Bible in One Year Day 101 (John 7 - 9, Proverbs 5:15-23)

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Day 101: Signs and Wonders 

Agape Bible Study 

John 7 -9 

Feast of	Jesus in JUDEA –JERUSALEM (Fall)
T	III. OPPOSITION IN JERUSALEM	7:1-10:21
A B	A.  Feast of Tabernacles: Jesus leaves the Galilee to travel to Jerusalem	7:1-13
E	B.  The Middle of the Feast	7:14-36
R	C.  The Last Day of the Feast	7:37-53
N	D.  After the Feast	8:1-10:21
A	1.  The Adulteress	8:1-11
C L	2.  The Light of the World discourse - #2 "I AM the Light of the World"	8:12-59
E	3.  SIGN #5 Healing of the man born blind	9:1-40
S	4.  The Good Shepherd discourse - # 3 "I AM the Door of the sheep"; # 4 "I AM the Good shepherd	10:1-21

In chapter 6 there were three stumbling blocks which prevented many Jews from coming to Christ:

1. The desire for a "political" Messiah to ease their earthly sufferings
2. The inability to accept the deity of Jesus, God made man
3. The refusal to believe in the Real Presence of Christ, the Living Bread come down from heaven.

These are the same 3 stumbling blocks that prevent many people from coming to Christ today.

God the Son humbled Himself in becoming a man and laid down His life as a willing sacrifice that we might live. He calls on us to humble ourselves and to Love one another as I have loved you [John 15:12].  We must also see ourselves as living sacrifices, ready to lay down our lives for love [Romans 12:1].  The Eucharist is the most profound expression of this love, and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the highest expression of God's mercy and love for us.  This is the central message of the "good news," which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Chapter 5 introduced the beginning of the opposition to the Son of God, first in the Jerusalem [chapter 5] and next in the Galilee [chapter 6].  In chapter 7 the opposition continues and intensifies.

John Chapter 7:1-13 Before the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem
¹After this Jesus traveled round Galilee, he could not travel round Judaea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. ²As the Jewish feast of Shelters drew near, ³his brothers said to him, 'Leave this palace and go to Judaea, so that your disciples, too, can see the works you are doing; ⁴no one who wants to be publicly known acts in secret; if this is what you are doing, you should reveal yourself to the world. ⁵Not even his brothers had faith in him. ⁶Jesus answered, 'For me the right time has not come yet, but for you any time is the right time. ⁷The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me because I give evidence that its ways are evil. ⁸Go up to the festival yourselves: I am not [oupo = not yet] going to this festival, because for me the time is not ripe yet [oupo = not yet].' ⁹Having said that, he stayed behind in Galilee. ¹⁰However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, not publicly but secretly. ¹¹At the festival the Jews were on the look-out for him: 'Where is he?' they said. ¹²There was a great deal of talk about him in the crowds.  Some said, 'He is a good man'; others, 'No, he is leading the people astray.' ¹³Yet no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Jews.

The Greek word "oupo" is recorded twice in John 7:8.  In Greek "oupo" means "not yet, hitherto not, as yet" (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance # 3768).  Jesus is without sin and cannot lie, therefore, He is not lying to His kinsmen when He tells them He is "not yet [oupo] going to the festival," because for Him "the time is not yet [oupo] ripe."  The urging of Jesus' kinsmen for Him to reveal Himself to the world before His time is ripe is in some ways reminiscent of Satan's temptation of Jesus to reveal His true nature in Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; and Luke 4:1-13.

Jesus went up to Jerusalem secretly, not accompanying His relatives and friends in the caravan from the Galilee, because He knew there were men who were seeking to kill Him and His "hour" had not yet come to offer up His life, His ministry needed to continue a little longer. 

The annual holy Feast of Shelters or Booths is known as Sukkot(h) [Sukkos] in Hebrew.

Question: Why are there people seeking Jesus and who are "the Jews"?

Answer: They want to kill Him for claiming equality with God.  They believed Jesus was guilty of the crime of blasphemy for making such a claim.  

Question: What is the Feast of Shelters?  What was the Old Covenant significance of this feast? 

Answer: The Feast of Shelters (Sukkot in Hebrew), also called the Feast of Tabernacles from the Latin word for "dwelling", was the last feast of the liturgical calendar [Passover was the first feast; see Exodus 12:1].  Also known as the Feast of Ingathering, Chag Haasif in Hebrew, [Exodus 23:16], this feast was celebrated for a week in the fall from Tishri 15-22, five days after the Feast of Yom Kippur [literally the "Day of Covering"] also known as the Feast of Atonement.  The Feast of Shelters/Tabernacles, the most joyous and the longest of the festivals, was also considered to be the greatest of the feasts.  The Feast of Shelters/Tabernacles memorialized God's holy Dwelling place, the desert Tabernacle, the design of which was given to Moses by God Himself and which was later replaced by the Temple built by Solomon in the 10^th century BC on Mt Moriah in Jerusalem. The feast also recalled the booths or shelters the people lived in during the time they received the 10 Commandments at Sinai and during the rest of the Exodus experience.   Therefore, as a reminder of the time they were homeless when God delivered them from their enemies and protected them, the people were commanded to leave their homes and dwell in shelters. 

At Mt. Sinai God not only gave Moses the 10 Commandments as the moral law of perfection, but He also gave the 613 articles or instructions within the Law as well the liturgical feasts and the different classes of sacrifices as the means to fulfill Israel's obligation to the Law.  These feasts included:

• The weekly feast of the Sabbath
• The 7 annual feasts which included the 3 "pilgrim feasts"; all prescribed in Leviticus chapter 23. 

In addition to the weekly and annual feasts there were several periodic feasts:

• The New Moon Feast which began each month in the lunar calendar [the official calendar of the feast cycle]
• The Sabbath year feast, held every 7^th year
• The Jubilee Feast which was celebrated every 50^th year. 

Other feasts like Hanukkah /Chanukah [1 Maccabees 4:52-59; 2 Maccabees 10:1-8; John 10:22], referred to as the "Feast of Dedication" in John 10:22 and the Feast of Purim [Esther 9:18-32] were national feasts established by the people and not by Yahweh.

Question: When did Peter make a suggestion to build booths or shelters? 

Answer: It is significant that all three Synoptic Gospels recorded that St. Peter suggests making shelters: Matthew 17:4; Mark 9:5; and Luke 9:33.  The experience at the Mt. of Transfiguration may have occurred just before the Feast of Shelters, and perhaps Peter didn't see any need to go to Jerusalem to build booths for the feast since he, James, and John could celebrate the feast there on the mountain with God [Jesus], Moses and Elijah.  

Both "light" and "water" played an important part in the symbolism of this feast.  "Light" recalled the light of the Glory Cloud as Yahweh led Israel through the wilderness–the Pillar of Fire.  It was the light of the presence of God, the Shekinah in Hebrew, which made the cloud shine with light.  "Light" was a symbol of His presence and in the Temple.  In the Tabernacle Yahweh commanded that the light of the golden Menorah (candelabra) be kept burning continuously as a sign of His presence [Leviticus 24:1-4].   Water was also a symbol of this feast in memory of the water miracles that manifested God's protection and care in the wilderness:

• the parting of the Red Sea
• the life-giving water that came from the Rock [Exodus 17, Numbers 20] in the desert wilderness journey.  The miraculous water from the "Rock" saved the people and their flocks of animals for 40 years.  It was part of the oral tradition of the Israelites that the "Rock" followed them on their journey to salvation in the Promised Land [1 Corinthians 10:4].

Question: What mystery does St. Paul reveal to us about the Rock that gave life-sustaining water during the desert wandering of the children of Israel?  

Answer: Christ is the Rock that physically nourished the children of Israel with life-giving water!  The identification of Jesus Christ with the "Rock" will be very important in this chapter.

Question: When the crowds of people in the Temple cried out "Hosannah" and waved palm branches were you reminded of another time that the crowds of Jerusalem would perform a similar action?

Answer: On Palm/ Passion Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young colt and the crowds of Jerusalem hailed Him as Messiah-King in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy [see Matthew 21:9, 15; Mark 11:9-10; John 12:13].  "Hosanna" is Hebrew for "Save us now" or "Please save"'it is the greeting for a king of Israel and can be equated to the English people calling out "God save the Queen or King" to their monarch [Psalms 118:25-26].  On Jesus' final entry into the holy city the people hailed Him with the messianic imagery of palm branches from the Feast of Tabernacles.  

In the evening everyone returned to the Temple for the most interesting and joyous part of the festival, the fire ceremony and the torch dance!  

This background information on the Feast of Tabernacles is necessary in order to understand what transpires between Jesus and the people of Jerusalem during this feast and the impact His words will have on the crowd of worshippers. 

John 7:2b-5 ...his brothers said to him, 'Leave this place and go to Judea, so that your disciples, too, can see the works you are doing; no one who wants to be publicly known acts in secret; if this is what you are doing, you should reveal yourself to the world.'  Not even his brothers had faith in him.  [literal = "neither were believing His brethren on Him."  "Believing" is expressed in the imperfect; referring not to a single act of faith, but to faith as habitual and controlling [Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament: volume II, page 157]. 

"brothers" : The word used in the Greek for brothers is adelphoi, which means "from the womb" and literally means brothers who are born from the same mother.  Unfortunately this word has been misunderstood to mean that Joseph and Mary had an intimate marriage relationship after Jesus' birth that resulted in brothers and sisters.  This has never been a teaching of the Church.  

