Contemplative Bible Reading

John 7:14-15 (New Living Translation)

14 Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15 The people were surprised when they heard him. “How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained?” they asked.

Could Jesus read? I Googled that question and found a large number of recent studies and discussions on the point. I guess we can disagree on just about anything.

Still, it appears that Jesus wasn’t trained or educated or something. I guess Mark Twain had some famous saying about not letting education interfere with learning.

Of course Jesus knew what he was saying, he was Jesus, the Son of God. Now we discuss whether the human-ness of Jesus was overcome by the God-ness of Jesus. Jesus knew things that his human life would not have taught Him—or did He? Was it humanly possible for the son of a poor carpenter from backwoods Nazareth to know such things? Is it humanly possible for me to know the things that Jesus showed in His human life?

And what did Jesus know? Love your fellow man. Do what is righteous. Don’t try to fake it. Hmmm. I don’t think a person needs an Ivy League education to learn those things. So, what’s my excuse? ooops. Please God, help me in my unbelief.