Thursday after Jubilate

Scripture: St. John 7:25-36 (NKJV)

7:25 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill? 26 But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? 27 However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

28 Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29 But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

30 Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 And many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. 33 Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. 34 You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”

35 Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

Devotion

There was plenty of speculation about Jesus in Jerusalem. There were plenty of assumptions, plenty of rumors. But there was little interest in finding real answers, or the people would have asked Jesus to explain things to them. We may even wonder why He didn’t simply address their questions directly and clear up some of their misconceptions.

What we see at this last feast which Jesus attended before His final Passover is Jesus teaching those who would be taught, and speaking in riddles to those who would not. Many who questioned Him were questioning in unbelief. To them, He did not present logical arguments. He did not try to reason them into believing, to market Himself. He did not plead with people to believe in Him. He spoke with enough bold, clear truth to bring people to faith, if they didn’t stubbornly resist His Holy Spirit.

Later, Jesus would explain many things to His disciples in private, including what He meant about “going away” in a “little while” (cf. John 16:16-28). He was foretelling His death and resurrection. So also He has explained many things to us through the Scriptures of the Apostles, if we will only listen. But whether or not we understand everything the Bible says, we have enough clear words of Jesus to know Him and to trust Him. And whether or not we can give crystal clear explanations of His Word to those around us, we can trust that the simple message of Law and Gospel is enough to convert those who hear, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Gracious Lord, help us always to submit our human wisdom to Your divine wisdom. Enlighten our eyes by Your Holy Spirit and help us to understand Your Word rightly, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.