LIFE OF CHRIST
A Harmony of the Gospels

LESSON  SIXTEEN - CONTINUED

This section is naturally divided into three distinct scenes:

The Circumstances of the visit   (Vs. 1-13)

This section is naturally divided into three distinct scenes:

The Feast of Tabernacles

It was now autumn,  and all Galilee was in the stir of  preparation which preceded on starting of the annual caravan of pilgrims to one of the three great yearly feasts - the Feast of Tabernacles.
That feast - the Feast of Ingathering - was intended to commemorate the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness, and was celebrated with such universal joy,  that both Josephus and Philo call it  "the holiest and greatest feast," and it was known among the Jews as  "The Feast"  pre-eminently.
It was kept for seven consecutive days,  from the 15th to the 21st of Tisri (September, October),  and a holy convocation celebrated the 8th day.

During the seven days the Jews,  to recall their desert wanderings,  lived in little booths made of  thickly foliaged boughs of olive,  and palm,  and pine,  and myrtle,  and each person carried in his hands a  "lulab,"  consisting of palm branches,  or willows of the brook,  or fruits of peach and citron.

During the week of  festivities all the courses of  priests, were employed in turn;

His brothers said ... show yourself

On the eve of their departure for this feast the family and relatives of  Jesus came to Him with the language of criticism,  of discontent,  almost of reproaches and complaints.
"Why this unreasonable and incomprehensible secrecy?  It contradicts your claims;  it discourages your followers.  You have disciples in Judaea:  go there,  and let them too see your works that you do.  If you do these things,  manifest yourself to the world."

There was also,  probably,  a touch of vanity in it:  "You have many disciples in Judea; here in Galilee they are fast dropping off. ..."

Psalm 69:8
I have become a stranger to my brothers,
And an alien to my mother's children.
NKJV

The Discussions at the "midst of the feast"     (Vs. 14-36)

In the middle of the feast

He had let them depart in the completed uncertainty as to whether or not He intended to follow them.
And suddenly,  in the midst of all the murmuring and discussions,  in the middle of the feast,  He appeared in the Temple and taught.
For a time they listened to Him in awe-struck silence;  but soon the old scruples recurred to them.
Jesus understood their looks.
He interpreted their murmurs.

The feeding of the 5,000 and the healing of the paralyzed man  had aroused the interest of the crowd.
Because Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath,  the Jews said He was not from God.
They called Him demon-possessed (v. 20)  and even talked of killing Him;  but God's time was not ready (v. 30). The Jews debated five different topics as they discussed Jesus at the feast:

The Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him

The Discussions on the Last Day     (Vs. 37-52)

The last day, that great day

The eighth,  the close of the whole festival,  and kept as a Sabbath (Leviticus 23 :36).
It was called  "The Day of the Great Hosanna,"  because a circuit was made seven times round the altar with "Hosanna" sung.
It was also called the "Day of Willows," and the "Day of Beating the Branches," because all the leaves were shaken off the willow-boughs,  and the palm branches beaten in pieces by the side of the altar .

At early morning the people repaired to the Temple,  and when the morning sacrifice had been laid on the altar,  one of the priests went down with a golden ewer to the Pool of Siloam,  not far from the foot of Mount Zion.  There,  with great solemnity,  he drew three logs of  water,  which were then carried in triumphant procession through the water gate into the Temple.

As he entered the Temple courts the sacred trumpets breathed out a joyous blast,  which continued till he
reached the top of the altar slope,  and there poured the water into a silver basin on the western side,  while wine was poured into another silver basin on the eastern side.

Then the great Hallel was sung,  and the people chanted,  "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."

And when they came to the verse  "Oh give thanks unto the Lord,  for He is good: for His mercy endures forever,"  each of the gaily-clad worshippers as he stood beside the altars,  shook his lulab in triumph.

On this high occasion,  "Jesus stood,  and cried,  If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink!"
And, "Out of his innermost being shall flow RIVERS OF LIVING water!"
It was Jehovah's ancient proclamation now sounding forth through human flesh,.

Isaiah 55:1
Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.      (NKJV)

Now it would be RIVERS - not WELLS

Conditions for the Rivers of Water

The Holy Spirit was not yet given

Certain measures of the Holy Spirit had been vouchsafed from the beginning of the world to believers and unbelievers: but that ABUNDANT EFFUSION of  His graces spoken of by Joel the Prophet, chapter 2:28,
which peculiarly characterized the Gospel times,  was not granted till after the ascension of Jesus Christ.