The problem stems from the fact that the sacred writers of the New Testament were writing in Greek but thinking in Hebrew/Aramaic.  There is no separate word for "cousin" in Hebrew or Aramaic.  The only way to designate a "cousin" was to indicate that a certain person was the son of your mother's brother, etc.  In the Hebrew and Aramaic concept of relationships any male sibling, kinsman, or a countryman, was a "brother."  This peculiarity of the Hebrew language is evident in other passages in the New Testament that are clearly not speaking of blood relationships. In Acts 1:14 there is a reference to Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers/ adelphoi, referring to Jesus' kinsmen and kinswomen; however the same word in the plural, adelphoi is found in Acts 1:15-16 where Peter addresses the 120 disciples [men and women] assembled in the Upper Room and calls them adelphoi [please also note that in the plural "brothers"-adelphoi, can refer to brothers and sisters.

Throughout Acts and all of Paul's and James' and John's letters to the Church the New Covenant believers are all referred to as adelphoi [the plural form can be used to indicate both sisters and brothers / male and female kinsman] and the Jewish crowds are also addressed as adelphoi.  The point is, in the New Testament the Greek word adelphoi is being used in the Hebrew sense of kinsman/ kinswoman, or Covenant brother or sister.  

Question: What advice do Jesus' kinsmen give to Him?

Answer: They suggest that He should go to Jerusalem and perform His wonders to reveal Himself to the world.

Question: What is it they didn't believe?

Answer: According to the text they are either unsure of His ability to perform miracles or unsure of His ultimate intent or origin: if this is what you are doing... they say in John 7:4.  They seem to want Him to proclaim His miracles more publicly. 

Jesus' answer to His kinsmen has two levels of meaning:

1. The first meaning that the brothers understand is that He does not intend at this "time" to go up to the festival.  But what Jesus really means is illustrated by the fact that He does attend the feast. 
2. The second meaning, which is Jesus' real meaning, becomes clear when one realizes His reference is to His death at the hands of "the Jews" in verse 1.  When Jesus speaks of His "time" He is speaking on the level of God's divine plan.  His "time" is His "hour", the hour of His passion, death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father.  This is the "time" that is not to come at this festival of Tabernacles, it is to come at the next feast 6 months later: the Passover/Unleavened Bread Feast.

John 7:11-13:  At the festival the Jews were on the look-out for him: 'Where is he?' they said.  There was a great deal of talk about him in the crowds.  Some said, 'He is a good man'; others, 'No, he is leading the people astray.'  Yet no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Jews.

The word had been passed in the crowd that the authorities were plotting against Jesus [7:1, 11, 19] and therefore the crowds were reluctant to be associated with Him or His teaching.

John 7:14-24:  The Middle of the Feast

14 When the festival was half over, Jesus went to the Temple and began to teach.  15 The Jews were astonished and said, 'How did he learn to read?  He has not been educated.'  16 Jesus answered them: 'My teaching is not from myself: it comes from the one who sent me; 17 anyone who is prepared to do his will, will know whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own account.  18 When someone speaks on his own account, he is seeking honor for himself; but when he is seeking the honor of the person who sent him, then he is true and altogether without dishonesty.  19 Did not Moses give you the Law?  And yet not one of you keeps the Law!  Why do you want to kill me?'  20 The crowd replied, 'You are mad!  Who wants to kill you?'  21 Jesus answered, 'One work I did, and you are all amazed at it.  22 Moses ordered you to practice circumcision, not that it began with him, it goes back to the patriarchs–and you circumcise on the Sabbath.  23 Now if someone can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me for making someone completely healthy on a Sabbath?  24 Do not keeping judging according to appearances; let your judgment be according to what is right.'

The passages from John 7:14-52 have a common theme: the uncertainty about Jesus' origins.

His human origin obscures His divine origin:

1. He is not "educated," by which they mean that Jesus has never been the pupil of one of the scholars of the Law; therefore, how can anyone accept the authority of His teachings (verses 14-18).
2. The details of His human origins, His birth and childhood in Nazareth, are known so how can He be the Messiah [the Messiah cannot be born in Nazareth but must be born in Bethlehem; see verses 25-27 and 42-43].

This is either the 3^rd or 4^th day of the festival. The festival lasted 7 days with a sacred assembly on the 8^th day [Leviticus 23:39; Numbers 29:12, 35].  We are not told the content of Jesus' teaching on this occasion but it must have been a continuation of His statement in John 5:47 when He told the crowds if they believed what Moses taught they would believe Him because Moses wrote about Him. 

Question: How does Jesus defend His teaching?

Answer:  His teaching is from God the Father and He is teaching on the Father's authority. Since Jesus is true God and true man He can speak about the things of God with a unique and singular authority [see John 1:18].  

Question: What is Jesus' charge against the Jewish authorities and what does He mean?

Answer: They keep the Law imperfectly because they only keep what they interpret as the "letter of the Law" and not the "spirit of the Law", and what they demand as regulated in the Law they break themselves when they condemn the innocent and hold others to a different standard than they hold themselves.  He becomes clearer about His meaning as He continues to speak to the crowds.

Question: Why do the people in the crowd deny that they want to kill Jesus?  When did the Jewish authorities begin to discuss killing Jesus?  

Answer: No one in this crowd has openly spoken of doing violence to Him.  They do not realize that He has read their minds.  

John 7:25-30: The crowds discuss the origin of the Messiah

25 Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, 'Isn't this the man they want to kill?  26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they have nothing to say to him!  Can it be true the authorities have recognized that he is the Christ? 27 Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.'  28 Then, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he cried out: 'You know me and you know where I came from.  Yet I have not come of my own accord: but he who sent me is true; You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I have my being from him and it was he who sent me.'  30 They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him."

There were two traditions regarding the birth of the Messiah in the first century.  One was that the Messiah would come from the line of King David and would be born in the city of David, in Bethlehem of Judea, as was prophesized by the prophet Micah in Micah 5:2.  The other tradition was that the Messiah would grow up in obscurity unknown to the world until he reached adulthood and then his identity would be revealed through the signs he worked.

Question: Were either of these traditions valid in Jesus' case?

Answer: Ironically, both are true.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem [Luke 2:4-7] but most people assumed He was born in Nazareth, and His heavenly origin is unknown to the crowds listening to Him.  This discussion concerning Jesus' identity will continue among the people in the crowd in 7:40-44.

Question: Jesus says to the crowd 'You know me and you know where I came from..'  How do they know?

Answer: John the Baptist revealed His identity as a divine Messiah and Jesus has told them repeatedly of his divine origins [for example in His teaching a year earlier in chapter 5 and in chapter 6 in the "Bread of Life" discourse].

Question: Why do they want to arrest Him?

Answer: The Jews realize that Jesus is making Himself God's equal, and such a claim was regarded as blasphemy.  Blasphemy according to the Law was punishable by death by stoning [see Leviticus 24:15-16, 23].

John 7: 31-36: Jesus prophesizes His "exodus" from this world [Middle of the Feast continued]

31 There were many people in the crowds, however, who believed in him; they were saying, 'When the Christ comes, will he give more signs than this man has?'  32 Hearing that talk like this about him was spreading among the people, the Pharisees sent the Temple guards to arrest him.  33 Then Jesus said: 'For a short time I am with you still; then I shall go back to the one who sent me.  34 You will look for me and will not find me; where I am you cannot come.'  35 So the Jews said to one another, 'Where is he intending to go that we shall not be able to find him?  Is he intending to go abroad to the people who are dispersed among the Greeks and to teach the Greeks?  36 What does he mean when he says: "You will look for me and will not find me; where I am you cannot come" ?'

Question: In 7:13 there were those in the crowd who said "He is a good man", while others said "He is leading the people astray."  Now some are saying "He must be the promised Messiah."  What sign prophesized in Luke 2:33-35 is being fulfilled?

Answer: The sign of contradiction that Simeon prophesized at the Temple when the Virgin Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to be dedicated is being fulfilled.  

Question: The crowd asks: What does he means when he says: 'You will look for me and will not find me; where I am you cannot come?'  What does Jesus mean?

Answer: Jesus is telling them that they must seek Him while there is still time to find Him and accept His words before His departure or "exodus" from this life.  

Question: Is there also a message in Jesus' words for us in "our time?

Answer: Yes, we have the span of our lifetimes to accept or reject Jesus as our Savior.  When our "time" is past if we have not accepted His gift of salvation, there will be only judgment!

John 7:37-53:  The Last Day of the Feast: Day 7

37 On the last day, the great day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried out: 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me!  38 Let anyone who believes in me come and drink!  As Scripture says, "From his heart shall flow streams of living water."'  39 He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified.  40 Some of the crowd who had been listening said, 'He is indeed the prophet,' 41 and some said, 'He is the Christ,' but others said, 'Would the Christ come from Galilee?  42 Does not Scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from Bethlehem, the village where David was?'  43 So the people could not agree about him.  44 Some wanted to arrest him, but no one actually laid a hand on him.  45 The guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, 'Why haven't you brought him?'  46 The guards replied, 'No one has ever spoken like this man.'  47 'So,' the Pharisees answered, 'you, too, have been led astray?  48 Have any of the authorities come to believe in him?  Any of the Pharisees?  49 This rabble knows nothing about the Law–they are damned.'  50 One of them, Nicodemus–the same man who had come to Jesus earlier'said to them, 51 'But surely our Law does not allow us to pass judgment on anyone without first giving him a hearing and discovering what he is doing?'  52 To this they answered, 'Are you a Galilean too?  Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not arise in Galilee.' 53 They all went home....

