The Heavenly Scholar

Icon - Christ Teaching the Doctors

Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?” Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:14-24).

Jesus had no credentials. He did not have the 1^st Century Jewish equivalent to our Master of Divinity degree. This was a serious affront to the scribes, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the Law. The Jews who gather around Jesus as He teaches in the temple courts are surprised and offended that a man with no proper education would presume to teach in public, and palm himself off as one who is versed in Scriptural learning.[1] There may not have been a system of accredited seminaries in first century Judea like we have today in the United States, but there certainly was a system. There were rabbinical schools for the training of rabbis, run by well-known and well-pedigreed rabbis. Paul witnesses to this when he gives his defense to the crowd after he is arrested in Jerusalem; He tells them, “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.”[2] Gamaliel was one such rabbi, of whom Paul was a disciple. Jesus, however, had not been a part of that system and for Him to teach as he did was scandalous.

It wasn't, however, only that Jesus was teaching without being properly certified. When the Jews taught, they carefully cited previous teachers and scholars of the Law. They all tried to cite their teachings in order to show that they were smart, that they were correct, and that they had credibility (not unlike certain blog authors...). Jesus taught as one who had authority. In other words, Jesus taught the people, not by showing what those rabbis who came before Him said about the Law; He taught as the one who wrote and implemented the Law. This attitude was not lost on the people. The Bible tells us that the people marveled and openly wondered what kind of statement Jesus was trying to make.[3]

The Jews, however, really understood that Jesus was claiming to be God. That’s why they plot to kill him. Jesus could, of course, teach in this way because He is the Messiah, the divine Son of God and second person of the Trinity, coequal together, and coeternal with the Father and the Spirit, one God in three persons, three persons in one God. He is the author of life,[4] the one through whom creation came into being, the one who was the very image of God the Father.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.[5]

Jesus demonstrated His divine authority by what He did, in addition to what He said, and the manner in which He taught.[6] He restored sight to the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, loosed the tongues of the dumb, raised the dead, and ultimately, rose from the dead Himself. The Jews saw all these things but refused to see them for the signs they were. These things were the credentials that Holy Scripture said would accompany the Messiah. The Jews, however, demanded that Jesus "tell them plainly" if He was the Christ and demanded a sign to prove it. Jesus bluntly explains, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.”[7] Having ears, they did not hear; having eyes they did not see.

So, what does this mean? We know that it is our sin which put Jesus on the cross. We are in the same situation as the Jews to whom Peter preached in Solomon’s Portico.[8] We do not escape responsibility for the death of Jesus simply because we did not drive the nails into His hands with our own. Because of our sin, we are just as guilty as those who wanted to put Jesus to death at that time. We, as Peter says, “...denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.”[9]

The devil, the world, and our own sinful nature mislead us into false belief, despair, and other sin. When we repent of our sin, God who is faithful and just, forgives our sin and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. We can rest in the assurance of Jesus' authority as God to forgive our sin by the blood of His cross; because of the divine authority of Jesus, ultimately demonstrated by His resurrection, we can have faith that, even though we may suffer many things on this earth, including physical death, Jesus will one day call us out of our graves, and we will come out.[10] We who hear and recognize the voice of Jesus, as a sheep recognizes it’s shepherd, make up His body, The Church. In this Christian Church, Jesus, by the means of Word and Sacrament, daily and richly forgives all our sins, and the sins of all believers.[11] Until such time as we fall asleep in Him, Jesus continues to give His Church His Word in preaching, in Holy Baptism, and in the Lord’s Supper; He does this to create, sustain, strengthen and preserve us in this, the one true faith, unto life everlasting. On the Last Day, He will raise all the dead, and give eternal life to all believers in Christ.[12] Making use of these gracious gifts of Word and Sacrament which He has given to us, and receiving in them forgiveness and life, we can go in peace, come what may.

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[1] Lenski, R. C. H. The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel. Columbus, OH: The Wartburg Press, 1942.

[2] Acts 22:3

[3] Matthew 21:23-27; Mark 1:22, 27

[4] Acts 3:15

[5] Colossians 1:15-18

[6] Matthew 9:5-7

[7] John 10:22-30

[8] Acts 3:11-26

[9] Acts 3:14-15

[10] John 5:28-29;

[11] Luther, Martin. Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1986.

[12] ibid.