The Spirit in its plenitude was to come in consequence of His atonement;
and therefore could not come still after His crucifixion.

Joel 2:28-29
"And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.      (NKJV)

Nicodemus

Nicodemus enters the picture again,  and this time we see him defending Christ's legal privileges.
In John 3,  he was in the darkness of confusion;  but here he is experiencing the dawn of conviction,  willing to give Christ a fair chance.
Because of this, Nicodemus learned the truth,  for a willingness to obey the Word is the secret of learning God's truth (v. 17).
In John 19  we see Nicodemus in the daylight of confession, openly identifying himself with Christ.

Caught in adultery

It is admitted that adultery was exceedingly common at this time,  so common that they had ceased to put the law in force against it.

Such should be stoned

In the Jewish method of stoning,  the criminal was cast from a 10 or 12-foot scaffold (or down a precipice of some kind) half naked,  with hands tied in the back.
The witnesses did the pushing with great force,  and if this did not kill him or her a witness then would take a large stone and dash it upon the breast.
On occasions where mobs stoned a man no scaffold was used,  but certain accusers threw the first stones and then all could throw until the victim was dead.

It is not strictly true that Moses ordered all adultery in general to be punished by stoning:

It is possible that the woman in this case was the same as that mentioned in  #3 above:
"If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto a husband,  and a man find her in the city,  and lie with her;  then he shall stone them with stones that they die,

Some suppose that the apparent indulgence with which Jesus treated her insinuates that she had suffered some sort of violence,  though not entirely innocent herself.

That they might ... accuse Him

Had He condemned the woman to death,  they might have accused Him to Pilate,  as abrogating to Him the
power of life and death,  which the Romans had taken away from the Jews;  besides,  the Roman laws did not condemn an adulteress to be put to death.

On the other hand,  if He had said she should not be put to death,  they might have represented Him to the people as one who decided contrary to the law,  and favored the crime of which the woman was accused.

Excerpts from Farrar
At the close of the day recorded in the last chapter,  Jesus withdrew to the Mount of Olives. Whether He went to the garden of Gethsemane,  and to the house of its unknown but friendly owner,  or whether - not having where to lay His head - He simply slept,  Eastern fashion,  on the green turf under those ancient olive trees,  we cannot tell.
But when the day dawned His duties lay once more within the city walls,  and in that part of the city where,  almost alone,  we hear of His presence - in the courts of His Father's House.  And with the very dawn His enemies contrived a fresh plot against Him,  the circumstances of which made their malice even more actually painful than it was intentionally perilous.
It is probable that the hilarity and abandonment of the Feast of Tabernacles,  which had grown to be a kind of vintage festival,  would often degenerate into acts of license and immorality ,  and these would find more numerous opportunities in the general disturbance of ordinary life caused by the dwelling of the whole people in their little leafy booths.  One such act had been detected during the previous night,  and the guilty woman had been handed over to the Scribes and Pharisees.  But the spirit that actuated these accusers was not by any means the spirit of a sincere and outraged purity . In the decadence of national life,  in the daily familiarity with heathen degradations,  in the gradual substitution of a Levitical scrupulosity for a heartfelt religion,  the morals of the nation had grown utterly corrupt.  The ordeal of the  "water of Jealousy"  (If a husband suspect his wife of unfaithfulness,  he may bring her to the Sanctuary for an oath of purgation and the drinking of the  "the water of bitterness".  If she is innocent,  no injuries result;  if guilty,  the combined oath and ordeal produce physical effects that proclaim her guilt to the world. (Ref. Numbers 5:14-28),  had long been abolished,  and the death by stoning as a punishment for adultery had long been suffered to fall into disuse.
Not even the Scribes and Pharisees - for all their external religiosity - had any genuine horror of an impurity with which their own lives were often stained.  They saw in the accident  (if indeed it was an accident,  and not plotted by the accusers themselves)  which had put this guilty woman into their power nothing but a chance of annoying,  entrapping,  possibly even endangering this Prophet of Galilee,  whom they already regarded as their deadliest enemy.
"Let him that is without sin among you,  first cast the stone at her."  It was not any abrogation of the Mosaic Law;  it was,  on the contrary ,  an admission of its justice,  and doubtless it must have sunk heavily as a death warrant upon the woman's heart,  but it acted in a manner wholly unexpected.
The terrible law stood written;  it was not the time,  it was not His will,  to rescind it.  But,  on the other hand,  they themselves,  by not acting on the law,  by referring the whole question to Him as though it needed a new solution,  had practically confessed that the law was at present valid in theory alone,  that it had fallen into disuse,  and that even with His authority they had no intention of carrying it into action.  Since,  therefore,  the whole proceeding was on their part illegal and irregular,  He transfers it by these words from the forum of law to that of conscience.
(Life of Christ by Dr. Frederic W. Farrar Copyright: 1949)