As the rituals of the 7th day began, water, the gift necessary for life, was the most important thought on the minds of the worshippers. During the past 6 days the trumpets gave three blasts to announce the beginning of the ceremony, but today they would give three sets of seven blasts. During the past 6 days the priests made only one circuit around the great altar, but on this day the priests will make 7 circuits. Imagine you are there with the crowd at the Temple. You see the procession from the Siloam Pool is returning. The first daily lamb of sacrifice is laid on the great altar and is burning, its salted body causing great clouds of white smoke to rise from the altar up to heaven, signifying God's acceptance of the sacrifice. The High Priest ascends the altar ramp as the people cry out "Lift up thy hand!" As the High Priest pours out the water from the Siloam pool into the silver basin, and as another priest pours out the wine, the "blood of the grape," into the other silver basin, you hear the people chant "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation!" The trumpets begin to blow seven sets of three blasts. Now all the priests holding willow and palm branches slowly begin to march around the great altar of sacrifice. Seven times they march, beating their bows on the ground as those of us in the crowd are waving our palm branches filled with messianic fervor and thoughts of the promise of water, the gift of life for our crops and for our prosperity for the coming year because, according to tradition, today is the day God will decide if we will have rain or drought for the growing season. Now you hear all the people join the Levitical choir in singing the Hallel Psalms 118, and when they come to the last verses of Psalm 118, verses 22-29, a chill runs through your spine as the assembly sings the very significantly prophetic phrase: "The stone which the builder rejected has become the cornerstone; This is Yahweh's doing, and we marvel at it. This is the day which Yahweh has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad. We beg you, Yahweh, save us! Hosanna!, we beg you, Yahweh, give us victory! Blessed in the name of Yahweh is he who is coming! We bless you from the house of Yahweh. Yahweh is God, he gives us light. Link your processions, branches in hand, up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, I thank you. All praise to you, my God. I thank you for hearing me, and making yourself my Savior. Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, for his faithful love endures for ever." This is the verse which calls for the coming of the Messianic King! [The Jewish Festivals, Hayyim Schauss, pages 181-185; Mishnah: Sukkah, 279-90].

It is at this moment the crowd of worshipers becomes aware of the young Rabbi from the Galilee....

John 7: 37-39 "Jesus stood up and cried out: 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me!  Let anyone who believes in me come and drink!  As scripture says, "From his heart* shall flow streams of living water."' He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified."

John 7:39: there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not been glorified.

Jesus was referring to the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit after His ascension at the second great Pentecost.  

CCC# 694 ".....the Spirit is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified as its source and welling up in us to eternal life."

CCC# 728 "Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until he himself has been glorified through his Death and Resurrection. Nevertheless, little by little he alludes to him even in his teaching of the multitudes, as when he reveals that his own flesh will be food for the life of the world.  He also alludes to the Spirit in speaking to Nicodemus, to the Samaritan woman, and to those who take part in the feast of Tabernacles.  To his disciples he speaks openly of the Spirit in connection with prayer and with the witness they will have to bear."

John 7:40-44: Some of the crowd who had been listening said, 'He is indeed the prophet,' some said, 'He is the Christ,' but others said, 'Would the Christ come from Galilee?  Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from Bethlehem, the village where David was?'' So the people could not agree about him.  Some wanted to arrest him, but no one actually laid a hand on him.

Question: What is Jesus' identification as the prophet in verse 40 connected to?  Why are the people confused?

Answer: The prophet like Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-20. The people knew the prophecy that the Messiah will come from King David's lineage and they knew Micah's prophecy of the Messiah's birth in Bethlehem and so they are confused about His origins.  He is supposed to be a Judean not a Galilean.

John 7:45-49 The guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, 'Why haven't you brought him?'  The guards replied, 'No one has ever spoken like this man.'  'So', the Pharisees answered, 'you too have been led astray?  Have any of the authorities come to believe in him?  Any of the Pharisees?  This rabble knows nothing about the Law–they are damned.'

You can imagine the frustration of the Sanhedrin authorities.  Jesus has won a following among the crowds, the Temple police are impressed with Him, and in the next verses even one of their own members dares to raise his voice in defense of Jesus of Nazareth!  Isn't it ironic that those who were the leaders of God's Holy Covenant Church could not recognize Jesus as the Messiah!  They were so complacent and so sure of their own superiority that they held everyone else in contempt!  They had come to think that they were the Church instead of the people of God as the Church.   We shouldn't feel too superior to the Old Covenant Church.  After all, often one generation of the hierarchy of the New Covenant Church of Jesus Christ will condemn those called by Christ to special service while the next generation makes them saints!  St. Therese of Avila was called before the Inquisition, St. John of the Cross was threatened with being dismissed from holy orders, St. Ignatius of Loyola was beaten by his superiors, and the list goes on.

Question: What shocking accusation did the Pharisee leaders make about the common people?

Answer: That they were damned! This shows the contempt of those educated in the Law for the ordinary untutored people.  

John 7:50-52 One of them, Nicodemus, the same man who had come to Jesus earlier'said to them, 'But surely our Law does not allow us to pass judgment on anyone without first giving him a hearing and discovering what he is doing?'  To this they answered, 'Are you a Galilean too?  Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not arise in Galilee.'

Notice that the authorities dismiss Nicodemus' suggestion that they go and listen to Jesus' teaching themselves.  They were condemning what they hadn't even heard.  They also attempt to insult Nicodemus by calling him a Galilean.  

Question: What did Jesus accuse the authorities of in verse 19 and how does that apply here?

Answer: He accused them of not keeping the Law.  

Question: Were the Pharisees correct in stating that prophets did not come from the Galilee?  Had any Old Testament prophet ever come from the Galilee?  

Answer: Yes, the prophet Jonah, to whom Jesus often refers in Matthew's Gospel, came from Gath-Hepher, a Galilean town.  The Pharisees and judges of the Sanhedrin didn't know Scripture as well as they thought!  Their problem with Jesus was the jealousy of the quality of His teaching and the support He had from the common people.

We should remember that not only were Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea  [another possible member of the Sanhedrin] secret disciples of Jesus, but there were many others who believed, those among the poor as well as those of influence and education, including those who were Pharisees and Priests.  

John 7:53-8:11: The Adulterous Woman

7:53 They all went home, 8:1 and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  2 At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.  3 The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle 4 they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, 5 and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind.  What have you got to say?'  6 They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him.  But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger.  7 As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first the throw a stone at her.'  8 Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground.  9 When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had gone and Jesus was left along with the woman, who remained in the middle.  10 Jesus again straightened up and said, 'Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?'  11 'No, one, sir,' she replied.  'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus.  'Go away, and from this moment sin no more.'

John 7:53 They all went home, and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. On the last day of the Feast of Shelters [Tabernacles] Jesus had revealed Himself as the source of "living water".  This may have been during the Rabbah Hoshanna [Great Hoshanna] on the 7^th and final day of the Feast of Shelters [Tabernacles].  It was this day, according to tradition, that God would decide if the next year would yield enough rain to nourish the crops and bring the people prosperity.  In Fr. Raymond Brown's commentary he notes: The old agricultural background of Tabernacles as the autumnal harvest feast made it adaptable to becoming the occasion of prayers for rain.  Tabernacles came at the end of September or early October; and if rain fell during this time, it was looked on as an assurance of abundant early rains, so necessary for fertile crops the following year.  Even today, as bitterly as the Jordanian Arabs hate the Israelis, they watch carefully to see if rain falls during the Israeli celebration of Tabernacles as a sign of the weather to come.  The Anchor Bible: the Gospel According to John, page 326-7. 

But the prophet from the Galilee promises more than the natural rain they desire; He promises them supernatural "living water" to nourish the soul! What Jesus promised is what the 6^th century BC prophet Zechariah foretold in Zechariah chapters 9-14.  In the setting of the Feast of Tabernacles Zechariah described the triumph of Yahweh's Messianic king as He comes to Jerusalem riding on an ass [9:9].  He tells of when Yahweh will open up a fountain for the house of David to cleanse Jerusalem [13:1].  The living waters that will flow out from Jerusalem will restore and replenish the earth [14:8], and all the nations of the earth will come to Yahweh to celebrate the Feast [14:16]. Just as in the Exodus journey when the supernatural water flowed from the Rock in the wilderness, now Jesus tells the people of God in the setting of the Feast of Tabernacles that all they have to do is to come to Him and the water of life will flow from the Lamb of God [see John 19:34-35; Revelation 7:17 and 22:1].

The crowd returns home and Jesus withdraws out of the Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives east of the city. We know from Luke 21:37 that Jesus stayed on the Mount of Olives on His last trip to Jerusalem during the last days of His life.  On this visit He could have stayed in the home of His good friend Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary.  They lived in the village of Bethany, a town on the eastern slope of the Mt. of Olives, or He could have stayed in the caves of the Garden of Gethsemane as He will do six months later during His last week in Jerusalem at the Feast of Passover/Unleavened Bread in 30AD.  This is the only mention of the Mount of Olives in John's Gospel.

