Reading for July 31: John 5:41-47

41 "I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

Comments:

The Jews in Jesus' day (and today for that matter) were looking for a Messiah, but they were looking for one that fit their concept of what a Messiah should be. They were looking for someone to be a political King, someone to put the Jews back in a place of prominence among the world's kingdoms. What they wanted was someone like them, that believed like them, and practiced "religion" like them. When Jesus appeared and claimed to be the Messiah, they rejected Him because He was the exact opposite of what they expected. In verse 41-43 He reacts to this thinking saying that He is not after their approval. He was sent by the Father for a specific purpose and if that purpose did not fit their beliefs then they needed to change their beliefs.

Verse 44 ask a very good question, a question that anyone who claims to be a believer should ask themselves if they are finding it hard to follow the commands of God. I really like the way the NIV paraphrases the verse: "How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?" The Jews were attempting to be "Godly" by working to fulfill the "laws" as described by the Jewish leaders. These laws were based on scripture but had been perverted into a legalistic mumbo-jumbo. So the focus of the Jews then was to satisfy these laws not satisfy God's commands as dictated in the scriptures. Jesus tells them, then, how can you believe when you put all of your energy into pleasing man by following these manmade traditions and not seeking to honor God. The same is true today, how can people expect to be follows of Christ when they spend all of their energy trying to please man.

Jesus goes on to tell the Jews that He is not there to accuse them because their own trusted "father" Moses will accuse them. The Jews were mistakenly believing that they were doing exactly what Moses had written for them to do and was therefore guiltless before God, but Jesus said that in fact Moses will accuses them of their wrong doing to God the Father. Again Jesus tells them that they are not reading the scriptures with the right intent and because of that they are missing an opportunity to see Jesus for who He is.