I am the Light of  the world

As the former references to:

In  "the Treasury"  where it was spoken (V. 20)  stood four golden candelabra,  each with four golden bowls,
each one filled from a pitcher of oil by a youth of priestly descent.
These were lighted on the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles.
It is probable that they may have suggested the Lord's figure,  but the figure itself was familiar both from prophecy and from tradition.

He could also have drawn from still another illustration -
The Jews added a 9th day to this feast,  which day they termed,  "The Feast of Joy For The Law;"  and on that day they were accustomed to take all the sacred books out of the chest where they had been deposited,
and put a  "lighted candle"  in their place,
in allusion to Proverbs 6:23:  "For the commandment is a lamp (or candle) and the law is life:"
or to Psalm 119:105:  "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
If  this custom existed in the time of Jesus,  it is most likely that it was taking place at about the same time in which these words were spoken.

You judge

The thought of  "knowledge"  (v. 14)  passes into that of  "judgment."
The Pharisees had not the knowledge,  nor could they in their present state gain the knowledge.
They judged  "after the flesh."
They were content to form their conclusions on an imperfect,  external,  superficial examination.
Without feeling any necessity for deeper or wider insight,  they decided according to the appearance of things;  and so by that part of our nature that deals with appearances.
Christ,  on the other hand,  though He embraced in this knowledge all the circumstances,  and aspects,  and issues of life,  "judge no man."  The time for this was not yet.

The Treasury

The Treasury was in the Court of the Women,  so called,  not because it was appropriated to the worship of women exclusively,  but because they were not allowed to proceed further,  except for sacrificial purposes.
The court covered a space upwards of  200 square feet,  and was surrounded by a colonnade,  within which,  and
against the wall,  were the thirteen trumpet-shaped chests,  called  "trumpets"  from their shape,  for charitable contributions.  In the 13th only the women were permitted to put their offerings.  Probably the other 12 were placed there in reference to the 12 tribes;  each perhaps inscribed with the name of one of Jacob's 12 sons.
The mention of the locality adds force to the notice of the Lord's immunity from violence that follows.  For the Sanhedrin held their sittings ordinarily in the chamber that was situated between the Court of the women and the inner Court.  Jesus continued to teach within earshot of His enemies!

Will he kill himself?

The bitterness of the mockery,  like the sternness of the denunciation, is increased (7:35).
The questioners assume that no way can be open to Jesus which is not equally open to them,  unless it be the way to Gehenna opened by self-murder.  Thither indeed they could not follow Him.  The Jews placed suicide on the same level with murder;  and the darkest regions of the world below were supposed to be reserved for those who were guilty of the crime.

When you lift up the Son of man

This is the plainest  PUBLIC  intimation He had yet given of the manner and authors of His death.

To get a fuller and clearer understanding of this dialogue between Jesus and those present at His teaching, we will go back to John 8:21 and begin there:

It all started when they brought the woman caught in adultery.
Once again it goes to motive - they were not concerned with her sin, or the sin of the man she was with.
They were only concerned with laying a trap for Jesus, hoping to accuse Him.
At the end of the debate, they no longer wanted to stone the woman, now their true motives were laid bare -
They wanted to stone Jesus!
If they could  not convince Him that THEY were right, they would destroy Him.

When the time had come

Or literally,  "the days were being fulfilled,"  or  "approaching their fulfillment"  that He should be received up. We have here a sublime expression,  taking the sweep of His whole career,  as if at one bound He was about to vault into glory.
The work of Christ is here divided into two great stages:

Steadfastly set His face

Isaiah 50:7  "I have set my face like a flint,"  Not to be turned aside from His purpose -