The worshipers would have rested and then returned to the Temple at sundown.  Scholars do not agree if the "Fire Ceremony" took place the night after the final "Water Libation Ceremony" of the 7^th day of the Feast or the night before.  The day began at sundown for the Jews and so it is unclear if the Feast began with the "Fire [or Torch] Ceremony" and ended with the "Water Libation Ceremony" or if it began with the "Water Libation Ceremony" and that night of the Great Hoshanna marked the last "Fire Ceremony."  Jesus' "Light of the World" discourse beginning in verse12 is, of course, more dramatic if the people had celebrated the Fire ceremony for the last time the night before.  If the Fire Ceremony had been celebrated for the last time that evening, the faithful would have gathered at the Temple at sundown.  The ritual would begin with the replenishing of the oil for the golden Menorahs [7-branched lamps that stood on bases that were 50 feet tall] placed in the Court of the Women.  On the first night of the Fire Ceremony young men from priestly families had climbed the tall ladders to light the golden bowls filled with olive oil that rested on each golden branch of the Menorahs [Mishnah, Sukkah 5:2-4]. The lighting of the Menorahs was the signal that began the ceremony.  Each succeeding night the oil was replenished.  These flames of the Menorahs were holy fire that burned from wicks made from the worn out fabric of the priestly garments.  But tonight light will come from only 3 of the 4 great 7-branched Menorahs.  This was to be a reminder to the people that Israel had not yet experienced full salvation and God's light had not yet spread to all the nations of the world as the prophets had promised [Mishnah, Sukkos 5.2-4].  But it was understood that when the Messiah came God's holy light would reach every corner of the earth.  According to tradition "Light" was one of the names of the long awaited Messiah [Isaiah 9:1; 42:6; 49:6; 60:1-3; Malachi 3:2]. Isaiah 60:1 "Arise, shine out, for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen on you."

 It has been written that when the great Menorahs were lit all of the Holy City was reflected in the glorious light that burned in the House of Water Drawing, the part of the Court of the Women through which the water procession had passed each day. The trumpets would sound, the Levities would begin to play flutes, harps, and other instruments as the dancers, the most handsome young men of Jerusalem, would enter with their torches blazing.  The young men would dance in a circle, tossing their torches into to night sky and catching them again as the great Levitical chorus sang: Blessed be our youth that hath not shamed our later years. Blessed by our later years that atoned for our youth. Blessed be he who hath not sinned; and he who sinned and repented, he is forgiven.  This last night of the fire ceremony all the Scripture readings are about "the light" and the people are once again reminded of God's presence as He faithfully led them through the wilderness enthroned in the great Pillar of Fire and His promise to them in Leviticus 26:11 I will make my Tabernacle among you...  The people looked forward to the time when the true "Light", the promised Messiah, the anointed of God, would bring an end to their suffering and restore Israel, God's holy covenant people, to reflect His light into every nation of the earth!

John 8:1-2 At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.

If the previous day had been the Great Hoshanna then today would be the 8^th day, the day of the Sacred Assembly, a day of rest to recover from the week long festivities [Leviticus 23:36].  Jesus has probably come to teach in the Temple precincts at the hour of the morning Tamid (Tamyid) lamb sacrifice at about 9AM when crowds would assembly at the Temple for the morning prayer [Shacharit in Hebrew] service.

Question: Verse 20 gives additional information about the location where Jesus is preaching in the Temple precincts.  Where is He teaching?
Answer: In the Treasury of the Temple.  The treasury was located in the Court of the Women. It was where money for the poor was collected.  This was also the scene of Jesus' teaching in Mark 12:41.

John 8:3-6a The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind.  What have you got to say?' They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him.

The problem for early Christians as well as for us is that this story presents a delicate balance between justice and mercy and between forgiveness and accountability for sin. 

Question: Why did the Pharisees bring this woman to Jesus?
Answer: To trap Him and thereby to discredit Him as a false Messiah.

Question: What exactly was the trap?  
Answer: If Jesus does not condemn this woman to death under Mosaic Law the Pharisees will condemn Jesus to the people as a false Messiah who does not support Mosaic Law.  He had accused them of not keeping the Law [John 7:19]; now they will show that He does not keep the Law.  However, if He condemns her to death they can report Him into the Roman authorities as a traitor to Rome because He fostered rebellion by taking Roman powers unto Himself.  Only Rome had the power over life and death in this Roman province. Treason against Rome is a capital crime punishable by crucifixion.  The Pharisees had also set traps for Jesus in Matthew 19:3 in the question of divorce and in Mark 12:13-17 on the question of taxes paid to Rome.

Question:  What did the Mosaic Law demand when someone was charged with adultery?  
Answer: The punishment is death for a man and woman caught in the act of adultery, although stoning is not mentioned.  The punishment for stoning is mentioned specifically only in the case of a betrothed girl who is caught sleeping with another man or for a bride who is found by her husband not to be a virgin [Deuteronomy 22:13-21].  

Where is the man who shares her guilt and/or where are the witnesses including the husband?  According to the Law no one could be condemned to death without the testimony of 2-3 witnesses [see Deuteronomy 17:2-7].  If this was the case of a bride being accused by her husband when there was no proof of her virginity, she could be condemned on his testimony alone. The question is, of course, were these men so without conscience that they had set up a young girl to be killed simply to trap Jesus?

John 8:6b-7 But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger.  As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless [without sin] be the first to throw a stone at her.'

Question: What does Jesus do?  Why?
Answer:  He was writing in the dirt. No one knows what Jesus was writing.  Some scholars have suggested that He was writing the sins of those who accused the woman and others that He was writing out the Mosaic Law or perhaps relevant Scripture to condemn the accusers like Exodus 23:7. 

But there may be a reason why John doesn't let us know what it is that Jesus wrote in the dirt.  John 9:13-16 suggests that this day is the Jewish Sabbath.  Writing was forbidden on the Sabbath unless the writing did not leave a lasting mark [Mishnah Shabbat 12:5].  Writing with fruit juice or in sand or dirt was permitted.  We do not know if He was writing Scripture verses or the sins of the accusers but whatever He wrote His actions show that He did keep the Law perfectly.

Another possibility is that John does not record what He wrote precisely because what is significant is not what He wrote, but how He wrote it: But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. In the context of a challenge applying the Law of Moses to the woman caught in adultery, and the wider context of John 6-10, which is full of Exodus typology (see Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII), perhaps Jesus intended His action as a prophetic sign. Just as He had pointed to Himself as the fulfillment of the manna and water that had sustained Israel in the wilderness (John 6:35; 7:37f.) and of the theophanic light that had led them (John 8:12; 9:5), so here in response to His inquisitors, Jesus implies that He is not merely one who can interpret the Law, He is the One who wrote it! See Exodus 31:18 and also Deuteronomy 9:10: "When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God." In John 8, an allusion to these texts is made more likely because, apart from Daniel 5:5, which also refers to divine writing, no other passage in the Greek Old Testament or the New Testament combines "write" (grapho or any of its cognates) and "finger" (daktulos). Although only God has the right to forgive offenses against His Law (Matthew 9:1-9), Jesus' saying "neither do I condemn you" is nothing less than a word of absolution from a merciful God to a sinful woman. After all, this is the Gospel where Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9) and "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30), and where Jesus accepted the declaration of Thomas when he said, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).

Not only was the writing not permanent, but the record of what He wrote was also not permanent.  Jesus did, however, deftly remove Himself from the Pharisees' trap while placing the accusers in a trap of His own.

Question: How did He spring the trap on the Pharisee accusers with His statement 'Let the one among you who is guiltless [without sin] be the first to throw a stone at her'?
Answer: At first, they would have been overjoyed! "He fell for our trap! Now we'll report Him to the Romans, and they will get rid of Him for us!" But the thought must have occurred to them that under the Law, only the witnesses against her could cast the first stones. According to the Law, two or three witnesses against the accused must agree on the guilt and provide evidence in their testimony (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). Only those who bore witness in agreement against the accused could cast the first stone (Deuteronomy 17:7; Mishnah: Sanhedrin 6:4). This article of the Law of the Sinai Covenant explains Jesus' challenge to the crowd to bring forward those witnesses against her to cast the first stones. Perhaps it is not so much a case of none of them being guilty of sin as none of them being able to truthfully, therefore without sin, offer themselves as witnesses against her because none of them had actually seen her commit an act of adultery. If that was the case, there was no one present who was qualified to cast the first stones. The punishment for offering false testimony was excommunication (Numbers 15:30; Deuteronomy 19:16-21).

Question: Jesus' statement that only those without sin could stone the woman was the trap.  The Pharisees believed that they were without sin [see Philippians 3:6]...but did Jesus believe they were without sin? Hint: see Matthew 12:34; 15:7-9.

Answer: No, Jesus has condemned them for sins against the people and against God and will call down a greater condemnation against them before His crucifixion in Matthew 23:13-32.  The oldest and wisest Pharisees are the first to understand the trap.  They would have reasoned:  "If we stone her the Romans will ask why we took her death sentence upon ourselves and we will say "Jesus told us to stone her." But He will say He told those without sin to do the stoning and that doesn't mean us because we know He has chastised us for our sins in the past; everyone knows this!   So we did it on our own authority!"  Jesus reset the trap.  He neither authorizes the stoning nor contradicts the Law.  There is no way for them to recover from Jesus' trap except to walk away as sinners discredited in the eyes of the people!

Question: Unlike Susanna this woman brought before Jesus does not seem to be entirely innocent because Jesus commands her to do what?

Answer: He tells her: 'go away and sin no more.'  The Church demands that justice be tempered with mercy.  Mercy does not mean that the sin is completely forgiven without consequence or accountability but that the circumstances that led to sin or the degree of contrition can promote the granting of mercy.  

Jesus in fact did not judge the woman because His purpose was to elude the trap of the Pharisees and to show the crowd the extent of their sins.  Jesus also stated His mission was not to come to judge the world but to save it [John 12:47; also 8:16].  He condemns the sin but He has given the woman the chance to repent her sin just as He gives us all the same mercy.  His mercy does not negate her accountability for sin; she still has to live with the consequences of her actions and the suffering her actions cause.  His judgment will come later at the end of her life when she has had the opportunity to atone for her sin through His death and resurrection. CCC#1441-3; 1846.

