Compassion & Courage

Well, we're here this morning in the basement of the church, and I thought about if for

this morning there was a good passage to preach in the basement of the church.

I didn't think of one.

I didn't want to preach on people being in prison or anything like that.

It's not that bad.

But it got me thinking about churches that today are meeting underground or in secret.

And thankfully we have the freedom to continue to meet today in person.

And I guess I'm not going to worry for ourselves anyways about whether that will be taken away

this year.

The Lord Jesus has said, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

But I got thinking, what are all those underground churches preaching about this morning in their

services?

And then I thought, well, it's probably the good news of Jesus.

It's probably the story of Jesus.

What else would they be preaching?

That's our main thing.

Jesus is everything to us as a church.

And if we have him, we have everything.

And if we don't have him, we don't have anything.

So we're going to continue right on with our series through John this morning.

We're in John chapter 7.

John 7 · chapter mention

And if you have your Bible, you can open it up there.

Or if not, you can use one of the Bibles that are provided in the pews there.

And Jesus is in Jerusalem.

He's at the temple courts.

He's teaching the people.

The people are astonished at his teaching.

They wonder where he got it from.

Jesus told them that his teaching is from God.

Some of them don't believe that.

And Jesus has been making the case that he's no deceiver.

The evidence is there that he hasn't been seeking glory or praise for himself in all this,

but that he's been seeking for the people to glorify and praise God the Father who sent him.

So we're going to pick up the conversation in verse 19.

At this point in the conversation, Jesus seems to turn the focus onto them and away from himself.

Verse 19.

Has not Moses given you the law, says Jesus?

Yet not one of you keeps the law.

Why are you trying to kill me?

You have to know that at this point in the conversation,

this probably took the conversation to a whole different level.

Let's remember that there are hundreds if not thousands of people gathered there for the festival at this point.

And Jesus throws this out into the whole crowd.

Has not Moses given you the law?

Yet not one of you keeps the law.

Why are you trying to kill me?

It's a rhetorical question.

Of course, Moses has given you the law.

You have it.

But why are you not living according to the law?

And I think at this point, Jesus is talking specifically to the Jewish leaders in the crowd.

You know what is right.

You know what is wrong from the law.

And yet not one of you keeps the law.

Case in point.

Why are you trying to kill me?

This is an amazing response.

And on the surface, it might look like Jesus is just kind of throwing out some kind of an accusation that will get people's attention off of him and onto the religious leaders.

But it's more than that.

It's far from that.

Jesus and a good number of people have known for a while that the religious leaders are out for his blood.

The religious leaders have been plotting.

They have been scheming.

They've been asking around.

As we heard back up in verse 11.

They've been at this festival saying, where is he?

And Jesus, in front of this whole crowd that's gathered there, he exposes just what the religious leaders are up to in front of everyone.

And not only that, but he uses it as an example of their own hypocrisy.

Talking about deceiving people and deceivers.

You know, these guys are the religious leaders.

They're the experts in the law.

He says, you have God's holy law, yet not one of you keeps the law.

Case in point, why are you trying to kill me?

Let's think about the law that God gave to Israel and what it says in this matter.

Just a couple quick verses.

Deuteronomy 25 verse 1.

Deuteronomy 25:1

The Lord said this.

When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case.

Acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty.

So there's instruction about what to do in a dispute.

Jesus and the religious leaders are in a bit of a dispute here.

And then when they get to the court, there are instructions that the Lord gave about that too.

He said in Exodus 23 verse 7,

Exodus 23:7

So they want Jesus dead.

But the only justifiable reason to put anyone to death is if they're guilty of breaking the law of God in a way that deserves capital punishment.

And all of this, of course, is to be handled in the court system with due process and proceedings.

So if Jesus' death doesn't come this way, then the other law that applies from the law is Exodus 20 verse 13, right out of the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20:13

You shall not murder.

This is what Jesus is really exposing in the so-called religious leaders.

