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Why Are You Making Such A
Fuss John 7:40-52
A
small-town police officer was sitting in his car on a Saturday morning
when a motorist sped past him down Main Street. He quickly pulls the car
over.
“Officer,” the man began, “I can explain…”
“Quiet!” snapped the officer. “We don’t ‘tolerate’ reckless driving in
this town! I’m going to let you cool your heels in jail until the chief
gets back.”
“But, officer, you don’t under…”
“And I said to keep quiet!” he barked, reaching for his nightstick to
convince the man he meant what he said. A few hours later the officer
looked in on his prisoner and said, “Lucky for you that the chief’s at
his daughter’s wedding. He’ll be in a good mood when he gets back.”
“Don’t count on it,” replied the fellow in the cell. “I’m the groom.”
I was going to start today by asking you if you have ever been quick to
judge. But I think it would be easier to ask everyone who has never
judged to quickly to please stand up so that we can all give you a
standing ovation.
We have all been guilty of this from time to time. We make a judgment
before we have all the facts. And unfortunately it is nothing new. It
was happening all the way back in our text for this morning.
Today, I want us to look at the end of John chapter 7.
Do you remember the context in which we find our passage?
The setting is the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was a grand camping
festival surrounding Jerusalem. All the people made shelters out of
interwoven branches and leaves and slept in those same shelters for 7
nights. This was to remind themselves how their ancestors slept under
the stars for 40 years in the desert.
One of the daily highlights was that each morning at the time of
sacrifice, the priests would draw water in a golden vessel from the Pool
of Siloam and carry it to the temple to be poured out. This was done to
mark God’s gift water when they were dying of thirst. So, it was a very
festive time each day, as people would wave palm branches, rejoicing and
praising God. It was to this backdrop, we find John recording this
event:
John 7:37-38 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up
and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever
believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water.’”
Here we see Jesus challenging His listeners to judge with right
judgment. These were statements calling for a decision. These were
claims that are meant to prevent you from sitting on the fence. You are
either going to follow Him, or not. The challenge for His listeners was
to get beyond the mere appearances. There was a challenge to look
deeper, to consider the heart of the issue. So, as we come to this
passage, we find this Jesus’ claim results in argument and debate.
I think that it is interesting that the question of “Who is Jesus?” that
began then, continues today. It continues to be a valid question. It is
a valid question because you are here today. This church meets together
because of Jesus. The cross is not some mere decoration. It is a
reminder that it is through a cruel instrument of death our salvation
came.
We have a tendency to “candy-coat” Jesus. We like to make Him something
sweet and easy to swallow. But, when we come to the New Testament, more
often than not, it is not that way. For Jesus obviously did not read,
“How to Win Friends and Influence People.” He was not schooled in the
fine arts of political correctness. He did not have any of His disciples
editing speeches to remove what might be offensive. He just spoke the
truth, like in Matthew 10:34-36
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not
come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against
his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his
own household.”
He often just said what was hard to accept.
So over the years we have been involved in discussions about His
teachings and have made our decisions like the man who enjoyed smoking
tobacco until they came out with the Surgeon General’s health warning on
the packages. He determined he had to do one of two things: quit smoking
or quit reading. So he opted for the logical decision: he quit reading.
Look at the text. Here we will find a process unfolding in the framework
of three stages of how people decide what they think and feel about
Jesus.
The first thing we have to do is make a Distinction (40-44)
When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is
the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the
Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ
comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village
where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him.
Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
You see Jesus was always forcing the people to consider His role.
I think we can tell from this passage that He did not leave people
feeling wishy-washy. When Jesus told them that He could satisfy their
eternal thirst, it was a claim that had to be considered. Ultimately, it
was going to be either accepted or rejected. We see here that some are
wondering if He was the prophet Elijah that was to come before the
Messiah. Others are wondering if He was the Messiah Himself.
But, in the midst of this debate there are some who were troubled about
His origins.
After all, He comes from Galilee. All His main ministry and activity has
occurred in the north, and not near Jerusalem. So, there is confusion.
The people are thinking of Micah 5:2 which says that the Messiah must
come from Bethlehem in the south. It is clear here that they don’t have
all the facts. And as a result, some are still unconvinced and have made
their judgment. He must be arrested.
When we have trouble discerning we are usually left Confounded (45-46)
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to
them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever
spoke like this man!”
Remember that Jesus was to be arrested. The Jewish leaders had sent the
temple police out to bring Him in. They had passed judgment on the basis
of their prejudices and their superficial examination of the facts. So,
the warrants were signed. He just needed to be brought in. But, in the
process to bring Him in, the words of Jesus gripped the temple police.
Jesus spoke in such a way that His words arrested their hearts.
Jesus spoke so forcefully and frankly, they knew that something special
was going on. He spoke so fearlessly, they were mesmerized by His every
word. They were persuaded by His credibility. So, when He finishes
teaching for the day, He leaves. And it is as if then they remember what
they were supposed to do—arrest Him, but now He is gone. So they return
to the temple and give this solid testimony to the person of Jesus, “No
one ever spoke like this man!”
There is no argument. One of the biggest media events of all time was
the O.J. Simpson trial. Even though the creed of our country is,
“innocent until proven guilty,” most of us had him convicted before the
trial. The leaks about DNA evidence, past abusive behavior, unexplained
coincidences and the pursuit of the Bronco convinced us that the true
killer was behind bars.
