Willingness

The exchange of Jesus with the Jewish leaders is profound (John 7:16-19). The idea of the source of His teaching, and the discovery of that source is connected to the willingness of the person to be obedient to the Father who is Source. There is something a little mysterious in this idea. The only ones who will "get it" when it comes to knowing that Jesus is the One who speaks (in these last days, Heb.1:2) on God's behalf are those who are willing to do God's will. It reminds me of the words of Jesus in Matthew 13:11 to this disciples, the ones who have decided to do the will of God. "To you has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them (those who have not yet made the decision to follow Jesus) it has not been granted." A person must come to God with a willing heart. Only those who are poor in spirit will see God. Only those who are weary of their own wayward will will submit to the yoke of Jesus. Only those who are seekers of God and His truth and way will find it. The casual and curious miss it. That is why the tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners were entering ahead of the religious folk. The religious folk thought they were already walking in the will of God, and had stopped seeking it, while the sinners knew they were not walking in His will, and tired of their own will, and sought hard to find it.

So the one who is willing to do the will of the Father will know if Jesus' teaching is from God or whether Jesus merely spoke from His own authority. Jesus made clear in verse 19 that though they had the source of truth through Moses, the Law, they did not obey it. They wanted to possess the source of truth, the Law, but they did not want to submit to it. There is a difference. Jesus will not be possessed by us; He is the one who possesses us. This teaching of Jesus is played out in John 9 regarding the blind man who was healed. The leaders pursued the blind man to gain testimony against Jesus but instead the blind man turned things back on them. In exasperation the blind man says to them: "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples do you?" (9:27) This made them mad, but it was a good question. Were they seeking more information because they wanted to more closely follow the will of God and they were just making sure that Jesus was in fact speaking for God, or did they have absolutely no concern for discovering truth and its source? Their actions made it clear that they had no concern for doing the will of the Father.

Jesus identifies in John 7:18 the crux of the matter. It comes down to whose glory one is seeking. In order to pursue truth wherever it leads one has to care little for their own personal glory. The Jewish leaders loved to receive praise and recognition for their own place in the chain of truth. The people looked up to them as the ones who sit in Moses' seat and through whom truth comes. They saw Jesus as a usurper, one who if listened to would rob them of their glory. But, Jesus had a different view. He was not seeking His own glory, but the glory of His Father. He wanted God to be glorified. The one who is willing to be obedient only wants to bring glory to God. But, those who operate from a different agenda will never recognize the true source of truth. It is important to test our hearts to see if we are truly willing to do the will of the Father without reservation before we ever try to discern whether Jesus is the one who can and will show us the Father's will. We must be the "worthy" ones Jesus spoke of in Matt.10 before we will receive anything from the Lord. Ponder this.