It's hypocrisy of the worst kind.

Deceit of the worst kind.

They're pretending to be righteous, faithful, devout followers of God who obey him and do the law of God.

Yet in their hearts, they are envious and murderous.

And not just in their hearts.

They've been actively scheming and plotting and planning to get Jesus killed.

That's what murderers do.

So Jesus asks them in front of everyone,

Why are you trying to kill me?

Verse 20.

It's the crowd who responds,

You are demon-possessed.

The crowd answered,

Who is trying to kill you?

Now it's maybe a little ambiguous.

It says the crowd is the one that answered.

But this is probably some of the crowd who have traveled from other parts of Israel.

Maybe they are unfamiliar with all that's been going on between Jesus and the religious leaders.

But they kind of just seem to be throwing out an accusation.

You know, you're mad.

You're insane.

You're crazy.

Who's trying to kill you?

You think the government, the religious ruling leaders are out to get you?

This guy must be demon-possessed.

Interestingly enough, Jesus doesn't seem to answer the question any further.

Maybe he felt that he had already answered it, or maybe he didn't think they were sincere in asking it.

I'm not sure.

But he just goes right on ahead with exposing the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.

Verse 21.

Jesus said to them,

I did one miracle, and you are all amazed.

Yet because Moses gave you circumcision, though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs,

you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath.

Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken,

why are you angry with me for healing a man's whole body on the Sabbath?

Stop judging by mere appearances.

Instead, judge correctly, says Jesus.

So Jesus points back to his last run-in with the religious leaders back in chapter 5.

We heard how he healed that man at the Pool of Siloam on the Sabbath day.

And we saw how the religious leaders after that began to go after him even more, trying to kill him.

Jesus says,

I did one miracle, literally one work, and you are all amazed.

And probably this is not the good kind of amazed.

It's probably more like astonished.

You're all shocked that I did that on the Sabbath.

That's your charge against me.

That's why I'm deserving of death, because I did that on the Sabbath.

You hypocrites!

Don't you also, in the same way, break the Sabbath by doing the work of circumcision?

The covenant that was made with Abraham and the law of Moses prescribed circumcision for every baby boy on the eighth day of his life.

But what happens when his eighth day of life is on the Sabbath?

Well, the Jewish leaders recognized that even though it technically was work to circumcise the baby boy,

they should still do this on the Sabbath day, they said.

I mean, this is circumcision.

This is the sign of the covenant between God and the people.

Doing this puts that boy into a right covenant standing with God.

And it's necessary.

Jesus masterfully argues from the lesser to the greater.

He says, you will circumcise a boy on the Sabbath day to heal or to make right that one part of his body.

So why are you angry with me for healing a man's whole body on the Sabbath?

This guy hadn't been able to walk for 38 years.

And you're telling me that I'm guilty of breaking the Sabbath because I didn't let him go another day.

I didn't wait another day till the Sabbath was over to heal him.

Stop judging by mere appearances, says Jesus.

And make a right judgment.

Wow.

What's the problem with these religious leaders?

The religious leaders are trying to play a game here.

They're trying to make Jesus look bad on the surface.

On the face of things.

In front of all the people.

But their charge and their accusation is all wrong.

They've misapplied the law.

And they haven't done that innocently.

They're trying to twist the law.

And use it against Jesus.

But Jesus says, you don't even apply the law to yourselves in this way.

Their determination that he's worthy of death is completely unjust.

And unjustified.

Well, that's the snapshot of the conversation that we get with this crowd and Jesus.

We don't get a lot.

We get just the highlights.

And at this point, John starts telling us about the reaction of some of the crowd to all this.

And they haven't seen or heard from Jesus in a while.

Because he's been up in Galilee for a while.

Verse 25.

At that point, some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask,

Isn't this the man they're trying to kill?

Here he is, speaking publicly.

And they're not saying a word to him.

Have the authorities really concluded that he's the Messiah?

