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Choosing to misunderstand

Text: John 7 : 11-43

CHOOSING TO MISUNDERSTAND

Was it total ignorance on the part of The Jews when they failed to comprehend Him time and again? Or was it a question of choosing to misunderstand Jesus, each time He spoke?

Several options were always open to all hearers. A person could choose to believe. An individual could also choose to disbelieve and hence to reject. The third choice is probably the worst. The hearer not only does not believe what he hears, he misinterprets what he hears in the worst possible way. The Jews seemed to have chosen to misinterpret the words of Jesus deliberately again and again.

When Jesus spoke cryptically of His demise and described it as returning home to His Father, The Jews misconstrued what Jesus said completely. They interpreted Jesus with the greatest sense of despising.

“Then the Jews said among themselves,
‘Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?
Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks
and teach the Greeks?
What is this thing that He said,
“You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am
you cannot come”?'”
John 7:35-36

THE DIASPORA

The Jews who lived in Jerusalem prided themselves as pure-blooded Jews. They despised the Samaritans whom they regarded as impure Jews. They also had a low regard for the Jews whom they regarded as “The Dispersion”. These were Jews who lived abroad. Large communities were found in Syria, in Egypt and elsewhere.

In their mind, when Jesus spoke cryptically of going to a place where they would not find Him, automatically The Jews thought of His going to speak to The Diaspora. If that was true then they would be well rid of Jesus, for they did not think much of The Diaspora-Jews in the first place. There was no place like home – and that meant Jerusalem!

The Jews were wrong in their interpretation and their regard of The Diaspora. They failed to see that the Dispersion occurred because it was ordained by God. Let us take a look at a passage in Ezekiel. They had no right to despise The Diaspora Jews.

“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles,
And although I have scattered them among the countries,
yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries
where they have gone.'”
Ezekiel 11:16

After many years of being in exile, some Jews returned to their home in Israel. However, there were many who did not return. They chose to stay abroad. In faith, in heart and mind, they considered themselves Jews. However, they assimilated much of the culture of the countries they found themselves in.

The most influential culture for the last few centuries had been the Greek culture. Greek thought, language and even customs crept in and influenced many of the Diaspora Jews. The Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures were even translated into Greek. This was called The Septuagint, because about seventy scholars came together to translate the Hebrew Old Testament text into Greek. The popular version of the Scriptures in the New Testament times was in fact the Septuagint. On the one hand, this was welcomed by those who had become more familiar with Greek than Hebrew. On the other hand, to those who despised the Diaspora Jews, there was fierce resistance against the promotion of the Septuagint as the equivalent of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The “Greeks” or “The Hellenists” (Acts 6:1) were discriminated against. They were given this rather derogatory term by the Hebrew-speaking Jews. A good number of the Greek-speaking Jews had all but lost their mother tongue. Even after the Jews were converted to faith in Christ, many still struggled with their deep prejudices against the Greeks or the Hellenists.

The Diaspora was planned by God to rid Israel of its idolatrous tendencies. For many generations, Israel struggled with the problem of giving up idolatrous beliefs and practices. The Diaspora did a lot to terminate the problem of idolatry. The Diaspora however was not the final plan of God. He looked forward to the unfolding of another stage of Israel’s history. We read about this in Ezekiel.

“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you
from the countries where you have been scattered,
and I will give you the land of Israel…

Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit
within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh,
and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in
My statutes and keep My judgments and do them;
and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.'”
Ezekiel 11:17, 19-20

Little did The Jews know that God had a plan to reach out to “The Greeks”. One day, the disciples of Jesus would reach out to not only Greek-speaking Jews, but Gentiles too. They would be gathered into one fold, with Jesus as the Chief Shepherd of that fold. There would come a day when there would be no distinction among the people who have placed their faith in Jesus as their Saviour (Colossians 3:11).

The Jews had no right at all to look down on anyone, Jew or Gentile. However, their hearts were hardened, and they were so spiritually blind, they were unable to recognize Jesus for who He really was. All they did was to fight Jesus with all their sinful might. They were fighting the very Messiah they were supposed to be looking for.