His Friends Must Also Die

John 7

John chapter 7 is full of opposition, questions and controversies.

Jesus' brothers

First, they are Jesus' brothers. They speak to him with irony: –You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.

And John, the evangelist, laconically adds: "For even his own brothers did not believe in him".

This sarcastic depreciation was nothing new. On a previous occasion, they went out to look for him, resolved to take him back home, because they thought he was out of his mind. (Mark 3:21)

His brothers had watched him grow up; they had played with him, he was so familiar to them that -in their eyes - it was impossible for him to be the Son of God.

Christians would later have to suffer a great deal of opposition from their families, so he had to experience it first. His prophets would have to suffer a great deal of pain, incomprehension and depreciation in the centuries to come, so he had to be the first to experience it.

He said: –Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor. (Mark 6:4)

Two of his brothers would later become servants in God's work (James and Jude, the authors of the respective epistles), but now their eyes were not able to see him.

Without a doubt, this is a price that those who follow Jesus closely will have to pay. Their path is clearly laid out in the scriptures and they must follow it.

Questions

Chapter seven also contains several questions that the Lord raised among the people. The majority didn't have an answer because the Lord didn't worry about answering them. His teachings (in parables) were enigmatic, and only his intimate circle of followers had access to the interpretation.

On that Jewish festival, the Jews asked: –Where is that man?

There was an expectation to see him and to hear him. But all who spoke of him did so undercover, fearing the Jews.

Then, upon hearing his wisdom, they said: –How did this man get such learning without having studied?

Then, seeing how freely he taught in the temple, they wondered: –Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities also concluded that he is the Christ?

Some that believed in him (although imperfectly) added: –When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?

When they heard him talk about his departure, they were disturbed: –Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? ... What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me but you will not find me?' ...

When the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him, the officers returned with empty handed. –Why didn't you bring him in? - they ask.

After seeing the admiration that they felt for Jesus, they gave their own reply: –You mean he has deceived you also? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?

They gave Nicodemus a disagreeable answer when he suggests that Jesus be given an opportunity to speak before them: –Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.

Perhaps all these people could have found satisfaction, if Jesus had chose to respond to them. All these questions could have had appeasing answers. However, he didn't choose to do that. Even his disciples were as puzzled as they were.

On one occasion, they said to him: –Now you are speaking clearly, and you are not even using any allegories.

This was an exception to the rule. Why did Jesus do this?

Spiritual truths don't depend on a clear answer, or on an orderly explanation, in order to be understood. They require a certain class of heart, to be received. Although Jesus had spoken clearly, they could not believe him, because their hearts were incredulous and evil.

For that reason Jesus used to say: –He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Paul, echoing these words, also said to the Corinthians: –What I am writing to you is the Lord's command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored. (1 Cor.14:37-38)

Also, speaking to the churches of Asia, the Lord would later say: –He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev.2 and 3)

Looking for answers

If we would have been in the Lord's place, perhaps we would have hurried off to prepare answers, hoping to avoid the incomprehension and the persecution. We would have made an effort to dissipate any misinterpretation.

But that is not our task. Our task is not to escape opposition, but rather to walk toward the cross. It is not to create conditions in which we are applauded, but to speak God's truth, even though it is painful afterwards.

Erroneously, we offer too many answers and we generate too few questions. We try to get people to know things that they have never asked us, instead of awakening in them crucial questions that begin to transform their lives.

Controversies

The Jews in Jerusalem were divided because of Jesus: "Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, 'He is a good man.' Others replied, 'No, he deceives the people.' (John 7:12). "On hearing his words some of the people said, 'Surely this man is the prophet.' Others said, 'He is the Christ' Still others asked, 'How can the Christ come from Galilee?'... Thus the people were divided because of Jesus." (7:40-41, 43)

Jesus came to establish the truth of God amid the darkness. The darkness tried to extinguish his light, because he had dealt it a fatal blow, but it did not achieve it. If Jesus had followed the cause of darkness, he would not have received opposition. However, his path was different. His words were light, spirit and life. And for being like this, he received persecution from the darkness, from the flesh and from death.

But Jesus was not only the object of controversies. So too was Paul in his day, and all since, who have walked with Jesus. Jesus' path also becomes that of his disciples. Having been recently converted, Paul caused conflicts in Damascus (Acts 9:22-23), and also in Jerusalem (9:28-29). The solution was to take him far away (9:30), because they could not avoid those who were provoked.

After him, even after the long centuries of darkness that came upon the Church's history, each new Scriptural truth has been recovered with pain and persecution. The truth hurts falsehood, it breaks the inertia of traditions, and it fatally wounds the 'status quo.'

Contemporary Christians should not be surprised by these things. In spite of living in a century that glorifies individual freedom and man's rights, there still exists an obstinate blindness towards faith. Many times they raise up new Tribunals of Inquisition, here and there, that pretend to defend, by human effort alone, old lies with a new face of truth.

What it means to walk more closely

This is something that today's Christians should remember: Walking closer to Jesus implies living out John chapter 7 in flesh and blood. That is, the jeering of our own family members, many absurd and often deceitful questions from people, and the controversy-persecution from all sides, especially from groups with vested interest.

If you have not experienced these things, it may be for one of two reasons:

a) You have not been sufficiently close.
b) You have mixed the truth, and contemporized it with falsehood.

Very shortly this problem will become worse because the world (also the Western "humanist and Christian" world) will become increasingly hostile toward those that love God. The intensity of persecution has already been experienced in some parts of the world, and it won't be long until it comes to you.

For the present, it can begin very close to home: there where you eat and sleep, there where you work and where you go to church.

Life against the grain

The panorama is not very encouraging. What should we do? Many times we will be tempted to take precautions so that they don't hurt us, or to move to the defensive. Or even to return in-kind (fight fire with fire).

If we decide to do the latter, then, when those close to us oppose us, we will use all the means possible to settle accounts every time that it is necessary. We will use a thousand and one subtleties to counterattack in a way that it hurts them, so that they won't bother us again.

If it comes from those further a field, we will also find the appropriate roads. We will give explanations, we will apologize (not in humility, but in order to not be misunderstood), we will give-in to the 'establishment.'

But all this is to low; it is vile and undignified of a disciple of the Lord.

What must our attitude and behavior be? The Lord Jesus gives us the key in this same chapter.

"On the last and great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and raised his voice, saying: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him" (7:37-38).

At the end of that day of contempt, jives and discredit, the Lord invited all who were thirsty to drink from him. This is admirable! They had been harassing him, but he had life to offer them. They had been shooting all their arsenal of death against him, but he only had words of goodness for them. Only one with a clean heart can do that. Only one who deeply loves can offer others living water.

So when everything goes against you, when everything is opposed to your walk, when waves of discredit rise up against you, you don't have an option: you have to conserve your pure heart, without resentment. Your only option is to give life. Curses must not come out of your mouth; but only blessing. You are a source that must only give sweet water.

That is what your master did so you must also do the same. That is your honor and your beauty.