowed through the gate.
Jesus calls and his sheep know his voice and respond. Jesus' call is all his teaching. Anyone who belongs to his flock will accept his teaching and follow. Jesus is a real shepherd. He is up front leading.
Jesus is the gate and anyone who is going to work with the sheep has to go through him. He is the true shepherd. He lays down his life for his sheep. A hired hand would see danger and take off. Like a real shepherd, Jesus knows each of his sheep individually and each sheep knows him.
Then comes the final point. There are many sheep that are not yet of his fold. These too he calls and gives an opportunity to join his flock. His goal is to have one flock and one shepherd in the whole world. In this project, the Father and Jesus are working together and Jesus is freely giving his life for his flock. Nobody is taking it from him.
The reaction of the leaders was mixed. Many, or even the majority, said he was possessed and raved like a mad man. So why bother even to listen to him? The others insisted these were not the words of a possessed person. And, could a possessed person open the eyes of a blind man?
MAJOR CONFRONTATION! "I AM THE SON OF GOD." I DO THE WORKS OF THE FATHER. John 10:22-42. In one sense, this was just more of the same. In another sense, this incident was the beginning of the end. The leaders, in an almost frustrated tone, said, "If you are the Messiah, tell us clearly."
As you read the statement, you can almost see the leaders wringing their hands. All their scheming and conniving had been for naught. They thought Jesus would trip himself up, as so many false claimants had done before. They thought they could trap him into a lie or some sort of deceit. This, too, had failed. Finally, they asked point blank.
Jesus' answer was brief and to the point: "I have told you and shown you who I am. You have simply refused to see or believe." Jesus claimed to have the same truth and authority as the Father and this was too much for the leaders. They picked up stones to attack him.
Jesus said, "Many good works have I shown you from my Father. For which of these do you wish to stone me?" Their reply showed they understood exactly what Jesus was claiming. They wanted to kill him, not because of his good works, but because he was only a man and he made himself an equal of God.
Jesus said this was not the first time people had claimed to be sons of God. He quoted that basic notion of the Old Testament. The favorite title of the Israelites as a people was "Son of God." Now, said Jesus, "I am doing the Father's works. If you will not believe me, believe the works that I do."
They wanted to arrest him right then, but Jesus escaped and left. He went over to the east side of the Jordan in the area where John the Baptist had been working. The people followed him and many felt reasonably sure that Jesus was the person they were looking for.
"OUR FRIEND IS SLEEPING." "IF YOU HAD BEEN HERE HE WOULD NOT HAVE DIED." "LAZARUS, COME FORTH." John 11:1-54. We come to the turning event in John's account of the life of Jesus Christ. The event in itself is unique and extraordinary. A close friend of Jesus died and was buried and he was not even there to console the survivors or even to attend the funeral.
The people we are concerned with are Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. They were very close friends of Jesus. Mary was the lady who anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair. Martha was constantly busy taking care of the needs of her guests. Mary, on the other hand, liked to sit and talk with or listen to the guests. Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus.
On this occasion, the sisters sent a message to Jesus that Lazarus, whom he loved, was ill. Jesus' reaction to the message was that this sickness was not terminal but for the glory of God.
He waited two days and then announced to the apostles that they would go to Judea. The apostles were amazed. They had just left because the leaders wanted to stone him. Now he was going back into the trouble.
Jesus replied that it was time for action. Then he said that Lazarus was sleeping and he would go and awaken him. The apostles tried to dissuade him. It was good for Lazarus to sleep and get rest if he was sick. So Jesus said bluntly "Lazarus is dead!" The Apostles did not know what to think. Thomas spoke for them all. "Let's go along and die with him."
When they arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been buried, already for four days. Martha heard that Jesus was present so she went to meet him. Mary stayed in the house, probably rather stunned by the turn of events. Martha says to Jesus: "If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God is granted."
I AM THE RESURRECTION. Jesus replied, "Your brother will rise again." Martha says "I know he will rise again on the last day." Jesus brought the idea right to the fore: "I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies, he will live. And whoever lives and believes in me, will never die. Do you believe this?" Martha's profession of faith was full and immediate: "Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Messiah, Son of God, the one who has come into this world."
Martha went right back to the house to get Mary. Jesus was on the edge of the village. When the people saw Martha call Mary and both of them leave, they followed along. They figured the two sisters were going to the tomb to mourn the death of their brother again.
When they met Jesus, Mary threw herself at the feet of Jesus and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." At the sight of their grief, Jesus was overcome by his own grief. He asked, "Where have you put him?" They led Jesus to the tomb and he wept.
The people commented on his deep love for the family. When they arrived at the entrance of the cave, Jesus said, "Roll away the stone!" Martha was aghast. "Lord," she said, "by now he stinks. He has been dead four days."
Jesus stressed their need to believe. They removed the stone. Jesus prayed aloud. He addressed the Father and expressed his confidence in the power and love of the Father for him. Then he said in a loud voice: "Lazarus, out here! Come!" The dead man came out, all wrapped like a mummy. Jesus said, "Unwrap him and set him free."
The reaction was mixed. The majority of the people who had come, who had seen the resurrection of the corpse, began to believe. Others went flying to the leaders to tell them what had happened.
This became the turning point in the attitude and action of the leaders. Caiaphas, the high priest of that year, said: "Don't worry about what others will think or do. It is better for one man to die than for the whole people to be lost." From that day forward, they were on the lookout for the opportunity to put Jesus to death. Jesus knew this and no longer went openly among them. He went to a town called Ephraim, on the edge of the desert, and stayed there with the apostles.