Jn 7:25-52 – Will the real Jesus…? (sermon notes)
Text: John 7:25-52
Kid McCoy was a US boxer, world champion in 1896. He became involved in a barroom brawl, when a drunk insisted that the boxer was not who he said he was. McCoy flattened his opponent, who struggled back onto his feet and said, “It’s him alright. It’s the real McCoy.”)
1. People, then, as now, have confused and conflicting ideas about who Jesus is.
‘The people were divided because of Jesus.’
Today, some consider Jesus to be
(a) a myth
(b) a Martian (i.e. an alien). Out of this world?
(c) a madman (lunatic)
(d) a menace (liar)
(e) a mystic
(f) mistaken
(g) a (mere) man
(h) Messiah
(i) a mystery
How are we to decide among these competing claims?
2. Within the passage, we see three approaches to the question of Jesus’ identity:
(a) shelve your prejudices (e.g. the contradictory claims about Jesus’ provenance; the spurious appeal to authority, v47; the dismissal of Galileans, )
“I have made up my mind. Please don’t confuse me with the facts.”
“I have convictions, you have opinions, they have prejudices.”
“Most people imagine they are thinking, when in fact they are merely re-arranging their prejudices.”
(b) look and listen. consider the evidence (of his works, ‘many in the crowd’, v31; of his words, the guards, v46). Jesus has been speaking about his origin and destiny.
(c) follow the where the evidence leads (Nicodemus, v50f).
3. This brings us face to face with Jesus’ invitation in v37f.
(a) a need
(b) a remedy
(c) a promise
What is our response?