Teach us your way, O Lord,
and lead us on a level path.
Teach us, O Lord, to follow your decrees;
then we will keep them to the end.
Give us understanding, and we will keep your law
and obey it with all our hearts.
Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
—based on Psalm 27:11, Psalm 119:33-34
Back on day 14 of this adventure when we were reading Deuteronomy I wrote this:
“**18:15-19 – This is a key passage for understanding Jesus. God will raise up many prophets, but this is talking about THE prophet. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this. John the Gospel writer emphasizes Jesus in this role. We’ll be coming back to this passage from time to time.”
Now is that time. Moses said in Deuteronomy 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” Yesterday we read about John the Baptist. In John 1:21 the priests and Levites ask John, “Are you the Prophet?” This is “the Prophet like Moses.” When Moses is brought up in the other Gospels, the references are usually to the Law and the teachings of Moses. John compares the person of Moses to the person of Jesus. Moses was the deliverer who brought Israel out of Egypt by God’s mighty hand. Through Moses God gave the Law. We have to understand how big Moses is for the Jews in order to understand Jesus, especially in the Gospel of John. Yesterday in 1:17 we read, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” These aren’t opposites; this is promise and fulfillment. Let’s keep an eye out in John for the ways that Jesus is the new Moses, the one who accomplishes and fulfills everything that previously had only been promised.
We see this again now in 6:14. When Jesus fed the 5000, the crowd’s response is, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” They are correct, but they don’t fully understand yet what this really means. This sparks the controversy that begins in 6:25. By John’s day there was an expectation that the Messiah would also provide manna from heaven. Jesus is trying to show the people that he is so much more. He doesn’t just give bread (which is what the people want); he IS bread (which the people find quite disgusting). At the end of this scene many disciples leave Jesus. Jesus could have said, “Whoa, you’re taking me too literally. I meant figuratively eat my body. Come back!” but he didn’t. Jesus is not a crowd pleaser. Jesus is the Truth, and the Father will open eyes to see that.
One of my favorite passages is Peter’s response to this painful schism: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Sometimes that is all we can say, and that is enough. Speaking of Moses here, I wonder if the way John records Peter’s words is also a reference to Moses in Deuteronomy 32:47. Speaking of the Law (the words of the Covenant), Moses says, “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life.”
In light of all of this, chapter 7 is also a display of how Jesus is greater than Moses, and in verses 40 and 41 the people are recognizing that (or are at least close).
In 8:55 the people ask, “Who do you think you are?” The succinct answer comes in verse 58: “I AM.” See Exodus 3:14 if you need a reminder of why the people reach for stones to kill Jesus. There is no way to really hear Jesus speak and not have a strong reaction. Either Jesus is a dangerous heretical lunatic or he is God. If you heard something different (like he is simply a wise teacher), you weren’t really listening.
Some non-Christian traditions (like the Jehovah’s Witnesses) use 10:34 to try to say that Jesus backed away from claiming he was God. First of all, Jesus would have to have been doing a lot more explaining throughout the Gospels, because he repeatedly claims divinity (I would go so far as to say he rarely opens his mouth in John without claiming in some way to be God). More importantly, in this reference to Psalm 82 it is more like Jesus is saying, “What is this? You’re offended that by words I claim to be God? Don’t simply be offended by mere words – look at my life! Everything I do says I am God.” They understand the weight of his words, because in verse 39 they are still trying to seize him.
13:1 introduces the rest of the book. Jesus is about to show the full extent of his love. This isn’t simply a reference to foot washing. This is everything that is about to happen. John 13-17 is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible. Someday I think we’ll spend the entire season of Lent looking at these 5 chapters.
Wow, and I thought Luke was difficult to read in big chunks! While there were so many small sections worth a lot of time each, reading a big section of John in one sitting really emphasizes Jesus’ divinity.
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