A Picture of Jesus
No, not in appearance, but in person(ality).
We see an interesting picture of Jesus in this passage today. He is animated with exclamations and shouts. In the midst of the crowd at the festival, he stands up to shout before everyone, inviting them to follow him. And in the midst of it all, he seems to continue this appearing-disappearing act, frustrating the authorities in their desire to seize him.
But the time has not come yet.
Jesus is in charge here, if not in blatant political power - though John often tells us that he could take up such power - certainly in terms of how events are unfolding.
John presents the strongest picture of Jesus’ authority among the gospels. Our Christology (that is, what the Church believes about the person and nature of Christ) is shaped by many parts of the New Testament, and even aspects of the Old Testament. John places a particular divine placement upon Jesus, all the way from the first verse - In the beginning was the Word…
All the while, though, Jesus is of a particular person and nature. He’s not ascending thrones or throwing spears. He never casts anyone into prison or afflicts someone with disease or even intentional embarrassment. He is in and out of the crowd. Up and down both the street and the mountain. Taking care of both stranger and his mother. Talking with high officials and the beggar on the side of the road.
He’s both untouchable and touchable. Lord of all creation and friend of the weak. Son of a woman, son of God. Child of a small town who will confound the city of Jerusalem.
As we come to him each day, we can hold it all in a beautiful tension, full of both the relational proximity of Jesus and trembling respect of Christ, a king.
John 7:25-39
Some people from Jerusalem said, “Isn’t he the one they want to kill? Here he is, speaking in public, yet they aren’t saying anything to him. Could it be that our leaders actually think he is the Christ? We know where he is from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”
While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he exclaimed, “You know me and where I am from. I haven’t come on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” So they wanted to seize Jesus, but they couldn’t because his time hadn’t yet come.
Many from that crowd believed in Jesus. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man does?” The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about Jesus, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent guards to arrest him.
Therefore, Jesus said, “I’m still with you for a little while before I go to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you won’t find me, and where I am you can’t come.”
The Jewish opposition asked each other, “Where does he intend to go that we can’t find him? Surely he doesn’t intend to go where our people have been scattered and are living among the Greeks! He isn’t going to teach the Greeks, is he? What does he mean when he says, ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me, and where I am you can’t come’?”
On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted,
“All who are thirsty should come to me!
All who believe in me should drink!
As the scriptures said concerning me,
Rivers of living water will flow out from within him.”
Jesus said this concerning the Spirit. Those who believed in him would soon receive the Spirit, but they hadn’t experienced the Spirit yet since Jesus hadn’t yet been glorified.
Psalm 63:1
God! My God! It’s you— I search for you! My whole being thirsts for you!
My body desires you in a dry and tired land, no water anywhere.
Prayer
God,
You are beyond my full understanding, yet you invite me to know you. You are both near and beyond, gentle and mighty, and in Christ, human and divine. Teach me to know this tension with awe and trust. Actually, since it is at the core of the truth, teach me to know it not as a tension, but the reality.
I am often searching—sometimes with questions, sometimes with certainty, sometimes unsure of what I truly need. But you meet me where I am. You don’t demand perfection before drawing near. You walk among us, revealing truth in ways we don’t always expect. Give me eyes to see you, a mind to know you, and a heart to follow you.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.