So some of the people of Jerusalem are picking up what Jesus is laying down.

They're figuring it out.

They've known for a while now that the religious leaders have been seeking to put someone to death.

But now this question reveals that they realize that it's Jesus.

This is the guy.

The very one that everybody's been talking about.

He's the guy that they're trying to kill.

Probably what's been happening is that the religious leaders have been putting a deceitful spin on things.

Here in Jerusalem.

Putting out the word that there's a man wanted for having repeatedly broken the Sabbath law.

Attempting to discredit Jesus and poison the attitudes of the people toward Jesus there in Jerusalem.

But now here, all of a sudden, it seems as though the citizens of Jerusalem are realizing that there's something not quite right here.

Like we recognize that this is the guy that they're trying to kill.

But something's not right here.

If he's deserving of death for breaking the law,

I mean, look, here he is speaking publicly right here in the temple courts and nobody's saying anything to him.

The religious leaders aren't saying a word.

What's going on here?

Have they concluded that he really is the Messiah?

Do you feel the tension among the people?

They smell something fishy.

Things aren't quite adding up.

Something's not right here.

Could it be that he is the Messiah?

Verse 27.

But we know where this man is from.

When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.

Just when it seems as though they were moving towards the right conclusion about Jesus,

all of a sudden the voice of doubt enters in.

Apparently it was a popular idea that the Messiah would seem to come out of nowhere when he came.

Not that he would be a ghost.

They thought he would be human.

But many also thought that his origins would largely be unknown.

I mean, it can't be this Jesus guy.

We all know where he's from.

He's from Nazareth.

Over in Galilee.

It's kind of an odd thing to stumble over.

I'm not really sure what they were expecting.

If they believed that the Messiah would be flesh and blood human being just like us,

a Jewish man,

then of course he would have a hometown in Israel,

a place that he was from.

And if they were only expecting him to just seem like he came out of nowhere,

well, that's what happened, isn't it?

One day John the baptizer is preaching out at the river,

and the next day he says,

Behold, the Lamb of God!

And there Jesus was,

a grown man that nobody except his friends, family, and neighbors knew anything about.

So I don't know what they were expecting.

Verse 28,

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,

cried out,

Yes, you know me,

and you know where I am from.

I am not here on my own authority,

but he who sent me is true.

You do not know him,

but I know him,

because I am from him,

and he sent me.

So Jesus kind of acknowledges the objection of the crowd.

Yes, you know what family I am from.

You know where my hometown is,

but there is a lot you do not know about me,

like why I am here.

Do you know that I am not here of myself,

or of my own initiative,

and you do not know the one who sent me?

Of course we know who Jesus is referring to,

it is the same thing he has been saying all along.

He is claiming to be sent by God,

his Father.

And if we are listening closely,

he is also telling the people in the crowd

that they do not know him,

God,

the one who sent him.

So yes,

you know a few things about me,

superficially,

but there is a lot you do not know about me.

Let's finish the moment here.

The crowd has a mixed response to all this.

Verse 30.

At this,

they tried to seize him,

but no one laid a hand on him,

because his hour had not yet come.

Still,

many in the crowd believed in him.

They said,

when the Messiah comes,

will he perform more signs than this man?

So it was a mixed response.

Some think that Jesus is crazy,

perhaps demon-possessed.

Some are trying to get him arrested.

But in the midst of all this,

John says,

some believed.

He has to be the Messiah.

Look at the signs he is doing,

and how many of them.

Are we to expect the Messiah

to perform more signs than this man has performed?

Surely not.

So things are kind of heating up here

between Jesus and the crowd,

and next week,

we'll see how the Pharisees make a play

to try and get their hands on Jesus.

But what can we take

from what we've seen so far here today?

Well,

I want to encourage you

to put yourself in the story.

First of all,

the big question here is,

who is Jesus?

Are you like the people in the crowd

who thought that Jesus was out of his mind?

Are you like the people in the crowd

who think he's a clever deceiver?