John 8 verses 12-20: The Light of the World Discourse [Jesus' witness to Himself]

12 When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said: 'I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark but will have the light of life.'  13 At this the Pharisees said to him, 'You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not true.'  14 Jesus replied: 'Even thought I am testifying on my own behalf, my testimony is  true, because I know where I have come from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.  15 You judge by human standards; I judge no one, 16 but if I judge, my judgment will be true, because I am not alone: the one who sent me is with me; 17 and in your Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.  18 I testify on my own behalf, but the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf, too.'  19 They asked him, 'Where is your Father then?'  Jesus answered: 'You do not know me, nor do you know my Father; if you did know me, you would know my Father as well.'  20 He spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple.  No one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

John 8:12-20 covers three basic topics:

1. Jesus as "The Light"
2. Jesus' witness to himself
3. The question of judgment. 

John 8:12 When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said: 'I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark but will have the light of life.'

Once again we have Jesus identifying Himself with the significant and symbolic words: I AM, ego ami, which reminds us of Yahweh's revelation of Himself to Moses 3 times as I AM in Exodus 3:13-14.  In John's Gospel Jesus will use these words 26 times and in 7 different metaphors; each metaphor used with a predicate nominative:

"I AM" with predicate nominative		"I AM" without predicate nominative
1. 6:35	"I AM the bread of life"	1. 8:24	"..if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins."
2. 8:12	"I AM the light of the world"	2. 8:28	"When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I AM (He)*"
3. 10:7	"I AM the gate for the sheep"	3. 8:58	"In all truth [Amen, amen] I tell you, before Abraham ever was, I AM." [..] = literal
4. 10:11	"I AM the good shepherd"	4. 13:19	"I tell you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe that I AM (He)*"
5. 11:25	"I AM the resurrection and the life"
6. 14:6	"I AM the way and the truth and the life"
7. 15:1	"I AM the true vine"
* The pronoun "He" is not in the Greek text.

In Matthew's Gospel the disciples are told "You are the light of the world."  There is no contradiction because the disciples, like John the Baptist, are the light of the world only as they reflect Jesus Christ, the true Light.

Jesus applies this image of light to Himself in two ways:

1. He is the light which reveals to us the divine revelation of the Father through God the Holy Spirit because He is the fullness of divine Revelation [John 1:9, 18], and
2. He is also the light which sets our hearts afire to enable us to rise beyond earthly understanding to enable us to accept His divine Revelation to us, to live according to its call [John 1:4-5; 14:26], and to be united as One Body in the life of Christ.  

His dramatic statement will be the beginning of another dispute with the Pharisees.

John 8:13-14: At this the Pharisees said to him, 'You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not true.'  Jesus replied: 'Even though I am testifying on my own behalf, my testimony is still true, because I know where I have come from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.'

This passage recalls Jesus' discussion with His critics in John 5:31, where Jesus said: Were I to testify on my own behalf my testimony would not be true.  Both passages, John 5:31 and 8:13 are referring to the Law from Deuteronomy 19:15 where it is stated that a man cannot be convicted of a crime on the testimony of one witness.  Deuteronomy 17:6 and Numbers 35:30 demand that several witnesses must be willing to give testimony for a conviction in the case of capital crime.  It was also apparently part of the oral law that a man could not bear witness only on his own behalf [see Mishnaic tractate Kethuboth 2:9].

I know where I have come from and where I am going...

Question: How does this knowledge relate to His testimony?
Answer: These are two essential facts of His testimony because they identify to His supernatural knowledge of both His origin and His destiny; something natural man cannot claim.

John 8:15-18: You judge by human standards; I judge no one, but if I judge, my judgments will be true, because I am not alone: the one who sent me is with me; and in your Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.  I testify on my own behalf, but the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf, too.

The notes in the New Jerusalem translation identifies the words in verse 16 "I judge no one" as used in the Semitic sense of one = the world. In other words, He did not come to condemn the world.

Question: What does Jesus mean when He tells the Pharisees: You judge by human standards; ?
Answer: They are judging only by what they can see and by the Law of Moses.  They only see a man like themselves.  

Jesus said: 'I judge no one...' .  He might have clarified by adding the word "now." This line fits well with the story of the adulteress.  Later He will speak of His role as divine Judge during His homily just days before the Last Supper in Matthew 25:31-46.

Question: What are the two types of judgment involved in the two lines of John 8:15?
Answer: The judgment of the Pharisees is a judgment of evaluation of Jesus and the judgment of Jesus is the judgment that pertains to salvation.

John 8:19-20: They asked him, 'Where is your Father then?  Jesus answered: 'You do not know me, nor do you know my Father; if you did know, you would know my Father as well.  He spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple.  No one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

The Pharisees are so sure that they know of His origins that they now challenge Him to provide proof that what He claims is true.

Question: What is Jesus' answer that is also restated in John 14:44-46?  Also see CCC # 151.
Answer: To "know" Jesus is to believe in Him and that to accept the mystery of His divinity means knowing the Father.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son," in whom the Father is "well pleases"; God tells us to listen to him.  The Lord himself said to his disciples: 'Believe in God, believe also in me."  We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known."  Because he "has seen the Father," Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him [CCC # 151 quoting Mark 1:11; John 14:1; 1:18; 6:46].

The site of Jesus' discussion with the Scribes and Pharisees is identified in this passage: He spoke these words in the Treasury.   The Treasury was located in the Court of the Women.  This court carried this name not because it was appropriated only for the worship of women, but because they were not allowed to proceed further into the Temple precincts except for sacrificial purposes.  This court covered a space of more than 200 square feet and was surrounded by a colonnade within which, and located against the wall, there were 13 trumpet shaped chests for collecting charitable contributions.  This court was the most public part of the Temple.

Question: What is the unspoken meaning of the phrase: No one arrested him because his hour had not yet come... ?
Answer: Jesus is in charge of His own destiny.  It is the Father's plan and man does not, and indeed cannot, control these events.

Please read John 8:21-30: The Discourse continues
21 Again he said to them: 'I am going away; you will look for me and you will die in your sin.  Where I am going, you cannot come.  22 So the Jews said to one another, 'Is he going to kill himself that he says, "Where I am going, you cannot come?"'  23 Jesus went on: 'You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.  24 I have told you already:  You will die in your sins.  Yes, if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.'  25 So they said to him, 'Who are you?'  Jesus answered: 'What I have told you from the outset.  26 About you I have much to say and much to judge; but the one who sent me is true, and what I declare to the world I have learnt from him.'  27 They did not recognize that he was talking to them about the Father.  28 So Jesus said: 'When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing of my own accord.  What I say is what the Father has taught me; 29 he who sent me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him.'  30 As he was saying this, many came to believe in him.

Question: What was the misunderstanding about Jesus' "going away" statement in 7:35 and how was that misunderstanding fulfilled?

Answer: They thought Jesus may have been speaking about teaching the Jews of the Diaspora (Jews living outside of the boundaries of what was Israel) and of teaching the Gentiles. The Apostles and the Church carried out this mission.

Question: What did the Jews "misunderstand" in John 8:22 and how was that fulfilled?
Answer: This misunderstanding concerns the possibility of Jesus killing Himself. Jesus will voluntarily lay down His own life on the cross.

Jesus said: 'I am going away; you will look for me and you will die in your sin.' The word "sin" is used in the singular in verse 21 and not in the plural as it is in some translations.  It is used collectively to express the whole condition of people's estrangement from God [Brown, page 347].

Question: How many times does Jesus use words similar to this phrase in John 8:21-24?
Answer: Three times:

1. 8:20: you will die in your sin
2. 8:24a: You will die in your sin
3. 8:24b: Yes, if you do not believe that I am (he) you will die in your sins.

Jesus is fulfilling His role as Prophet:  the prophet of God was the "watchman" of God's people and this repeated message: "you will die in your sins" sounds very like the message in the Septuagint translation of Ezekiel 3:16-21.  The Septuagint was the Greek translation of Sacred Scripture (Old Testament) which was widely used in the 1^st century AD.  The majority of the Old Testament passages quoted in the New Testament are from this translation.   Ezekiel is the only prophet Yahweh consistently called by the title "son of man," which is Jesus' favorite Messianic title for Himself.   In Ezekiel 3:16-21 Yahweh informs Ezekiel: ....Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel; and you shall hear a word of my mouth, and shall threaten them from me.  18 When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die'; and you have not warned him, to give warning to the wicked, to turn from his ways, that he should live; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity (sin, singular); but his blood I shall I require at your hand.  19 But if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, and from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity (sin, singular), and you shall deliver your soul.  20 And when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits a trespass (sin), and I shall bring punishment before him, he shall die, because you did not warn him: he shall even die in his sins (plural), because his righteousness shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.  21 But if you warn the righteous not to sin, and he sin not, the righteous shall surely live, because you have warned him; and you shall deliver your own soul.  Jesus' three statements You will die in your sin, 2 statements in the singular and one in the plural, is very much like the phrase repeated three times in Ezekiel 3:18, 19, and 20.

Do you notice an increasing note of urgency in Jesus' warnings to the Jews by using this phrase 3 times?  They must make a decision about Him before it is too late.

Question: What will happen to men if they refuse His gift of life and decide too late?
Answer: They will die in their sins because only the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice, can take away sin.  Radical sin is to refuse to believe in Jesus and therefore to refuse life itself. 