So we waited with anticipation to see what the dream team of defense
lawyers were going to do. We should not have been surprised at their
tactic. It was very simple: try to cloud the issue and create reasonable
doubt. Rather than deal with the guilt or innocence of your client, try
to make other people the focus of the trial. So, we had charges of
racism on the police force, sloppiness in the lab, and a conspiracy
among them all. Insult and derision was the name of the game.
The result: “Not guilty!” Miscarriage of justice or the justice system
at its best? We are not sure.
But we do know that when we cannot defend our position we are left to
Ridicule (47-52)
The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of
the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that
does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him
before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man
without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They
replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet
arises from Galilee.”
The Pharisees proved that when we don’t want to listen, we don’t. Pride
gets in the way. Our minds are made up. And instead of listening, it is
easier to label people.
Note the tools of pride:
The first is Ridicule – “You are deceived.”
In essence, they say, “How can you be so stupid and gullible?” “How can
you listen to Him one time and think you have the whole story?” “Don’t
be so naďve!” The tools of ridicule hurt and are hard to stand up to.
Then there is Coercion – “Follow us.”
In essence, they say, “If the leaders don’t believe in Jesus, then
anyone who has any sense won’t believe Him either.” “Look…have any
important people like ourselves believed in Him?” “Trust us…we have the
answers.”
Finally, they use Belittling – “They don’t know.”
In essence, they say, “Don’t be as stupid as the crowd.” “They are
ignorant.” “They don’t know about the law.” “They are dull commoners.”
Interestingly, one stops and asks a question at this point. It is
Nicodemus! He says, ““Does our law judge a man without first giving him
a hearing and learning what he does?”
But the tools of pride are still at work.
Now it is Sarcasm – “You must be from Galilee.”
“Are you a lowly and ignorant Galilean too?” Which goes to show you,
when you cannot answer the argument, attack the speaker instead. But
Nicodemus has exposed their flaw. In their pride, the leaders have been
in a hurry to execute judgment. They have been quick to judge. So much
so, they get their facts wrong. There have been prophets from the north.
For Jonah was from Galilee, as well as Hosea and Nahum. Possibly Elijah,
Elisha, and Amos were also.
Now, Nicodemus appeals for an honest hearing. He appeals to the idea of
due process. It is something, though, Jesus will never get from the
Jewish leaders, not now, and not in six months when the next Passover
comes.
Such a fuss! What is the fuss all about? It is a fuss that has shaped
history and continues to do so!
For WE ARE EITHER FOR OR AGAINST JESUS.
We must admit, that we don’t always like what Jesus has said or stands
for. It is hard to admit that we are dependent. We like being
independent, able to choose our own way. The trouble, is though, that
when our life does not turn out right or the way we expected, we like to
blame others for our faults. Just like the man who had been involved in
a car wreck. He was explaining to the police officer …
I was driving to town this morning on the Interstate, I looked over to
my left and there was a woman in a brand new Mustang doing 80 miles per
hour with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her
eyeliner! I looked away for a split second when I noticed that she was
halfway over in my lane, still working on that dumb makeup!!!
I was so scared that I dropped my electric shaver, which knocked the
donut out of my other hand. In all the confusion of trying to straighten
out the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it knocked my
cell phone away from my other ear which fell into the hot coffee between
my legs and burned me which made me jump, and that is why I have hit
this tree. Can you believe that? WOMEN DRIVERS!
The use of diversionary tactics and blame-shifting is something we
should all be familiar with. We don’t want to know the truth about
ourselves. We don’t want to admit our own fault. And our culture has
taught us well.
We say we are not responsible for our decisions because of the
environment we grew up in…it is the fault of our parents.
We plead ignorance…it is the fault of the educational system.
We claim genetic predisposition…it is the fault of nature.
It is quite a predicament we get ourselves into. For as soon as we blame
someone or something else, we admit that there is a standard that we
have not met. There is a right way and a wrong way.
This brings us back to Jesus, because He had the audacity to say He was
the way, and in effect, the only way. So many of us, though, don’t want
to see Jesus in this way. We speak politely about Him. We speak fondly
of Him like at Christmas and Easter times. But the truth is, we cannot
casually brush aside His claims and treat Him as if He was not worth
getting excited about, or upset about, for that matter.
For the simple truth is this. Either Jesus is correct in what he says,
or He is a deceiver, worthy of death. If Jesus is the Son of God, as He
clearly claims, then He speaks for God, and He also speaks as God.
According to Him we are sinners that deserve God’s eternal wrath. Our
only hope is His sacrifice on the cross. He is the way.
So let me ask you this what have you decided about Jesus? For you are
either for Him or against Him.
You either submit to Him or stand against Him.
You either receive Him or reject Him.
Let me encourage you to fall before Him as your Savior and Lord.
He is worthy of your worship!
Submit to Jesus—for He is the Messiah that has come to set matters
right, for the world, and for you.
Receive Jesus—for never a man spoke like Him; He will catch your
attention if you are willing to listen with your heart.
Be for Jesus—for He speaks the truth; He is the way, the truth and the
life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you
before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the
only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through
Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
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