Or are you like the people in the crowd

who see the countless miraculous signs

that he's been doing

and believe that he is the Messiah,

God's chosen king?

Who do you believe,

I mean truly believe,

that Jesus is?

This is the question

that we need to sort out

first and foremost.

But not only this,

this is the question

that we need to urge others

to sort out

first and foremost.

Our children,

our neighbors,

those who live in our community,

our co-workers,

our extended family members.

I love what Jesus

does here

in this conversation.

And I think there's something

we can learn about

sharing the good news with others

from Jesus here.

Do you hear what the people said

about Jesus?

They said,

we know him.

We know where he's from.

He can't be the Messiah.

But do you hear what

Jesus' response was?

Essentially he said,

yes,

you know the surface details.

the tangible details

of me and my story,

but you do not know

the deeper details.

You do not know

truly

who I am,

where I'm from,

why I'm here.

It's as though Jesus,

as tactfully as can be said,

is gently

pushing back,

saying,

you think you know me,

but you don't know me

as well as you think you do.

he challenges them.

And I think we can learn

from that.

I think it's very likely

that we all have some people

in our circles

who don't believe in Jesus,

who also have some

misconceptions about him,

or who see him

in a very superficial way,

have a certain view of him.

And I think it's okay,

just as Jesus did,

to graciously and gently

push back a little bit on that.

So what might we say to people?

Well, this is going to come down

to the individual conversation

and to you

and how you say things

and to the person

you're saying them to.

I trust the Lord

will give you wisdom

and words.

But maybe you might say

something like this

in your own words.

You know,

one of the things

that continually

surprises me

is that the more

I read the accounts

of Jesus,

the more I realize

that I didn't really know him

as well as I thought I did.

You know,

there's kind of this

pop culture understanding

of who Jesus is.

There's kind of this

church culture understanding

of who Jesus is.

But as a follower of Jesus,

as I've been reading my Bible,

I'm continually finding things

about him

that surprise me.

I love that about Jesus.

No matter how hard you try,

you just can't seem

to put him into a box

or a mold.

It's amazing.

You might say something like that.

A subtle way to remind people

that maybe they don't know Jesus

as well as they think they do.

Where maybe it comes up

in a conversation

that's a little more tense.

Maybe somebody makes a comment

about what you believe.

And maybe you say

something more like this.

You know,

what I'm hearing from you

is that you already

have made up your mind

about Jesus.

And I just want to be honest

with you.

I don't say this to insult you

or anything like that,

but I'm not sure

that you know Jesus

as well as you think you do.

What he said,

what he did.

And just leave it at that.

As Greg Kukul said

in his book called Tactics,

it's almost like putting a pebble

in someone's shoe.

Something that they can carry around

with them in their shoe

for a while.

And eventually,

maybe that little thought,

that thing that you said to them

will get to them

and will get them thinking.

Maybe I haven't really known

Jesus

or understood

who he is,

the whole story.

Who knows?

Maybe the Lord will use that

to cause them

to get back into their Bibles

and read for themselves

the story of Jesus.

I'm reminded of the story

of Rosaria Butterfield.

There was a gracious

and kind older couple

who reached out to Rosaria

after she wrote an article

against the promise keepers.

And this couple invited her

to come over for a meal

and chat about that article.

Pretty bold step.

And one thing led to another

and it kind of became

a regular thing.

They started having her over

for a meal

and talking about

what she was interested in

and talking about things

of faith and Christianity.

And Ken, the older man,

would do this from time to time.

He would gently push back

just a little bit

on what Rosaria was saying

about Jesus

to help her see,

no, look at this passage.

I don't think you've really

got Jesus figured out yet.

And because of that,

Rosaria continued

in her own words

to research

the religious right,

she began reading

her Bible even more

in an attempt

to make her case.

Her original goal

was to publish something

about the religious right's

politics of hatred

against LGBT people.