Question: John 8:23-24 explain the urgency of Jesus' insisting that they make their decision before He leaves.  What does He tell them about Himself and about their fate?
Answer: He is God: He is the I AM, the One from above who has come into the world to enable mankind to be born anothen = "born from above" [John 3:3, 5] and therefore to be raised up to be a true child of God and to share in His divinity as sons and daughters.

Question: But what will happen to those who refuse to believe?
Answer: They will go to their graves in sin and without the gift of eternal life.  Instead of inheriting the kingdom that could have been theirs, they will inherit eternal darkness.

John 8:25-27: So they said to him, 'Who are you?'  Jesus answered: 'What I have told you from the outset.  About you I have much to say and much to judge; but the one who sent me is true, and what I declare to the world I have learnt from him.'  They did not recognize that he was talking to them about the Father.  

Jesus has clearly asserted His divinity with the reference to Himself as "I AM" in verse 24.  The Jews did not miss this as a clear statement of His claim to divinity, which is why they sought to kill him.

John 8:28-30: So Jesus said: 'When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I Am*He and that I do nothing of my own accord.  What I say is what the Father has taught me; he who sent me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him.'  As he was saying this, many came to believe in him.

Jesus repeats the "I AM" from verse 24.  This is a second clear instance of the absolute use of Ego Ami without a predicate [nor an implied predicate] in chapter 8.  The Greek words, ego ami, "I am", can be simply a phrase of common speech as we would use "It is I" or "I am the one".  However, as we have discussed, it also has a solemn and sacred use in the Old Testament as the divine covenant name of the One True God, derived from the verb "to be", which most Biblical scholars now translate as 'Yahweh.' [See the document the "Many Names of God" in the Documents section].

In chapter 8 John uses these words without a predicate 3 times:

8:24	"I have told you already: You will die in your sins.  Yes, if you do not believe that I AM."
8:28	"When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I AM."
8:58	"In all truth I tell you, before Abraham ever was, I AM."

*I AM with no predicate is also used in 13:19 "When it does happen, you may believe that I AM."

The 7 times Jesus used "I AM" are examples of Jesus speaking of himself figuratively using a predicate nominative.  The difference in these 3 uses in verses 8:24-58 and in 13:19 is that they are a clear reference to Exodus 3:13-14 and the use of the divine name.

Question: What does Jesus mean in verse 28 when He says: 'When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know..' ? 
Answer: The Jews had the opportunity of knowing who He is by listening to His words but afterwards when they know Him as "the one lifted up" it will be too late.  Jesus is also giving them another Biblical reference using the divine Messianic title of Daniel 7:13 "Son of man" as well as the imagery of Numbers 21:4-9 when the people looked up to their salvation raised on a pole of wood [which prefigured the crucifixion].  Jesus is speaking of when He is Himself lifted up in His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. At that time He will draw everyone to Him who believes in Him.  At that moment it will become clear to those who have been given the eyes of faith [by God the Holy Spirit] that He is truly the divine I AM and that He has the power of raising up God's true children to eternal life.

John 8 31-41: Father Abraham and the Jews

31 To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: 'If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; 32 you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'  33 They answered, 'We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, '"You will be set free?"' 34 Jesus replied: 'In all truth (Amen, amen) I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave.  35 Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it for ever.  36 So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.  37 I know that you are descended from Abraham; but you want to kill me because my word finds no place in you.  38 What I speak of is what I have seen at my Father's side, and you too put into action the lessons you have learnt from your father.'  39 They repeated, 'Our father is Abraham.'  Jesus said to them: 'If you are Abraham's children, do as Abraham did.  40  As it is, you want to kill me, a man who has told you the truth as I have learnt it from God; that is not what Abraham did.  41 You are doing your father's work.'  They replied, 'We were not born illegitimate, the only father we have is God.'

John 8:31-32:  To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: 'If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'

Question: Who is Jesus addressing in verse 31 and what is His challenge?
Answer: The Jews who professed belief in Him.  He is challenging them to more than a superficial belief.  He is calling them to true discipleship that requires His words to transform their whole lives with the kind of faith that will bring them to know the truth and to become children of God free from their bondage to sin.

The knowledge He is speaking of more than intellectual knowledge.  It is knowledge that comes from divine Revelation as given by God the Holy Spirit. Knowing truth is knowing Christ Himself in the whole Revelation of His humanity and divinity—God become man.  It is realizing that the inaccessible Almighty God has become man in order that we can become, in truth, sons and daughters of God.  This kind of knowledge sets us free because it raises us from our former position as "slaves to sin" in all the attachments of our fallen nature and raises us up in a state of grace as heirs in the family of God. 

In reference to this unique transformation Pope John Paul II wrote: Jesus Christ meets the man of every age, including our own, with the same words: 'You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free' (John 8:32).  These words contain both a fundamental requirement and a warning: the requirement of an honest relationship with regard to truth as a condition for authentic freedom, and the warning to avoid every kind of illusory freedom, every superficial unilateral freedom, every freedom that fails to enter into the whole truth about man and the world.  Today also, even after two thousand years, we see Christ as the one who brings man freedom based on truth, frees man from what curtails, diminishes and as it were breaks off this freedom at its root, in man's soul, his heart and his conscience.  What a stupendous confirmation of this has been given and is still being given by those who, thanks to Christ and in Christ, have reached true freedom and have manifested it even in situations of external constraint!  John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 12

John 8:33 -34: The Jews protest: We are descended of Abraham and we have never been slaves of anyone; what do you mean, 'You will be set free?'

Question: Was the Jews' statement in verse 33 true historically?  Had they never been enslaved?
Answer: No, they had been in bondage many times: slavery to the Egyptians, in captivity by the Assyrians and Babylonians; dominated politically by the Persians, Greeks and now the Romans.  They realize Jesus is speaking spiritually and not historically and so they reply that they have never "sold" themselves to pagan gods—which is also not altogether true. In the Temple sacrifice is made to the Roman god Caesar Tiberius and to the Roman people twice daily, according to Flavius Josephus [Wars of the Jews 2.10.4].

John 8:35-38: In all truth [Amen, amen] I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave.  Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it for ever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.  I know that you are descended from Abraham; but you want to kill me because my word finds no place in you. "What I speak of is what I have seen at my Father's side, and you too put into action the lessons you have learnt from your father.

Jesus uses the analogy of the son and heir releasing his father's slaves from bondage.  He is the Son and heir of God the Almighty Father and He has the power, when He comes into His glory, to not only release men and women from bondage to sin and death, but to give those who believe the place as a son or daughter in the family of His Father.

John 8:39-41: They repeated, 'Our father is Abraham.'  Jesus said to them: 'If you are Abraham's children, do as Abraham did.  As it is, you want to kill me, a man who has told you the truth as I have learnt it from God; that is not what Abraham did.  You are doing your father's work.'  They replied, 'We were not born illegitimate, the only father we have is God.'

Notice how the Jews' objections in verses 33 and 39 balance each other concerning their descent from Abraham:

• 8:33: They answered, 'We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, "You will be set free?"'
• 8:39: They repeated, 'Our father is Abraham

The interpretation of verse 39, "Our father is Abraham," depends on what the Jews understood Jesus to mean in the second part of verse 38 when He said: 'and you too put into action the lessons you have learnt from your father.'  If they understand that Jesus is referring to Satan as their father, which doesn't become clear until verse 44, then the Jews are responding in protest to Jesus' statement.  However if they believe Jesus is referring to His own Father, then they are declaring that they want nothing to do with Jesus' Father because they have Abraham.

Question:  Later when the Jews understand that Jesus is challenging them that it is the devil that is their father it is clear that it is not the purity of their physical descent from Abraham that He is challenging.  What is He challenging?
Answer: He is challenging their status as God's holy covenant people.

Question: What is Jesus' response to their declaration that Abraham is their father in verses 40-41?
Answer: Jesus tells them that they may consider themselves to be children of Abraham but they are his children only in the "flesh", meaning in the natural sense but not in spirit. 

Question: How could they show that they are true children of Abraham?
Answer: If they were true children of Abraham they would believe in Him.  

John 8:41b:We were not born illegitimate; the only father we have is God.  >The Jews shift their argument from Abraham to God. There are two responses here:

1. That they are true, legitimate descendants of Abraham
2. That because Abraham is the physical father God is their spiritual Father.

 John 8:42-47: 42 Jesus answered: 'If God were your father, you would love me, since I have my origin in God and have come from him; I did not come of my own accord, but he sent me.  43 Why do you not understand what I say?  Because you cannot bear to listen to my words.  44 You are from your father, the devil, and you prefer to do what your father wants.  He was a murderer from the start; he was never grounded in the truth; there is no truth in him at all.  When he lies he is speaking true to his nature, because he is a liar, and the father of lies.  45 But it is because I speak the truth that you do not believe me.  46 Can any of you convict me of sin?  If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me: 47 Whoever comes from God listens to the words of God; the reason why you do not listen is that you are not from God.'

When Jesus says 'I have my origin in God and have come from him,' Jesus is settling once and for all the question of His origin and His mission.

Question: The Jews insist that Abraham is their father, and they use the argument that at Mt. Sinai God took them as His children in the Covenant and He should also be their true Father.  But who does Jesus say has become the "father" of these people and how is it that one symbolically imaged in Scripture.  See Genesis 3:1; Revelation 12:3 & 9.
Answer: Satan, the ancient Serpent or Dragon [see Revelation 12:9].

