“Manhunt for the ‘Messiah’” (St. Luke’s: Friday, March 16, 2018; Wisdom 2.1, 12-22; Ps. 34; Gospel of St. Jn. 7.1-2, 10, 25-30)

Got enemies?  Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II, famously said, “You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”  As anyone who has read the Gospels knows, Jesus had enemies.  The opening line of today’s reading says it all:

“Jesus …did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him.” (Jn. 7.1-2)

Now, in order to understand who was out to kill Jesus and why, we need to take a closer look at 3 elements of the story.  First of all, the hostility towards Jesus had been provoked by a specific event; secondly, the location of Jesus’ movements and thirdly, the precise identity of the group St. John refers to as “the Jews”.  Event, location, identity.

Event.  What had Jesus done to provoke such hatred in the hearts of his countrymen?  Indeed, none of the enemies of Jesus, at least at first, were foreigners – they were actually those members of his own people who went out of their way to honour God and to observe the Law of Moses.  For a good first-century Jew, to keep the Law was to demonstrate both one’s loyalty to Yahweh and one’s status as an upstanding member of the community of Israel.  Since Tuesday, we’ve been looking at the story of what Jesus had done during his previous trip to Jerusalem – the healing of a crippled man at the pool of Bethesda.  Today’s Gospel is the continuation of the controversy that Jesus provoked by restoring that man’s ability to walk.  So why did this healing anger people to the point of wanting to kill Jesus?  As we saw on Tuesday, Jesus didn’t heal the paralyzed man on just any day of the week – he had healed him on the Sabbath.  As far as Jesus’ enemies were concerned, not only had Jesus violated the commandment to “keep the Sabbath holy” (cf. Ex. 20.8-11), but he had also betrayed a central symbol of Judaism.  There were three practices that distinguished Jews from pagans – circumcision, the kosher laws and Sabbath observance.  At the time of Jesus, painful memories of persecution by pagan rulers were still fresh in the minds of the people.  Many Jewish heroes had given their lives to defend the right of the Jews to practice their religion, and now Jesus seemed to be spitting on their sacrifice.  Jesus’ healing of a cripple on the Sabbath sent a message that was similar to that sent by someone who burns his country’s flag.  This kind of gesture is sure to provoke a violent reaction.

Location.  Geography plays an important role in St. John’s Gospel.  The first time that Jesus’ “hometown” is mentioned is in chapter 1, when Philip tells his friend Nathanael that Jesus, from the town of Nazareth, is the Messiah.  Nazareth was located in Galilee, the northernmost region of Palestine, as the Romans had carved it up; to the south of Galilee was Samaria, a province that pious Jews tried to avoid passing through, if at all possible.  Samaria was a kind of “no man’s land”, situated between Galilee to the north and Judea to the south.  Of course, Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish nation, was located in Judea.  As often happens in different regions of a country, there was a lot of Judean prejudice against Galileans, who were seen to be “country bumpkins” while the residents of Judea saw themselves as being the “elite” (cf. Jn. 7.41, 52; Mk. 14.70).

Identity.  Here’s an important point: in St. John’s Gospel, the term “the Jews” appears frequently.  It is always used to refer to those who are hostile to Jesus.  This is indeed strange, since Jesus, his disciples and almost all the characters in the Gospel story are Jewish.  It seems that St. John is using the term to designate “the Judeans”; i.e. those who lived in the place where Jesus would ultimately be condemned and executed.  In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus frequently travels between Galilee and Judea – between his home region and the place of danger.  Indeed, Jesus is often to be found in Jerusalem during the great Festivals of Judaism (cf. Jn. 2.13; 5.1; 10.22).  According to the book of Deuteronomy (16.16), there were three annual festivals during which all Jewish men were supposed to make a pilgrimage to the Temple – the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and – the feast from today’s Gospel – Tabernacles.  After his “brothers” set off from Galilee – without him – to attend the feast, Jesus sneaks into Jerusalem unbeknownst to the crowds or the authorities (Jn. 7.10).

Where is he from?  St. John now paints a picture for us – Jerusalem is packed with pilgrims who have come to attend the 7-day-long Festival of Tabernacles.  As the feast gets underway, the crowds are abuzz about the Galilean prophet who had healed the cripple during the previous feast – some believe that Jesus is really something, others are convinced he’s a dangerous deceiver.  Those who are for Jesus interpret the healing on the Sabbath as having been a sign that Jesus is indeed Israel’s Messiah; those opposed to him understand the healing to have been a trick designed to lead Israel away from loyalty to the Law of Moses.  The pilgrims talk in hushed voices, knowing that this Galilean wonder-worker is a wanted man (cf. Jn. 7.11-13).  Then, midway through the feast, Jesus goes right into the Temple courts and begins to teach the crowds openly (7.14).  Everyone is stunned – “Isn’t this the one they want to kill?” the pilgrims ask each other (cf. 7.25).  It’s a deadly humorous scene – the whisperings of the crowd come to the ears of the chief priests and they proceed to dispatch officers to arrest Jesus, but the Temple police are themselves so taken aback that they return to the authorities to report that “Never has anyone spoken like this!” (7.32, 45-49).  As the crowd continues to discuss whether Jesus is the Messiah or not, the debate heats up.  Think of question period on parliament hill, with MPs shouting at and insulting each other across the floor, jockeying for political points – which are usually won by humiliating your opponent.  Back to the Temple courts – the question of Jesus’ place of origin is raised: some people say “we know where [this man] is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from” (7.27).  Others insist that the Messiah is supposed to come from Bethlehem in Judea, not from some Galilean backwater (cf. 7.40-42)!  Remember when this happened to Barack Obama, the former president of the U.S.A.?  Due to concerns regarding his mixed African-Indonesian ancestry, people demanded that he publicly display his birth certificate, thereby demonstrating that he had indeed been born on American soil, which made him a true American citizen, which proved that he had the right to be President.

From the Father.  In response to the clamouring crowd, Jesus raises his voice above the kafuffle and declares: “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” (Jn. 7.28-29). As often happens in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus invites people to see beyond the obvious (cf. Jn. 3.3-7; 4.10-14).  “Yes, you all know that I grew up in Nazareth and that I’ve been living in Capernaum, but actually, if you want to know who I am truly from, let me tell you – I am from the Father”.  Jesus then goes on the offensive – he accuses the crowd of faithful pilgrims of not knowing God.  Jesus claims to truly know Yahweh, because Yahweh has sent him.  Jesus claims to have authority to speak and act in Yahweh’s place.  As Jesus had said after having healed the paralyzed man, “My Father is still working, and I also am working” (Jn. 5.17).  On the very day of the week that invites God’s people to trust in the Creator’s goodness, Jesus says “My Father is still working”.  The Creator is once again pouring out his generous and life-giving love through the One who is the-Word-made-flesh (cf. Jn. 1.14).  At the Last Supper, Jesus says to Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14.9).  What about us?  Do we recognize the Father in the face of Jesus?  During this Lenten season, let us pray for the grace to not only recognize the One whom Jesus came to reveal, but also for the courage to stand up for Jesus in today’s world.  Amen.