Excerpts from Farrar:
Crossing the plain, and passing Taanach and Megiddo,  He would reach the range of hills that form the northern limit of Samaria;  and at the foot of their first ascent lies the little town of En-gannim,  or the "Fountain of Gardens." This would be the first Samaritan village at which He would arrive,  and there,  apparently,  He had sent two messengers  "to make ready for Him."  Possibly these messengers could have been James and John themselves,  who would thus be likely to feel with special vividness the insult of His rejection.
At any rate the inhabitants - who to this day are not remarkable for their civility to strangers - absolutely declined to receive or admit Him.  Previously indeed,  when He was passing through Samaria on His journey northward,  He had found Samaritans not only willing to receive,  but anxious to detain His presence among them, and eager to listen to His words.  But now the circumstances were different:

Incidents Illustrative of Discipleship

Having put his hand to the plow ... looking back

The plow was of  very rude and simple workmanship,  and usually had but one handle.
One hand guides the plow,  while the other holds the long goad by which the oxen are spurred on to their work.
The plow being light,  it is necessary for the plowman to lean forward with all his weight on the handle to keep the share in the ground.
If the laborer is looking back,  not only would he be unable to make a straight furrow,  but also he could not make any furrow at all.

The conditions for discipleship are given in Luke 9:23,

THE  MISSION  OF  THE  SEVENTY	Top Next Section Previous Section

The Seventy

He not only chose 12 to be constantly  WITH  Him,
but He chose 70 others to  GO BEFORE Him.
He seemed to be forming His new church on the model of the Jewish church,  because it was the pattern shown by God Himself - the Divine form that pointed out the Heavenly Substance,  which now began to be established in its place.

As He had before chosen the 12 apostles in reference to the 12 Patriarchs,
He now publicly appointed 70 others,  as did Moses the 70 elders who assisted him in governing the people (Exodus 18:19; 24:1-9).

Greet no one along the road

This was not designed to forbid them from exercising the usual courtesies of life,  in giving a mere  "Shalom"  to those they might meet,  as is evident from the very next verse.
This is designed to remind them of the importance of their mission,  and of the necessity of diligence in its execution.
Hence,  they were not to observe the tedious and oft-repeated salutations with which the they loved to greet each other.

The ceremonies of salutation were numerous and slowly performed.

Do not go from house to house

The exhortation to diligence in their work,  alluded to in the last note,  is repeated in a different form in this text.
As salutations were tedious and frequent, so etiquette required much visiting from house to house.
Jesus was telling them that He was not sending them on a social visit,  but a mission of  Divine importance.

The seventy returned with joy

Authority to trample

To trample upon means to have absolute mastery over.
This exemption from being hurt (v. 19) does not imply freedom from all physical or material injury,  for many died for Christ.
The  "serpents and scorpions"  and  "all the power of the enemy"  refers to demon powers primarily,  although immunity from any harm of wild beasts and from poisons is also promised.
But the whole passage here is speaking of:

It has also been mentioned by some that Jesus called the Scribes and Pharisees  "serpents"  and a  "brood of vipers"  (Matthew 23:33).
It was an ancient custom to trample on the kings and generals who had been taken in battle,  to signify the complete conquest that had been gained over them.

THE  GOOD  SAMARITAN	Top Previous Section

Who is my neighbor?

The Jews gave a very narrow definition of the word  "neighbor."
The rabbins interpreted it to mean only those who were of the Jewish people.
The Gentiles and Samaritans were not considered neighbors.

Down from Jerusalem to Jericho

A distance of 19 miles northeast,  a deep and very fertile hollow.
The road passed through a wilderness that was so notorious for robberies and murders that a portion of it was called  "the red way"  or  "the bloody way,"  and was protected by a fort and a Roman garrison.

The Type:

Priest ... Levite

This is the extent of the help of  "religious"  people who are bound by forms and rituals,  which cannot be broken even to save a life.
These did two things:

A merciful,  compassionate and godly man would have saved the life regardless of pollution,  knowing that provision was made for him to become clean again.

Here Jesus showed the superiority of the Gospel over the Law,  teaching us to reject any religion or law that would neglect a deed of mercy.
However the  Law expressly required the opposite treatment even of the beast,  not only of their brethren,  but also of their enemy!    (Deuteronomy 22:4;  Exodus 23:4,5).

An examination of these three:

Pouring oil and wine

It was considered a sovereign remedy,  especially for wounds produced by violence;  wool,  lint,  or pounded olive being first laid upon the wound.  The wine was supposed to cleanse,  and the oil to soothe and heal.

Two Denarii

34 cents in our money,  the ransom money for a life  (Exodus 30:12-13).
Equal to two days' wages for a common laborer .

The Type: