Who do you say that I am?

Who do you say that I am?  John 7.10-53 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%207.10-53&version=HCSB

Today I was watching the Euro 2012 Finals (Spain v. Italy), with my soccer-fixated sons, both of whom play on two teams right now.  There was one camera view from many feet above the field that was so cool—it allowed the television viewer to see most of the players--just where they were positioned on the field, poised to anticipate and move to the ball accordingly.  We are going to do a similar thing today, observing the various positions people were taking about Jesus, as he joined them at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, and why the verdicts about Jesus matter more than anything else in life.

“After His brothers had gone up to the festival, then He also went up, not openly but secretly. The Jews were looking for Him at the festival and saying, “Where is He?” And there was a lot of discussion about Him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He’s a good man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He’s deceiving the people.” Still, nobody was talking publicly about Him because they feared the Jews.”  John 7.10-13

Our cameras are well above the dusty streets of Jerusalem, and we can see the temporary tents of the Jewish pilgrims who have come together for the annual celebration—commemorating the time of being tent-dwellers in the wilderness 40 long years before entering the Promised Land.  But this year in Jerusalem, there is much talk about one Jesus of Nazareth.  Many are making up their minds just where they stand with the man who says he is the Son of God.  Indeed, the verdicts are coming in—and even in first century Palestine, under the oppression of the Roman government, while awaiting the messiah, one thing they know for sure, “he’s a good man.”  GOOD—there’s that word again.  Apparently, folks have always liked to use the word.

Yes, they took Jesus as a ‘good man’, but others milling around Jerusalem have come to believe different things about Jesus—some that he is a prophet, still others that he is a mad man, maybe even demon-possessed!  Some think his teaching is absolutely dynamic, and they could sit and listen for hours.  Without doubt, they see his courage, knowing the Jewish leaders want to kill him, but here is Jesus, teaching in public just the same.  (In truth, it would only be about seven more months before they would put Jesus on a mock trial and crucify him the next day.)

As they questioned him, wondering where he had gotten his training, (Jn 7.15), Jesus replied, “My teaching isn’t Mine but is from the One who sent Me…” and then, “You know Me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on My own, but the One who sent Me is true. You don’t know Him; I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” (V 28-29)  Jesus again makes it clear that his teaching came from God, and that indeed, he was sent by God.  If folks hadn’t taken up a position before, Jesus forced their hand …  So, in all who heard, they were forced to make up their minds--just what would they do with Jesus, who claimed to be sent directly from God? 

‘But,’ they reasoned among themselves, he can’t be the Messiah!  “…we know where this man is from. When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where He is from.” V. 27  For the Jewish belief of the day was that the Messiah would burst on the scene rather mysteriously…not so with Jesus, they knew he came from Nazareth.  Still they observe Jesus teaching in the Temple, probably on or near Solomon’s Porch, and the authorities are not seizing him… (hmmm, what to do with Jesus)

At some point, the question is before all of us—the one Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”  Remember, your answer will impact your eternity.  We can agree that Jesus was a good man, but that is not enough—for Jesus was good, but he was so much more than that.  Most would concur he was a masterful teacher; any astute observer would deduce such a thing, but again, the description stops short.   

If Jesus turned and looked at you