Her conversations with Ken

drove her deeper

into the Bible

and eventually

she ended up giving

her life to the Jesus

that she found

in the pages

of the gospel.

The truth is

that we never quite know

how people will respond

to the next time

that we graciously

and gently

point them to Jesus.

Jesus always knew

what to say

to people.

Of course he did.

He's the perfect

son of God.

But even he

had a mixed response.

Many didn't believe.

But some did.

And so I think

we can be encouraged

by Jesus here

to be a little more

bold.

Not argumentative,

but humbly

and graciously

courageous.

If people are not

reading their Bibles

regularly,

the chances are

they have a superficial

view of Jesus

as well.

chances are

they don't really

know him as well

as they think they do.

And so this is

one of our opportunities.

But we all need

to admit here,

I think,

that in order for it

to be an opportunity,

we need to know

Jesus

beyond the superficial.

We need to know

him well.

How well do you

know Jesus?

Jesus?

What's something

about him

that you love?

What's something

about Jesus

that has captured

your heart

recently?

Maybe even

surprised you?

You know,

it's easy to tell

people about

something

or someone

who has captured

your heart.

let me share

just one thing

that captured

my heart this

week from

this passage.

Something about

Jesus,

and we'll end

with this.

In this whole

crowd of people,

I don't hear

anyone else

standing up

for that poor

man,

the man who

for 38 years

had been unable

to walk

and was lying

there by the

pool of Siloam

desperately trying

even 38 years

later to get

into the water

and get back

the use of

his legs.

Do you know

why Jesus

healed him

on the

Sabbath?

Do you know

why Jesus

didn't wait

until the

next day?

Because Jesus

saw this

nobody

as a person

and he

loved him.

He heard

how long

it had been

and he had

compassion on

him

like nobody

else ever

had.

he felt

that man's

suffering

in that

moment as

he talked

with him

there

and because

he was

moved in

his heart

he decided

to put an

end to his

suffering

that day

then and

there

and it

happened to

be the

Sabbath day.

I don't

hear anybody

else in the

crowd standing

up for that

man

except Jesus.

The Pharisees

cared nothing

for him.

They couldn't

have cared

less if he'd

sat by the

pool of

Siloam for

the rest of

his life.

Just let him

lie there

another day.

Wait till

tomorrow and

then heal

him.

How sick

is that?

It's

disgusting.

And now

they're trying

to get

Jesus killed

for breaking

the law

by doing

the most

gracious

and loving

work of

compassion

on the

wrong day

of the

week.

Isn't it

wonderful

how Jesus

exposes

the disgusting

hypocrisy

of the

religious

leaders

for what

it is?

Isn't it

beautiful how

he helps

the people

who are

gathered there

see that

their version

of being

devoted to

God

is

twisted

and a

sham.

I don't

hear anyone

else in

the crowd

having the

compassion

or the

courage

to stand

up for

this poor

man to

the likes

of the

religious

leaders.

But I

see Jesus

crying out

all by

himself.

With a

lot more

compassion

than I

have in

my heart

and the

courage of

a lion

going head

to head

with those

poisonous

vipers

there in

the temple

courts

and yet in

his humble

and gentle

humanity

there's no

one to

defend him

and eventually

it will cost

him his

life.

That's what

I see here

in this

passage.

That's

something that

captured my

heart this

week here.

And it

just makes

me want to

worship

Jesus.

Do you

know him?

Do you

love him?

Let's

pray.

Father in

heaven thank

you for

sending your

son.

Lord Jesus

thank you

for coming.

We give

you praise

because you

are so

unlike us.

You are

glorious.

You are

worthy of

our worship.

God

we pray

and ask

that you

would help

us to

continue to

fall in

love with

you again

and again

and again

that even

this week

we would

see and

learn more

things about

you that

fill our

hearts with

joy and

carry us

forward but

also that we

would have

those words

ready to

share with

the people in

our lives

that need

you

desperately

we pray

this in

Jesus name

amen

here.