“An open sesame”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Monday, March 13, 2023

John 7:14-36 (Forward, p. 43) CEV p. 1110

The crowds, the people around Jesus, are confused, confused on a number of fronts. To make this lack of understanding clearer, let me sum it up with three time periods, past, present and future.

The crowds are confused, firstly, about Jesus’ past. They ‘think’ that they know where Jesus came from (see verse 27), simply because they know where He was brought up, that is, Nazareth. Later on, the Sanhedrin dismisses any discussion about Jesus, simply because He came from Galilee (see verse 53). But even if they had ‘latched onto’ the fact that He was born in Bethlehem, that would not uncover the full truth, namely that God, not some earthly being, is truly His father.

The crowds are confused, secondly, in terms of the present. They wonder out loud whether Jesus could, in fact, be the Messiah. As some of them who decided to put their faith in Him said, “When the Messiah comes, he surely won’t perform any more miracles than this man has done!” (verse 31).

And finally, they are confused about where Jesus is going, some place where none of them will be able to go. They speculate that perhaps Jesus is going over to another country, a foreign country, to teach the people there. They fail to appreciate that Jesus is talking about returning to His Father in heaven.

So, it would seem as if all of this is an unsolvable puzzle, a cave, as you will, that has an entrance that is firmly and seemingly solidly sealed forever. What is then needed is something akin to Aladdin and Al Baba’s magic phrase, ‘Open Sesame’ that will allow Jesus’ hearers to penetrate to the secrets therein.

And what is it that is equivalent to that ‘magic phrase’? I would suggest that it is our faith, our trust in Jesus, our willingness to follow Him and be instructed by Him, get to know Him and grow into Him. Jesus’ own disciples did not fully understand at first—indeed, not for a long time—but as they ‘stuck’ with Him, the truth was gradually unfolded. Indeed, the ‘open sesame’ did not come all at once, but rather, gradually over time. And so it is with each of us. As we ‘stick’ with Him, we gradually grow in understanding of Him, who He is, what He does, and what He desires of us. Amen.

Forward notes: “[Jesus said,] ‘Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?’ The crowd answered, 'You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?’” (verses 19b-20)

“Jesus is hanging out in Galilee with family. His own brothers believe he is destined for greatness, so they urge him to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles, in part, to gain fame. At first, Jesus resists because he believes the religious leaders want to kill him. Later he goes to Jerusalem anyway, incognito.

“While there, he teaches in the temple. The religious leaders hear him but remain silent. Confrontational, Jesus asks them point-blank, ‘Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?’ The crowd, like some Greek chorus, responds that Jesus has a demon, that he’s paranoid to think the leaders want to kill him.

“You and I know the rest of the story: Jesus is right; they do, in fact, want to kill him. Only, it was not yet Jesus’s time. He eventually yields to their evil and lets them kill him. Why, I wonder, was one time ripe and another not? God’s timing—for reasons beyond our knowing—is often not our timing.”

Moving Forward: “What insight does this story give you about your own life and troubles?”