Question: Why does Jesus accuse the Jews of being "sons of the Serpent"?
Answer: The Jewish leaders submitted to pagan Rome in their worship; they made sacrifices to the Emperor daily in the Temple and some leaders completely embrace Hellenistic culture to include making sacrifices to the Roman gods.  They also enforced this submission on the people.  When the Jewish leadership does eventually arrest Jesus they will charge Him with the offense of blasphemy.  But since they do not have the power to condemn a man to death they will then send Him to the Roman authority, the governor Pontius Pilate, to be charged with the capital offense that He is a rival to the supreme power of Caesar [John 19:12-15].  With the words: We have no king but Caesar in [John 19:15], the Jewish Old Covenant authority in effect condemns themselves as sons of the Serpent. 

John 8:48-59: The Unbelievers in the Crowd Respond:

48 The Jews replied, 'Are we not right and saying that you are a Samaritan and possessed by a devil?  Jesus answered: 49 'I am not possessed; but I honor my Father, and you deny me honor.  50 I do not seek my own glory; there is someone who does seek it and is the judge of it.  51 In all truth (Amen, amen) I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.'  52 The Jews said, 'Now we know that you are possessed.  Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, and yet you say, "Whoever keeps my word will never know the taste of death."  53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? The prophets are dead too. Who are you claiming to be?'  54 Jesus answered: 'If I were to seek my own glory my glory would be worth nothing; in fact, my glory is conferred by the Father, by the one of whom you say, "He is our God," 55 although you do not know him.  But I know him, and if I were to say, "I do not know him," I should be a liar, as you yourselves are. But I do know him, and I keep his word.  56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it and was glad.'  57 The Jews then said, 'You are not fifty yet, and you have seen Abraham?'  58 Jesus replied: 'In all truth (Amen, amen) I tell you, before Abraham ever was, I am.'  59 At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.

The Jews cannot refute His argument so they resort to insulting Him.

Question: How do they insult Jesus?
Answer:  They accusing Him of being a Samaritan and being possessed by the devil. 

Question: By calling Him a Samaritan of what are they accusing Him?
Answer: They accurse Him of being a heretic, a semi-pagan, and a violator of the Covenant.  A Samaritan in their eyes is worse than being a Gentile.  It is the worse insult they can think of besides being of Satan.

Question: Why do they accuse Jesus of being possessed or insane?

Answer: Because He has promised them eternal life, a gift no human being can give.  Therefore, they reason, He is either insane or possessed by the devil which in the ancient world was the same condition.

Question: How did Jesus answer this question in Matthew 22:31-32?

Answer: God is the God of the living, not God of the dead.  Jesus is speaking of those who have accepted God's gift of eternal life.  

Question: What claim does Jesus make and what is the implication of His claim?

Answer: His claim is that He existed before Abraham who lived approximately 2,000 years earlier. Abraham's life was under the control of time and natural law and therefore had a temporal beginning and end. Jesus is claiming to be one with God whose life in eternity has neither a beginning nor an end but who exists outside of time.

Healing of the Man Born Blind (El Greco)  

John 9:1-7: The Man Born Blind

1 As he went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.  2 His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should have been born blind?'  3 'Neither he nor his parents sinned,' Jesus answered, 'he was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed in him.  4 As long as day lasts we must carry out the work of the one who sent me; the night will soon be here when no one can work.  5 As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.' 6 Having said this, he spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, 7 and said to him, 'Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (the name means 'one who has been sent').  So he went off and washed and came back able to see.

This is the first direct mention of the disciples since chapter 6 when many of His disciples walked away after Jesus' teaching that His flesh was the real bread "come down from heaven" and when only the 12 Apostles remained.  

Question: What question do the disciples ask Jesus and what are the implications about the cause of suffering, disease and physical handicaps in the Old Covenant belief system?

Answer: They ask Jesus if the man's affliction was due to his sins or his parents' sins.  The implication is that the righteous are somehow protected from these afflictions and that sinners suffer from the penalty of their sins or their parent's sins.

Despite the story of Job and his faithfulness to God during undeserved great suffering, Old Covenant believers were taught that there was a direct relationship between sin, sickness, and affliction.  The Old Covenant Law was temporal and the blessings that came from the Law were temporal.  The Old Covenant believers saw health and prosperity as signs of God's favor.  

Question: What was Jesus' response to their question concerning who had sinned?

Answer: That neither the man nor his parents had sinned.  Jesus answers his disciples' question in terms of the purpose of the man's blindness and not its cause. 

Question: What did Jesus say was the purpose of the man's blindness?

Answer: Jesus tells them this is an example of God's power over history and His desire that His Name be glorified through this man. 

Question: What could be worse than being paralyzed for 38 years?

Answer: Unrepented mortal sin can result in spiritual death and eternal separation from God, a condition which is far worse than being paralyzed for most of one's adult life. Under the Old Covenant, there was no sacrifice for forgiveness from mortal, intentional sin [Numbers 15:27-31].

This is the 5^th of the 7 public "signs" of John's Gospel.  Remember John designates these as "signs" because what each of these events signify is far greater than the supernatural event itself.

The Seven Public Signs of Jesus in St. John's Gospel

#1  2:1-11	The sign of water turned to wine at the wedding at Cana
#2  4:46-54	The healing of the official's son
#3  5:1-9	The healing of the paralytic
#4  6:1-14	The multiplication of the loaves to feed the 5,000
#5  9:1-41	The healing of the man who was born blind
#6  11:17-44	The raising of Lazarus from the dead
#7  2:18-20*	The Resurrection of Jesus that will be fulfilled in 20:1-10

*this sign is prophesized by Jesus in 2:18-20 but not fulfilled until chapter 20.  Jesus' calming of the storm and walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee will be a private "sign" for the Apostles.  In total, John records 8 "signs" that Jesus is the "greater than Moses" and the promised Messiah.  In Scripture 7 is the number signifying perfection, especially "spiritual" perfection [it is the number of the Holy Spirit and the number of covenant; to swear a covenantal oath is to "seven oneself]; 8 is the number of rebirth, salvation, redemption and resurrection.  For more information of the importance of numbers in Scripture please see the document: The Significance of Numbers in Scripture.

Question: What is the site of this healing?

Answer: The healing takes place at the pool of Siloam in Jerusalem.

Question: What is the symbolic significance of the blind man of Judah being healed in the pool of Siloam-Shiloh?  Why is it significant that he has been blind from birth? 

Answer: From her birth Israel has suffered for her "blindness" in being unable or unwilling to "see" God's plan for her as a holy nation.  This "blindness" resulted in the sin of the golden calf [Exodus 32], which was as great a fall from grace as Adam's fall in Eden, and her reluctance to accept God's plan to go forth to dominate the Promised Land in the book of Numbers and to be a "light" to the Gentile nations.  Israel is now, if she is willing, to be healed by the Messiah, the One who is sent from God, so she can complete her mission to the nations of the earth and carry forth Abraham's promised worldwide blessing: All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command [Genesis 22:19].

Question: Can you name the seven Sacraments and the physical signs present in each Sacrament? Hint: see CCC #1113

Answer:

1. Baptism [water]
2. Confirmation [laying on of hands]
3. Eucharist [bread and wine]
4. Penance [absolution by the priest in whom Christ is present]
5. Anointing of the Sick [chrism oil]
6. Holy Orders [Christ present in a physical, human man]
7. Matrimony [the couple; the ring].

In each case it is Christ who confers grace through the Sacraments.  It is He who baptizes, it is He who anoints the sick, and it is He who ordains a man into holy orders.  A Sacrament is not brought about by the goodness of either the recipient or the priest but by the power of God [see CCC# 1128].

Question: Are the Sacraments necessary for salvation?

Answer: YES.  As affirmed by the Council of Trent in 1541 the Church declares: ...that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. 'Sacramental grace' is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.  The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God.  The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.  CCC# 1129

Question: What sacrament would this healing of the blind man in the pool of Siloam have prefigured?

Answer: The Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen this miracle as symbolizing the sacrament of Baptism in which the soul is cleansed through the natural medium of water, and receives the light of faith.  In his commentary on St. John's Gospel, St. Thomas Aquinas writes: He sent the man to the pool called the pool of Siloam, to be cleansed and to be enlightened, that is, to be baptized and receive in baptism full enlightenment.

 John 9:8-17: The Reaction of the People to the Healing:

8 His neighbors and the people who used to see him before (for he was a beggar) said, 'Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?' 9 Some said, 'Yes, it is the same one.'  Others said, 'No, but he looks just like him.'  The man himself said, 'Yes, I am the one.'  10 So they said to him. 'Then how is it that your eyes were opened?'  11 He answered, 'The man called Jesus made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me, "Go off and wash at Siloam": so I went, and when I washed I gained my sight.'  12 They asked, 'Where is he?'  He answered, 'I don't know.'  13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.  14 It had been a Sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man's eyes, 15 so when the Pharisees asked him how he had gained his sight, he said, 'He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see.'  16 Then some of the Pharisees said, 'That man cannot be from God: he does not keep the Sabbath.' Others said, 'How can a sinner produce signs like this?  And there was division among them.  17 So they spoke to the blind man again, 'What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?'  Then the man answered, 'He is a prophet.'

Question: The Fathers and Doctors of the Church also saw a symbolic connection in the use of the dirt of the earth in this healing that will render this man a "new creation" in Christ.  What do you see as the connection?  Hint: read Genesis 2:7

Answer: The first man, Adam, was made from the dirt of the earth.  As a matter of fact, Adam's very name means "ground," in Hebrew adamah.  The symbolic parallel is that God the Father made the first man from the dirt of the earth and entered into covenant with him, and now God the Son uses the earth to heal and restore this man of Israel as a new creation of the New Covenant.

 John 9:18-34: The Healed Man is Questioned a Second Time:

18 However, the Jews would not believe that the man had been blind without first sending for the parents of the man who had gained his sight and 19 asking them, 'Is this man really the son of yours who you say was born blind?  If so, how is it that he is now able to see?'  20 His parents answered, 'We know he is our son and we know he was born blind, 21 but how he can see, we don't know, nor who opened his eyes.  Ask him.  He is old enough: let him speak for himself.'  22 His parents spoke like this out of fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to ban from the synagogue anyone who should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ.  23 This was why his parents said, 'He is old enough; ask him.  24 So the Jews sent for the man again and said to him, 'Give glory to God!  We are satisfied that this man is a sinner.'  25 The man answered, 'Whether he is a sinner I don't know; all I know is that I was blind and now I can see.'  26 They said to him, 'What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?' 27 He replied, 'I have told you once and you wouldn't listen.  Why do you want to hear it all again?  Do you want to become his disciples yourselves?' 28 At this they hurled abuse at him, 'It is you who are his disciple, we are disciples of Moses: 29 we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don't know where he comes from.'  30 The man replied, 'That is just what is so amazing!  You don't know where he comes from and he has opened my eyes!  31 We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but God does listen to men who are devout and do his will.  32 Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of a man who was born blind; 33 if this man were not from God, he couldn't have been able to do anything.'  34 They retorted, 'Are you trying to teach us, and you a sinner through and through ever since you were born!'  And they rejected him.

John 9:18-23: However, the Jews would not believe that the man had been blind without first sending for the parents of the man who had gained his sight and asking them, 'Is this man really the son of yours who you say was born blind?  If so, how is it that he is now able to see?'  His parents answered, 'We know he is our son and we know he was born blind, but how he can see, we don't know, nor who opened his eyes.  Ask him.  He is old enough: let him speak for himself.'  His parents spoke like this out of fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to ban from the synagogue anyone who should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ.  This was why his parents said, 'He is old enough; ask him.'

Question: Why were the parents afraid to answer the Pharisees' question about the miraculous healing of their son?

Answer: They feared that they would be excommunicated from the synagogue.  

John 9:24-27: So the Jews sent for the man again and said to him, 'Give glory to God!  We are satisfied that this man is a sinner.'  The man answered, 'Whether he is a sinner I don't know; all I know is that I was blind and now I can see.'  They said to him, 'What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?' He replied, 'I have told you once and you wouldn't listen.  Why do you want to hear it all again?  Do you want to become his disciples yourselves?'

In 9:24 to Give glory to God!  is a Biblical phrase which places a person being questioned under oath to tell the truth much like we use the phrase in our court system to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" [Brown, page 374].  In our courts currently [who can tell in the future] there are other words that are also added to this statement of truth swearing.  These are the words "So help me God," which means that even though the State may not be able to rightly evaluate the degree of the truth in the statements uttered by the person giving testimony, God is the ultimate judge of one's truth telling, and if one swears falsely that person is accountable to God for judgment.  The same situation is the case in the inquiry into the man's healing.  He is accountable to God if he does not tell the complete truth [also see Joshua 7:19 and 1 Samuel 6:5].

 

He replied, 'I have told you once and you wouldn't listen.  Why do you want to hear it all again? Do you want to become his disciples yourselves?' Jesus has not only restored this man's sight He has restored his confidence.  I love his feisty, sarcastic response in verse 27 to the ridiculously repeated questioning of the Pharisees!

John 9:28-34: At this they hurled abuse at him, 'It is you who are his disciple, we are disciples of Moses: we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don't know where he comes from.'  The man replied, 'That is just what is so amazing!  You don't know where he comes from and he has opened my eyes!  We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but God does listen to men who are devout and do his will.  Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of a man who was born blind; if this man were not from God, he couldn't have been able to do anything.'  They retorted, 'Are you trying to teach us, and you a sinner through and through ever since you were born!'  And they rejected him.

Question: In their exasperation whose name do the Scribes Pharisees invoke?

Answer:  Moses; we are disciples of Moses...the words almost scream across the page!  

The Scribes and Pharisees held Moses in great esteem as the Law giver and claim to be his disciples but what about attitude of the Israelites of Moses' generation? 

 John 9:35-41: The Healed Man Finds Consolation:

35 Jesus heard they had ejected him, and when he found him he said to him, 'Do you believe in the Son of man?'  36 'Sir,' the man replied, 'tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.'  37 Jesus said, 'You have seen him; he is speaking to you.'  38 The man said, 'Lord, I believe,' and worshipped him.  39 Jesus said: 'It is for judgment that I have come into this world, so that those without sight may see and those with sight may become blind.'  40 Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, 'So we are blind, are we?'  41 Jesus replied: 'If you were blind, you would not be guilty, but since you say, "We can see," your guilt remains.'

There is such beauty in the statement, He found him.  Jesus went looking for the man just as He deliberately "looks" for each of us: He is the promised Good Shepherd in search of the lost lambs [Ezekiel 34:11-25; 37:24-28; John 10:11-16; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25; 5:4].

Question: What does Jesus mean when he uses the phrase "Son of man"?

Answer: Once again He is referring to the very well known vision of the prophet Daniel in Daniel 7:13-14.  It is Daniel's vision of the divine Messiah who is to receive universal kingship and world-wide worship. The Son of Man in this vision must be divine because worship can only be give to God!    This is an even greater title than "Son of God" to the 1^st century AD Jew, and this is the 9^th time Jesus has used this title for Himself in John's Gospel.  The Messianic title Son of Man will be used 12 times in John's Gospel: 1:51; 3:13, 14; 5:27; 6:27; 53, 62; 8:28; 9:35; 12:23, 34 [twice].  You may remember that 12 is the number of "perfection of governmental order" and is the number of the Church, which in the Old Covenant is Israel.  The children of Israel came from 12 physical fathers, the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel; these 12 tribes formed the covenant people at Sinai.  The blind man, although he has never been able to read Sacred Scripture, clearly understands this title identifies Jesus as the Messiah.

It is for judgment that I have come into this world....  The Greek word for judgment is krima. Jesus' statements about judgment in John 5:22, 30; 8:15-16 and here in this passage seem to be two contradictory teachings.  Sometimes Christ does not pass judgment as in 5:30 and later in 12:47, but at other times He does as in 5:22 and 9:39.  In both sets of passages it is important to note that the stress is on the complete unity of the will, and the action that results between the Father and the Son.  When Jesus does judge it is in the name of and as the agent of God the Father.  When He says he does not judge He means that He does not judge on His own, independent of the Father's will.  In each case when He does judge the judgment is on the actions of the sinner not on the ultimate question of their salvation.  His judgment is calling them to repentance just as John the Baptist [Mark 1:4] and Jesus' own disciples called people to repentance in preparation for Christ's passion, death, resurrection and ascension, which will result in the establishment of the kingdom of the New Covenant Church.

The Pharisees are obviously following Jesus and hanging on every word He utters, but their attitude is one of arrogance.   One cannot come to Christ in arrogance without placing oneself in judgment. St. John wrote in 1 John 1:8-10: If we say, 'We have no sin,' we are deceiving ourselves, and truth has no place in us; if we acknowledge our sins, he is trustworthy and upright, so that he will forgive our sins and will cleanse us from all evil.  If we say, 'We have never sinned,' we make him a liar, and his word has no place in us.

 

Jesus' judgment of the Pharisees is that they can see physically, and they are capable of being open to seeing spiritually if they would acknowledge their sins, but they do not have the desire to see the truth, therefore, they are unworthy of the kind of sight He can offer. 

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A Daily Defense

DAY 101 The Pope and the Antichrist

CHALLENGE: “The pope is the Antichrist.”

DEFENSE: This claim does not fit the biblical evidence; it is based on unbiblical polemics. Although the Antichrist is sometimes associated with figures like the “man of sin” (2 Thess. 2:3 10) and the beast of Revelation (Rev. 13:1–18), there are only four passages in the New Testament that explicitly speak of the “antichrist”: 1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3, and 2 John 7. 

To understand the role of the Antichrist, we must look to these passages. According to them, the Antichrist “denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22), the “spirit of antichrist” “does not confess Jesus” (1 John 4:3), and the Antichrist does “not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh” (2 John 7). These passages indicate that the Antichrist denies the coming of Jesus in the flesh. 

This could be construed several ways: (1) Jesus was a mere man and not God Incarnate (the early heresy known as Ebionism), (2) the humanity of Jesus was only an illusion (the early heresy known as Docetism), or (3) Jesus was not the Messiah (as in non-Christian Judaism). None of these descriptions fit the popes, who have consistently maintained that Jesus was the Messiah, that he was God, and that he was fully God and fully man. 

Even a cursory reading of papal teaching provides abundant evidence for this. In fact, the popes have been among the most vigorous defenders of orthodoxy on these points. The evidence is so extensive that it is amazing anyone could make the papal Antichrist claim, and its existence calls for an explanation.

The ultimate explanation is one of necessity: Prior to the Protestant Reformation, it was universally recognized in Western Christendom that the Catholic Church was the Church of Christ, governed by the pope as the authentic representative of Christ. Critics of the papacy thus needed to provide an alternative explanation of what the pope’s role was and how he could achieve such prominence if he were not Christ’s representative. 

They therefore asserted that he was the archenemy of Christ, the Antichrist (Smalcald Articles 2:4:10, 14; Westminster Confession 25:6). This may have been a polemically useful claim, but it does not fit the biblical data—a fact most Protestant scholars recognize today.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist