March 15 -- John 7:1-24

Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the One who sent me. 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.” –John 7:16-17 (NIV)

During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Festival of the Tabernacles (also known as the Feast of Booths or Sukkot) was one of three pilgrimage festivals when Israelites were required to go to the Temple. This Feast of Booths was a harvest festival that also celebrated the Lord’s care of the people during their 40 years in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. For seven days, people lived in “booths,” temporary huts that would remind them of the dwellings used during the years their ancestors wandered in the desert. So, everyone who was physically able would have gone to this festival.

Before the festival, Jesus’ brothers taunted Him about what they saw as His aspirations to greatness. They didn’t believe in Him at this point (though later on James and Jude would come to believe and become leaders in the early church). Because of His brothers’ unbelief and the Jewish leaders waiting in Jerusalem to kill Him, Jesus delayed His trip and went up to Jerusalem quietly. This was not a dishonest or cowardly act, but a strategic one. Jesus knew His “time [was] not yet here” (v. 6), meaning that there would be a day when He would enter Jerusalem openly as the Messiah (the day we now call Palm Sunday), and that day would usher in the time of His death. He had more to accomplish before that day came in order to do the will of His Father.

Because the festival was a required one, the Jewish leaders looked for Jesus. The crowds whispered their opinions for fear of the leaders, who had the power to cut them off from Israel’s religious and social life. So, everyone had an opinion about Jesus, and those who didn’t believe in Him were hostile or mocking.

Halfway through the eight-day Festival of the Tabernacles, Jesus began to teach openly in the temple courts. The Jewish leaders wondered how and where He had received His training because a rabbi (teacher) was supposed to get his theological training by first becoming a disciple of a recognized, established rabbi. Yet none of the Jewish leaders had been Jesus’ teacher, and they could see that He had an advanced understanding of the Scriptures. Jesus told them that His teaching came directly from God and that “anyone who chooses to do the will of God” will discover this is true (v. 17). He went on to accuse the Jewish leaders of not doing the will of God—they had not kept the Law they claimed to honor.

Jesus pointed out the religious leaders’ hypocrisy in observing the symbolic purification rite of circumcision on the Sabbath (because it must be done on the eighth day after birth) while they criticized Him for cleansing and healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath. Their reasoning was flawed, and it revealed that they were more concerned with the outward trappings of religion than doing God’s will or seeking God’s heart. Because these leaders were focused on religious rules rather than God’s love and His will, they were blind to the truth about Jesus.

Jesus promises that if we seek to do God’s will, then we will develop spiritual understanding. God will guide us. He’ll show us what His will is, and then we can live it. But we must be ready to do His will, no matter what.

Consider: How often do I seek to do God’s will in my life? Is this something I think about when facing life choices? Or do I think more about what others will think of me—do I worry about the mockers and detractors?

In your prayer time today, thank God for His love and His willingness to guide you, and ask Him to cultivate a deep desire in you to do His will. If you are facing any decision, pray He reveals His will to you and gives you the courage, strength, and discernment to follow where He leads, living a life of faith even if there are those who would mock you for it.